Restart and Rebuild of Nippon Shokubai's Himeji Plant Under Way

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Nippon Shokubai Company Limited (TSE:4114) (Tokyo, Japan) recently took another step toward restarting and rebuilding the Himeji plant in Hyogo, Japan, since there was an explosion and fire on September 29, 2012. Nippon Shokubai released a statement on January 17 saying that the Himeji plant had a restriction lifted by Himeji City on 14 additional facilities, which had been shut down following the fire. To date, restrictions have been lifted on 86 out of 166 units, allowing them to be restarted. The most recent restrictions were lifted on research and development facilities, common facilities, warehouses and tanks.

The first three restrictions were lifted in November 1, November 14, and December 7, 2012. On November 1, Himeji City officials lifted restrictions for steam boiler and combustion facilities for liquid waste, as well as other related facilities. Officials said that public safety has been maintained and disaster prevention had been ensured. On November 14, Nippon Shokubai had restrictions lifted on 11 warehouses and a common facility at the plant after public safety had been confirmed. On December 7, the company had restrictions placed on 45 facilities, which include production facilities, common facilities, warehouses, tanks, etc.

Also on November 20, 2012, Nippon Shokubai announced in a press release that Nippon Polymer Industries Company Limited (NPI) (Hyogo, Japan), a subsidiary of Nippon Shokubai, has restarted production. The neighboring NPI receives raw materials, such as acrylic acid, from the Nippon Shokubai plant.

Nippon Shokubai is planning to start dismantlement and demolition of the acrylic acid units and related utilities by April 2013. Also, it will remediate plant soil and ground water to remove and dispose of contaminants as preparation for restarting the remaining units at the Himeji plant. The company will need to do it step-by-step and receive approval from Himeji City to conduct the dismantlement and demolition. According to the Investor & Public Relations Department of Nippon Shokubai, some parts of the demolition have started. The capital investment for this dismantlement and demolition is approximately $5.6 million.

As for the restart of the remaining acrylic acid units, Nippon Shokubai is planning to begin restarting acrylic acid A-Line Units 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 and 8 and their utilities around May 2013. To restart the remaining equipment, the company will need to receive approval from the local fire department to construct equipment and area utilities to isolate and restart the undamaged units. The capital investment needed to restart the acrylic acid production lines is $33 million.

Nippon Shokubai still needs to have restrictions lifted for the remaining facilities that are still shut down. In order for Nippon Shokubai to resume production, the company must receive either an approval from Himeji City to conduct safety measures, then receive the restriction lift and install new equipment at the plant; or conduct safety measures at the plant, have restrictions lifted and install new production equipment. At this time, Nippon Shokubai is not certain which will come first. However, the company is on a path to resume production of acrylic acid.

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