HSE and Industry Associations

Thailand’s Aditya Birla Chemicals’ plant remains shut after leakage

ICIS News : 16-May-12 13:01

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Aditya Birla Chemicals (Thailand)’s caustic soda plant, which has an 80,000 dry metric tonne/year nameplate capacity, remains offline following a chlorine leakage on 6 May, a source close to the company said on Wednesday.

The Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) ordered the suspension of the plant’s operations at the Eastern Industrial Estate at Map Tha Phut in Rayong province until the accident investigation is complete.

The caustic soda unit is likely to be restarted in the first half of June, the source said.

Prior to the shutdown, the plant was running at around 60% of capacity, the source added.

According to media reports in Thailand, 70 workers were hospitalized after what is described as a minor chlorine leak.

The incident has been declared a level 2 accident and is due to be handled by provincial bodies, a local media report stated.

Aditya Birla Chemicals (Thailand) is part of Aditya Birla Group.

By Feliana Widjaja
icisnews.asia@icis.com