Weather forces shutdowns at Ascend’s Texas ACN plant

03 February 2011 20:03  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--Ascend Performance Materials shut down two units at its Alvin acrylonitrile (ACN) plant in Texas, the company said.

According to the filing with the Texas Commision on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) on 2 February, sub-freezing temperatures and and high winds caused instrumentation failures, which caused a loss of steam pressure to two ACN units.

The loss of steam flow activated safety interlocks, which led to emissions from two waste heat boilers, Ascend said in the filing.

The nameplate capacity for Ascend’s plant is listed at 510,000 tonnes/year, roughly one-third of all US ACN capacity.

Attempts to reach the company for confirmation of the shutdown or an expected time for the plant to be restarted were unsuccessful.

Currently, spot ACN in the US Gulf market is assessed by ICIS at $2,300-2,400/tonne (€1,656-1,728/tonne) FOB (free on board).

($1 = €0.72)

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By: John Dietrich
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