An explosion occurred at Nanjing Yangzi Petrochemical.

Release Date:

2021-01-14

At around 5:00 p.m. on January 12, an explosion occurred at a chemical processing unit within the Chemical Industrial Park in Jiangbei, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province.

Footage captured by eyewitnesses shows a massive blaze and thick plumes of smoke at the scene, with loud explosions echoing intermittently.

At 18:52, Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Yangzi Petrochemical) announced on its official Weibo account that at 17:05, a fire broke out at the butadiene unit of Yangzi Petrochemical’s rubber production facility. There have been no casualties so far; the blaze has been brought under control, environmental monitoring shows no abnormalities, and no wastewater has been discharged. The fire is relatively small and is being maintained in a protective‑burning state, with environmental tests remaining within normal limits.

Yangzi Petrochemical subsequently reported that at 18:56, the process unit’s feed had been shut off, with two remaining ignition points being allowed to burn out in a controlled manner, and environmental monitoring remained normal.

At 7:46 p.m., Yangzi Petrochemical confirmed that the fire at the scene had been extinguished and that there were no casualties. The company stated that monitoring of ammonia, sulfur dioxide, and other indicators at four sampling points upwind and downwind of the site revealed no abnormalities.

Yangzi Petrochemical stated that the black smoke and rubber odor generated during the initial phase of the incident had a brief impact on nearby residents, but this has now subsided. The stormwater discharge outlet has been closed, and the firefighting wastewater will not affect external water bodies.

At 9 p.m., Nanjing Fire Department’s official Weibo account stated that the incident resulted in no casualties and, according to environmental monitoring, did not cause any pollution to the surrounding environment. The cause of the accident is currently under investigation.

The butadiene unit that caught fire this time primarily produces polybutadiene rubber, a well‑structured synthetic rubber synthesized via the polymerization of butadiene.

Polybutadiene rubber is the second-largest synthetic rubber, after styrene–butadiene rubber. It is suitable for manufacturing automobile tires and cold‑resistant products, and can also be used to produce cushioning materials, as well as various types of rubber shoes, adhesive tapes, sealing tapes, and sponge rubber.

Jinlianchuang stated that, overall, the unexpected incident at Yangzi Petrochemical’s cis‑1,4‑polybutadiene unit will adversely affect the plant’s product output as well as the supply and allocation of Sinopec’s cis‑1,4‑polybutadiene feedstock. The maintenance status of the cis‑1,4‑polybutadiene rubber units at Yanshan Petrochemical and Maoming Petrochemical also requires further confirmation.

Yangzi Petrochemical is a wholly owned subsidiary of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, located in the northern suburbs of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, adjacent to the Yangtze River and facing Sinopec’s Jinling Petrochemical across the river.

According to its official website, Yangzi Petrochemical currently operates 58 large-scale petrochemical units, including a 12.5-million-ton-per-year refinery, an 800,000-ton-per-year ethylene plant, and a 1.4-million-ton-per-year aromatics unit, capable of producing more than 50 product categories such as synthetic resins, synthetic fiber feedstocks, refined petroleum products, and synthetic rubbers.

The company is a leading domestic producer of benzene, paraxylene, orthoxylene, purified terephthalic acid, ethylene oxide, and other products.

Source: People’s Daily Online – Jiangsu Channel

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