Shell using water to cool hot spots
New flare to require reinforcement
Officials at the Shell petrochemical complex in Potter are using water hoses to cool off the outside of a high-pressure ground flare after the company identified spots that need to be “reinforced.”
“We have identified some areas on one ground flare that will eventually be reinforced during a planned maintenance activity,” Shell spokesman Curtis Thomas said Wednesday.
He did not know when that maintenance will be performed.
Mr. Thomas also said, “It’s not uncommon for water to be used to assist in cooling external areas of ground flares.”
The ground flares, which are large drums that burn hydrocarbons from both normal operations and plant upsets, are what give the sky above Beaver County an orange glow when they reflect off the clouds.
They are a safety device to prevent pressure from building up in the plant’s ethane cracker and the polyethelene units, which turn the natural gas component into plastic pellets.
The flares were designed by Zeeco, an Oklahoma-based firm that is among the leaders in the industry. It’s not clear why they would need to be reinforced so soon after the plant went online or what the exact issues are.
Mr. Thomas said the plant is designed to function with just one ground flare and wasn’t aware of any issues at the other, twin high pressure flare.
He said reinforcement of the flare currently being cooled with water “will be one of the projects we undertake during the maintenance period, which are “shutdowns (that) happen when site leadership deems them appropriate.”