This CAFO for SABIC Innovative Plastics US LLC (SABIC), Ottawa, Illinois resolves violations regarding the Chemical Accident Prevention Provisions (CAPP). The CAFO requires SABIC to pay a penalty of $12,569 and resolves the FOV issued to SABIC on December 6, 2023.
SABIC owns and operates a plastics material and resin manufacturing plant that uses 1,3-butadiene and acrylonitrile as raw materials, which are regulated substances under the CAPP. 1,3-Butadiene can undergo hazardous reactions that, if not properly identified and managed, create the risk of an accidental release. The CAPP require the owner or operator of a process containing more than 10,000 pounds of 1,3-butadiene to identify, evaluate, and control the hazards involved in the process through a process hazard analysis (PHA), and to update and revalidate that PHA at least every five years. SABIC violated the CAPP by failing to adequately address the hazardous reactions of 1,3-butadiene, and the associated engineering and administrative controls for those hazardous reactions, in the PHA conducted for its 1,3-butadiene process in 2019. SABIC also violated the CAPP by failing to adequately address human factors in the 2019 PHA for safeguards identified in the PHA that require operator response. SABIC provided the EPA with an updated and revalidated PHA on September 9, 2024 that resolved the alleged violations in the 2019 PHA.
SABIC receives acrylonitrile at the Facility via rail tank cars and unloads the cars into