Chevron reports spilling of sulfur
Published 9:25 pm Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Chevron Corp. says a pipeline leak at its Pascagoula refinery dumped molten sulfur into Bayou Casotte on Sunday.
Chevron spokesman Steve Renfroe says the spill happened about 11 a.m. Sunday while a barge was being loaded with the hot, liquid sulfur. He tells the Mississippi Press in Pascagoula that the sulfur cooled into a solid state once in the water.
Renfroe says the pipeline repair should be completed Tuesday and divers would retrieve the solid blocks of sulfur from the bayou floor.
The refinery, which refines up to 330,000 barrels of crude oil a day, removes sulfur from the oil when making its fuel products.
Sulfur, a yellow-colored nonmetallic element, is nontoxic.