Nan Ya shuts petrochemical plant in Yunlin

07-Jun-11

The Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) has shut down the manufacturing operations of an isononyl alcohol plant at the group's petrochemical complex in Mailiao, Yunlin County in ccordance with industrial plant safety procedures, as per The China Post. The isononyl alcohol plant is among the five petrochemical plants of Nan Ya Plastics Corp. ordered to close for inspection following successive fires on May 12 and 18. Top administrators at Yunlin County Government were on hand to see the machinery equipment eventually grind to a halt at the plant, almost two months after the latest fire at the sprawling Mailiao petrochemical complex, also known as Taiwan's No. 6 naphtha cracking complex. The local government agreed to give extra time of two months for Nan Ya Plastics to gradually wind down the operations for safety reasons as suggested by the company. Executives of the company had asked for a measured and phased shutdown of the five plants considering the complicated chemical process. They explained that production at the isononyl alcohol plant was finally suspended because all the petrochemical materials at the factory were used up and the equipment was not refilled with new materials. No new materials were furnished at the other four plants producing ethylene glycol (EG), butylene glycol, bisphenol A (BPA) as operations were planned to come to a halt after the existing materials were used up.