Executive Summary: On the morning of March 1, 2006 a turbine-driven boiler feedwater fBFW) pump at one of Eastman's Longview crackers slowed down, causing a drop in boiler feedwater supply pressure. The standby pump (also a turbine driven pump) did not start as it should have and the cracking furnaces that were on line automatically tripped on low steam drum level. Ruptured radiant coil tubes in two furnaces led to cracked gas fires in the radiant fireboxes and. One of the furnaces also had fire on the ground underneath it due to burning liquid quench oil running out of the firebox. Additional firebox fires occurred when gasoline-contaminated dilution steam was sent to the furnaces and ignited. There was extensive damage to the radiant coils of three furnaces and some minor damage to the external structure of one of the furnaces. There were no personal injuries associated with the event. The cause of the initial problem was malfunctioning of one of the boiler feedwater pump speed controllers due to loose bolts on the throttle valve actuator.
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