Page 20 - OHS, June 2020

OIL & GAS
New Gas Detection Technology Isolates and
More Accurately Measures Dangerous Compounds
Explosions are a real hazard for the petrochemical industry. Luckily, new technology allows communities to detect the right gases in record time. BY MARK HEUCHERT
16 Occupational Health & Safety | JUNE 2020
www.ohsonline.com
For those who live in and around Deer Park, Texas, the site of a smoke plume or the sound of an alarm are relatively common. The com- munity—which sits fewer than 20 miles from
downtown Houston and was once the site of the Bat- tle of San Jacinto where Texas won its independence from Mexico—is nestled in the heart of South East Texas’ petrochemical industry. Many of its residents work for chemical companies, refineries and storage facilities. Their families shop, go to school and attend church in the shadow of smoke stacks.
However, on March 17, 2019, familiarity didn’t make the sound of alarms and sirens any less frighten- ing. A large explosion at the Intercontinental Termi- nals Company (ITC), a petrochemical storage facility in Deer Park, resulted in a fire in one of the company’s storage tanks. Over the next four days the fire would spread to consume six more tanks. Even after the fire was extinguished, a large black plume of smoke creat- ed by the massive fire could be seen throughout Hous- ton’s greater metro area, and the elevated levels of tox- ic gases in the plume presented a legitimate threat to air quality. One particular concern was benzene.
According to the Center for Disease Control, the toxic gas—which can be found at various levels in vol- canic eruptions, forest fires, crude oil, and even ciga- rette smoke—can cause shortness of breath, headaches, dizziness, confusion, an irregular heartbeat, tremors and unconsciousness, with extreme or extended expo- sure potentially causing death. And even in low con- centrations, benzene is categorized as a carcinogenic.
This fact in particular led the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to establish the Recommended Exposure Limit (REL) for benzene to be 0.1 parts per million (ppm), or 100 parts per bil- lion (ppb). Since benzene carries such a slight REL, the chemical requires extremely low-level detection—it often has to be measured at levels at or below 0.1 ppm.
Measuring Volatile Compounds
in the Field Can be Confounding
According to a press release issued by the Environ- mental Protection Agency on March 21, “one-hour levels of benzene in Deer Park were measured at a maximum of 190.68 parts per billion at 4 a.m., drop- ping to 48.03 ppb at 5 a.m. and 8.12 ppb at 6 a.m.”
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