Investigators from the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) have begun work on the blast that rocked TPC Group's butadiene plant in Port Neches, Texas, last week, according to a spokeswoman with the federal agency. She said that a CSB investigator arrived at the site two days after the incident, while three more investigators arrived there on Monday.
The massive explosions, which caused mass evacuation, emerged at a tank with finished BD located in the site's south processing unit, according to Bloomberg's report. Media also reported that a distillation tower fell after the explosion on Wednesday, while a second one collapsed on Saturday. Authorities said they have contained the fire and lifted the evacuation order on Friday.
As SSESSMENTS.COM noted, TPC’s Port Neches plant produces 20% of US butadiene with two butadiene production lines having capacities of 260,000 tons/year and 166,000 tons/year. It also produces MTBE at its 400,000 tons/year unit.
Following the fire, TPC Group declared force majeure on butadiene supply from the plant. Meanwhile, Huntsman put its nearby propylene oxide (PO) unit offline, and Lion Elastomers stopped operation at its Port Neches ESBR plant as a precaution.
