A major explosion injured at least 31 people at Lotte Chemical’s plant at Daesan Port in South Korea early this morning.
The blast occurred in a naphtha cracker of the plant, starting a fire in the facility. Over 200 firefighters were dispatched to the plant and managed to contain the fire in about two hours. No deaths have been reported so far.
Lotte Chemical said it has suspended seven of its ten facilities at the plant, adding that there was no leak of toxic chemicals.
The company has started investigations into the cause of the incident while it will also seek to minimise supply disruptions.
Lotte Chemical operates two naphtha crackers in South Korea. The facility in Daesan can produce 1.1m tonnes of ethylene per year.
Daesan Port mainly serves the local petrochemical industrial park which has plants of LG Chemical, Lotte Chemical, Hyundai Oilbank and Hanwha Total.
The reason for the explosion can be an electrostatic discharge inside the cracker (temperature/pressure probe) or at a connected pipeline/item.
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