Toray restarts Mishima polyester film production

24 October 2007 10:31  [Source: ICIS news]

TOKYO (ICIS news)--Toray, a Japanese film and chemical producer, has started full-rate operation of the fire-hit polymerization unit for polyester film production at its Mishima factory in Shizuoka prefecture after one month, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.

 

The operation had resumed on Tuesday after the restoration works to the unit had been completed, he said.

 

The unit, which produces an intermediate feedstock of polyester film, had a fire on 22 September, two days after it was shut for a month-long turnaround at the plant, according to the spokesman.

 

He said there had been no impact on the delivery of polyester film to the customers because the accident had happened during a turnaround, and the company had already prepared stocks of the feedstock.

 

It had occurred while the polymerization unit was being washed using ethylene glycol (EG), which leaked from the pipes damaged by the burst of the cooling jacket of the scrubber of the unit and caught fire, the spokesman said.

 

Three workers had been injured, and the scrubber of the polymerization unit as well as part of the factory building had been damaged, the company said in a statement. 

 

Toray’s Mishima factory produces 26,800 tonnes/year of polyester film.

 

It manufactures a total of 320,000 tonnes/year of polyester film globally.

By: Tomomi Yokomura
+65 6780 4359

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