An amount of ethylene and propylene was flared off after a July 13 fire at a plant operated by Ineos Olefins & Polyolefins USA in Alvin, Texas, but air quality in the area was unaffected.
The fire broke out at about 1:30 p.m. on that date and was extinguished by 9:30 p.m. on that same date. No injuries were reported.
The fire took place at a valve station on the site's pipeline corridor, Ineos spokesman Paul Ajibogun said in a statement sent to Plastics News. Local emergency personnel responded to the scene, isolated the segment of pipelines and installed temporary flares to safely dispose of the ethylene and propylene in the isolated segments.
Air monitoring by an independent, third-party monitoring company showed no degradation of air quality for the local population, Ajibogun said. He added that recovery efforts are underway and that the cause of the incident will be determined following an investigation.
Ineos' Alvin site is known as Chocolate Bayou. The site includes two cracking units and two polypropylene resin lines, as well as production of linear alpha olefins and polyalphaolefins.