GAS LEAK AT LG POLYMERS PLANT AT VIZAG.

THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE GAS LEAK AT LG POLYMERS PLANT AT VIZAG

The unfortunate gas leak incident at Visakhapatnam today claiming at least eight lives and causing hundreds of people to become sick occurred at a plant operated by LG Polymers. This plant is part of the plastic resin & synthetic fiber industry and is owned by South Korean battery manufacturer LG Chemical Ltd, which is engaged in polymer development, manufacturing, and services. The plant manufactures its goods using raw material styrene which is extremely flammable and emits toxic gas when burned.

In July 1997, LG Chemical entered India by taking over fully Hindustan Polymers and was renamed LG Polymers India Private Limited (LGPI). Prior to this, the company was known as Hindustan Polymers for polystyrene production in 1961. Hindustan Polymers later merged with UB group McDowell in 1978. LGPI claims to be one of India's leading manufacturers of polystyrene and expandable polystyrene though it also manufactures plastics compounds for engineering purposes. The parent company LG Chemical was in 2017 the 10th largest chemical company in the world in terms of sales.

Today's incident happened as the factory was about to reopen after the lockout today. The staff was getting ready to restart the operation when the gas began to leak in the early hours. LG Polymers released a statement saying that the storage tank held 1800 tonnes. The statement said it could have resulted in auto polymerization that could have caused vaporization due to stagnation and changes in styrene temperature.

In the meantime, Today? The incident at Vizag's LG Polymers plant was strongly criticized as at least 3,000 people had to be evacuated to safe places and almost 170 were admitted to different hospitals. Once again, the accident has raised concerns about inadequate chemical treatment in the industry. The Bhopal gas disaster accident also happened in India in 1984, which is considered one of the worlds? The worst losses in the industry.





Source:The Financial Express 
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