Document 5LKmQa61JdJzEOR4aJD1pzmgV

(conoco) Interoffice Communication To F. D. Armstrong - Houston From J. A. DeBernardi Oat* November 6, 1974 Subjtct Magnetic Dip Stick Installation - VCM Tank Cars v'. i d t As per your request, we have reviewed the possibility of using our plant as the site of venting, clearing, and installation of the magnetic dip stick units in the CONOCO vinyl chloride tank car fleet. As we have already dis cussed, our existing facility would need alteration to accommodate this pro ject and meet our shipping commitments the remainder of 1974 and through 1975. In order to insure that cars would be available for work on a 5-day per week basis, it appears that it would be necessary to extend three of our four loading spurs two hundred feet to the west at a cost of approximately $46,000. This would enable nine total cars to be at some point in the depressuring, purging, dip stick installation, or reassembly procedure at any time, thereby assuring a constant workload for those assigned to the work. In addition to the track extension work, a new vent header would need to be installed to accommodate car purgings at the same time loading is being done. An approximate cost for this modification would be $10,000. I trust this will give you some indication of costs and problems we would face at the plant to accommodate the dip stick change out at this location. It would also seem prudent, if material could be purchased in time, to accomplish the tank end protection .plate modification required in the recently promulgated D.O.T. laws while the tank cars are in a safe condition for welding. Please let us know if we should press forward in this area. We will not proceed any further unless we hear from you to the contrary. CWH 000001926 Interoffice Communication To R. D. Gamblin From Douglas Michels Date September 16, 1974 subject Tank Car Dip Tube Emission Reduction at Shell The following information was obtained through a conversation with Mr. John Gognatz of Shell Chemical Company's Norco VCM Plant. 1. Shell does not own any of their own VCM tank cars. The tank cars are supplied either by rental or from customers. 2. Because of the above. Shell has not considered modifications to the tank cars themselves. The only modifications they are considering are external to the tank car. 3. Shell uses turbine type totalizing flow meters for tank car loading. They do not have full confidence in these meters and the final tank car volume is always checked with the dip tube. 4. They have tried and probably will adopt use of a liquid-vapor type sensing device which is attached directly to the dip tube itself. 5. Testing for these devices has been done in Deer Park. The Norco plant is now installing a system at one of the spots for testing. 6. They are using a "Sensoll11 vapor-liquid detector manufactured by Magnatrol. 7. The vapors and liquids from the sensing device will be sent to a refrigerated vapor recovery unit. 8. They feel direct modification of the tank cars would be far more costly. Unless the industry as a whole adopts this approach Shell will not consider these system! 9. Shell is requiring use of fresh air at all times for the employees involved in tank car loading. Douglas Michels bw i^DCC JAD-OHMc-GOD-ORH-TJG-JCL