Braskem Shuts Down Plants in Brazil's Triunfo Due to Heavy Rains

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Petrochemical company Braskem S.A. (Sao Paulo, Brazil) has halted production entirely at its plants in the city of Triunfo, in Brazil's state of Rio Grande do Sul, due to extreme weather conditions. Since the beginning of May, the region has been slammed with heavy rains, flooding and roadblocks.

The general shutdown process of the production units at the Triunfo Petrochemical Complex has been mainly preventive, in the face of a possible interruption in the water intake, with the aim of guaranteeing a safe shutdown. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Chemical Processing Plant Database can learn more from a detailed plant profile.

The outage, which the company has reported as force majeure, has affected the production of all units in the area: the three ethylene crackers, including the green ethylene unit, and the high-density, low-density and linear low-density polyethylene units, as well as polypropylene units 1 and 3, all in the same petrochemical plant.

The Polypropylene 2 and Polyethylene 5 units were shut down at an independent plant in the same industrial zone. Braskem also reported that it will be necessary to activate the flare, a standard safety device used in the petrochemical industry that generates a flame by burning some chemical residues. Subscribers can learn more from a detailed plant profile.

Braskem has not said when it will resume production, but it is monitoring the weather and damage, and it estimates it will be able to resume production around the end of May.

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