Skip to main content

Authorities close China blast park

9th April 2019

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

Repercussions are continuing from the blast at the Chenjiagang Chemical Industry Park in Xiangshui, China, on 21 March, which killed 78 people and injured over 600 more. This could lead to further acceleration of the ongoing process of closing down chemical parks on China’s eastern seaboard, which is already having a major impact on consumers of Chinese raw materials worldwide.

The local authorities in Yancheng city ordered the park to be closed permanently “to rectify the industry”, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Then on 1 April, Jiemian.com reported, Jiangsu’s provincial government issued a draft plan to reduce the number of chemical parks in the province from 50 to 20 and the number of companies in them to fewer than 1,000 by 2022.

The stern response caught some in the industry by surprise, even though China has a track record of closing all the enterprises on parks where one has a serious accident. The decision may well have been compounded by an unrelated accident that took place ten days later on 31 March at Kunshan, also in Jiangsu province, killing seven people and injuring five.

The park at Xiangshui was built at a time when environmental regulation and safety control were both laxer. It had a poor track record: ten were killed at an incident there in 2017 and there had been multiple incidents in the period 2007-11. Previous rounds of ‘rectification’ there and two other parks in Northern Jiangsu have not resolved the problems and 300 of the 367 companies at the three sites have contravened environmental regulations.

The explosion itself took place in a facility run by Tianjiayi Chemical to make fertiliser, pesticides and/or other organic chemicals, according to different accounts. The cause is still unknown. It started many fires around Yancheng and caused damage over a radius of 6 km, even destroying the roof of Henglida Chemical Factory, 3 km away. Tianjiayi Chemical had previously been fined six times for breaking pollution and waste management laws. 

UPL to split out specialities

Indian agrochemicals giant UPL has announced plans to transfer its speciality chemicals business, including agrochemical

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

AI for SAPs

Together with Algo Artis, Japan’s Nippon Shokubai has developed an algorithm-based means for the production

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

Nippon Shokubai's API Facility in Japan

Nucleic acid API boost

Nippon Shokubai is to expand its GMP capacity for nucleic APIs tenfold It will install

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

Flamma's facility in Dalian

Flamma opens in China

Italian CDMO Flamma Group has officially opened its new cGMP plant at Dalian, China, where

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

GL Chemtec has opened a new kilo lab

GL Chemtec completes kilo lab

CDMO GL Chemtec has announced the completion of a cGMP kilo lab at Oakville, Ontario

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

Sterling's facility at Deeside, UK

CDMOs in ADC investments

Five CDMOs across the world have separately announced investments in antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Piramal Pharma is

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

Afyren Neoxy plant

Milestones for two greentech firms

Afyren has achieved continuous production at its Afyren Neoxy plant at Clermont-Ferrand (pictured)

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

Origin by Ocean derives its materials from sargassum

CABB in algae biorefinery deal

CABB has agreed a strategic partnership to establish a first-in-kind algae biorefinery at its site at Kokkola

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

First waste-based biosurfactants

Belgian start-up AmphiStar has launched what it claims are the first fully upcycled biobased surfactants

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

Aether to supply Seqens

Indian firm Aether Industries has entered into a manufacturing agreement with Chemoxy International, a UK-based

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

New model for biocatalysts

BASF, the Austrian Research Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (ACIB) and the University of Graz in

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

CBE JU funds 31 more projects

The Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU), a €2 billion partnership between the EU

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

Ribbon cutting ceremony at Lubrizol's new office

Lubrizol opens London office

Lubrizol has opened a new office in Hammersmith, London. This will be home to a

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

Sudarshan to buy Heubach

India’s Sudarshan Chemical Industries (SCIL) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Heubach

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

Alliance in natural fragrances

Sensegen, a US-based specialist in biotech-enabled fragrances, notably a new class of natural musk raw

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

Croda breaks ground in China

Croda International has broken ground for a low-carbon, multi-purpose production facility on a greenfield site

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

CCT collaboration for Givaudan

Flavours and fragrances giant Givaudan has agreed a research collaboration for the development of sustainable

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

REACH Authorisation

Candidate List ‘reaches’ 250

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has added three more substances to the Candidate List of

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

Staff at Brenntag's newly acquired Czech site

CO2-free distribution site first

Brenntag has officially inaugurated what it claims to be the first CO2-emission-free chemical distribution site

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington