Japan’s Mitsui Chemicals restarts Chiba cracker after quake-related shutdown

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Mitsui Chemicals restarted the cracker at its Ichihara Works site in Chiba prefecture on 23 February and is in the process of restarting other downstream units, the Japanese producer said on Wednesday.

The company was forced to shut operations at the Ichihara Works following a 7.3-magnitude earthquake that hit the country on 13 February.

The cracker, which produces 612,000 tonnes/year of ethylene and 330,000 tonnes/year of propylene, is “expected to be fully restored within a few days”, the company said in a statement in Japanese.

“Other plants that have been shut down are also in the process of starting up,” it said.

Mitsui Chemicals produces olefins, aromatics, polyethylene, polypropylene, phenol, ethylene oxide, ethylene glycol, tertiaty butyl alcohol (TBA), elastomers and polyolefin synthetic pulp at Ichihara Works, according to the company’s website.