Taiwan's Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp has postponed the planned shutdown of its 350,000 mt/year No 3 styrene monomer plant at Mailiao to May or June following a blast at its No 1 SM plant Monday, which injured four employees, a company source said.
The No. 3 SM plant was originally scheduled for a month-long turnaround for maintenance in April. However, with the unexpected shutdown of the 250,000 mt/year No. 1 unit at the same location, the source said the works will be delayed.
Although Formosa is looking to push back No. 3 plant's maintenance to May or June, the source said that "it depends on how fast the No. 1 line can be restarted."
The source expects the No. 1 plant to be shut for at least a month. "We need to take a few days to check how soon we can restart. But I think it could be down for at least one month," he said.
No changes have yet been made to the planned shutdowns of the No. 1 and No. 2 SM plants, both scheduled to go down for a month in September. The No. 2 plant, also in Mailiao, can produce 350,000 mt/year of styrene monomer.
Monday's blast occurred at around 4:30 am Taipei time (2030 GMT Sunday), according to the source.
