In the wake of the alarming results of the Goldfish tests, Mobil engineers attempted to develop an additive that would reduce the volatility of HF and prevent the formation of an aerosol cloud. The attempt failed, but the failure was hidden from the public. The Torrance Refining Company and Valero continue the false claims about the additive, they say makes HF safe enough to use in the densely populated South Bay. They call the mixture “modified” HF, or MHF.
In fact, Torrance Refining Company and Valero’s Big Lie about this ineffective additive is the primary reason we have HF in the two refineries today. It was at the center of the arguments to the SCAQMD and the courts that allows use of HF. Congressman Ted Lieu was entirely correct when he said the South Bay community had been “hoodwinked” into believing an additive mixed into the acid actually made it any safer, when there was no evidence that was the case. Of the approximately 50 refineries across the nation that still use HF, only ToRC and Valero use the additive. If it had the safety effectiveness claimed, one would think at least some HF refineries in the world outside the South Bay would use it. None do.
For MHF not to interfere with the refining process, the refineries keep the concentration of the additive as low as one molecule for every 100 molecules of HF (1% molar concentration). Like Dumbo’s feather, the additive has no real purpose, except to dupe regulators and the courts to allow the refineries to continue to use HF. Members of TRAA’s Science Advisory Panel thoroughly debunked the refineries’ additive claims in three articles here, here, and here.
For decades, ToRC and Valero have hidden test data on the additive’s lack of effectiveness behind a wall of proprietary secrecy. In the AQMD’s most recent attempt to ban HF, its technical staff became the first and only government entity to view the voluminous data. It concluded [page 4&5], “the testing/modeling information provided by TORC did not sufficiently demonstrate MHF would not flash atomize and form a dense HF cloud.” The AQMD staff also independently confirmed [page 22] TRAA Science Advisory Panel’s own assessment that there was “No testing conducted at current operating conditions.”
ToRC and Valero’s Big Lie was on full public display at the AQMD Refinery Committee Meeting in Wilmington, California on September 22, 2018. Two invited presenters — acknowledged as among the world’s leading experts on the dangers of hydrogen-fluoride use in refineries — were asked The $64,000 Question: “Does MHF behave the same as HF?” Both experts testified that the additive would have a very small effect, and they weren’t aware of any data that supports the refineries’ claims for it.
Torrance Refinery Action Alliance 