Du Pont - Wurtland

Acid Plant Database August 9, 2011

Owner	E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co. Inc.
Location	HC-66 400 Harris Road Wurtland, Kentucky USA
Background	-
Website	www.dupont.com
Plant	Fort Hill Plant
Coordinates	38° 33' 20" N, 82° 47' 21" W
Type of Plant	Sulphur Burning
Gas Source	Elemental Sulphur
Plant Capacity	260,000 STPA
SA/DA	SA with H2O2 tail gas scrubber
Emissions	SO₂: 27.6 lb/ton Acid Mist: 0.5 lb/ton Opacity: < 20% SO₂: 248 ton (12 month rolling average) 1.7 lb/ton (3 h rolling average) The above emission limits are the subject of a Consent Decree which must be met by March 1, 2011
Permits	Commonwealth of Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection Division of Air Quality Facility ID: 21-089-00001 Title V Air Quality Permit
	Permit No.	Issue Date	Expiry Date	Date Modified
	V-03-007	-	-	-
	V-06-026	July 31, 2006	-	-
	V-06-026 Revision 1	May 5, 2007	-	-
Status	Operating
Year Built	1961
Technology	-
Contractor	-
Remarks	Site also produces 4.417 ton/h of chlorosulfonic acid (CSA) Oleum (65%) also produced on site 2011 - December - Hydrogen peroxide tail gas scrubber installed
Pictures
General	-
References	Brown, G.W. , McDonald, C.E. and Martin, M.W. , "DuPont Wurtland High Performance Drying Tower Goes On-Line", Sulfuric Acid Today, Spring/Summer 2002, p. 20-21.
News	July 14, 2009 - A jury has found chemical giant DuPont guilty of gross negligence in a 2004 leak at its Wurtland plant that released clouds of sulfuric acid over large portions of Greenup County. Because of that negligence, those suing DuPont for health problems they suffered as a result of the release are entitled to 10 times the monetary damages they would have otherwise collected, the jury ruled. The 10-member jury found in favor of the plaintiffs on Monday after deliberating for about three hours and 40 minutes. The verdict concluded a civil trial that began June 26 in U.S. District Court in Ashland. The lawsuit - actually a consolidation of several actions filed against DuPont following the Oct. 11, 2004, chemical release - is being tried in four phases. While acknowledging a chemical release did take place at the Wurtland facility on the date in question, DuPont continues to maintain that release was not the cause of the problems alleged by the plaintiffs, Campbell said. "We really don't believe our actions in the case warranted these awards," she said. We think our employees acted swiftly to stop the release and to inform the community." A number of those suing DuPont are police officers, firefighters and other emergency personnel who responded to the scene when the leak occurred. The leak, caused by a cracked pipe at the Wurtland facility, resulted in the release of sulfur trioxide, a chemical that formed billowing white clouds composed of droplets of sulfuric acid, which covered much of Wurtland, Worthington and Greenup. Plaintiffs' attorneys argued failure on DuPont's part to address issues raised by a 1995 chemical release at the Wurtland plant was largely responsible for the same type of incident occurring again nine years later. Following the 1995 incident, a safety team recommended DuPont institute a number of changes at the facility to ensure a spill of that nature never occurred again, according to testimony in the case. "Not only did DuPont ignore those recommendations in 1995, it continued to ignore them following the 2004 spill as well," plantiffs' lawyers said in bench memorandum filed in the case. "In other words, DuPont had known for nine years it needed to improve its Wurtland facility's safety practices, but simply chose not to." Also, testimony in the case revealed three months before the spill, a DuPont investigation revealed the tube bundle that ultimately failed was "dangerously corroded" and in need of replacement, but the company declined to do so, the memorandum states.

MTPD - Metric Tonne per Day STPD - Short Ton per Day
MTPA - Metric Tonne per Annum STPA - Short Ton per Annum
SA - Single Absorption
DA - Double Absorption

* Coordinates can be used to locate plant on Google Earth


Sulphuric Acid on the Web^TM	Technical Manual	DKL Engineering, Inc.