Taiwan’s FPC shuts chlor-alkali, vinyls units in Mailiao

13 May 2011 10:10  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC) has shut its chlor-alkali and vinyls facilities in Mailiao following a fire at its petrochemical complex late on Thursday, a company source said on Friday.

These include a 1.18m tonne/year ethylene dichloride (EDC), an 800,000 tonne/year vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), a 500,000 tonne/year polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and caustic soda units with a combined capacity of 1.33m dry metric tonne/year, the source said.

Fire erupted at the Mailiao complex Thursday night because of a utilities pipeline leak, causing a power outage that shut Formosa's 700,000 tonne/year No 1 naphtha cracker.

“There is a shortage of ethylene and power,” said the source.

None of the chlor-alkali and vinyls units is damaged and they are likely to restart next week, according to the source.

By: Feliana Widjaja

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly