NewsFlashYNCC's No 1 cracker restarted

07 May 2008 02:28  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Yeochun Naphtha Cracking Center’s (YNCC) No 1 cracker, which was started up last night, is operating at almost 50% and producing on-spec material, a company source said on Wednesday. 

“The company fed naphtha feedstock into the 850,000 tonne/year No 1 cracker early Tuesday evening and is producing on-spec material today morning. The plant is running at 47%, and will be hitting 50% by late morning,” he said.

YNCC’s No 1 cracker has 12 furnaces and only 5 have been started up. The rest of the furnaces will be started up one at a time, starting this evening. The cracker is expected to reach the maximum production rate by 10 May, he added.

YNCC will try to start up the 400,000 tonne/year No 3 cracker tonight and the 550,000 tonne/year No 2 cracker on Friday, the source said.

YNCC’s No3 cracker was restarted on Monday and producing on-spec material by Tuesday morning but experienced another power outage which forced the company to shut it down.

Should the restarting of No 2 and No 3 fail this time round, the company would only try for a restarting again after 15 May.

YNCC is believed to have more than 100,000 tonnes of surplus naphtha from the unexpected shutdown since 3 May, the company however, declined to comment on this information.

YNCC is the largest producer of ethylene in Korea, with a combined capacity of 1.8m tonnes/year.

By: Brian Myung
65 6780 4359

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