Texas City Refinery Sewer Project

Location: Texas City, Texas

Client: BP

Carylon Operating Company: Specialized Maintenance

Services Performed: Digital TV Inspection, Sewer Cleaning

The Project

Following the findings of the investigation of the March 23, 2005 explosion in the ISOM unit, BP initiated its BWOM (Benzene Waste Oil NESHAP) Program to eliminate Benzene releases into the air, ground and ground water. Specialized Maintenance Services was called on to handle the portion of the program requiring the cleaning and inspection of all storm sewer piping.

The project began in march 2007, and finished in September 2012. Process and storm sewers were thoroughly cleaned and inspected for exfiltration of Benzene into ground water, and for infiltration of benzene from process units into storm sewers.

Cleaned & Inspected 125, 642 Feet of Pipeline

Specialized Maintenance cleaned and inspected 12,000 feet of 4″-36″ sewer lines in 14 processing units, 96,125 feet of 6″-78″ trunk line sewers plant wide, and 17,517 feet of 6″-36″ feet of tank farm drain lines plant wide.

Ahead of Schedule

The project required 75% of the storm sewers to be inspected by September 17, 2011. However, Specialized Maintenance Services completed it by June, 2011 – four months ahead of schedule.

Repairs Identified and Scheduled

All CCTV video was compiled weekly and reviewed by BP Project Engineering Group to identify repairs that were needed. Repairs were categorized by section, pipe size and material. repairs were then prioritized and scheduled.

Issues Encountered

Issues, such as hot condensate running through sewer pipe, line isolation plugging and by-passing swere flow, access to manholes in process units and being unable to locate manholes were all issues that were encountered and overcome.

Equipment Used

Jet-Rodder Combo Unit to remove silt, waste and debris from sewer lines and manholes.

Explosion-Proof System includes a 360-degree, full pan and tilt color camera for inspecting 4″ to 78″ lines, small crawler camera for inspecting 6″ to 24″ lines, large crawler camera for inspecting 24″ to 78″ lines, and a mini-cam system for inspecting 4″ to 6″ lines.

3-Stage Liquid/Carbon Scrubber Unit to filter jet vacuum blower exhaust of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), airborne Benzene; meeting Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) MMS (Maintenance Startup/Shutdown) Regulations.