TIMELINE: Recent chemical disasters in China

LONDON (ICIS news)–China’s industrial safety records have been a perennial mystery but in recent years, as the world’s most populous nation opens up its society, a damning view is emerging as authorities work over-time to raise standards and compliance.

Listed below are some of the major chemical accidents in China over the past three years.

9 January 2007–Sinopec Baling shut one of its two caprolactam units at Yueyang, Hunan province, after an explosion at the unit’s reactor. No one was hurt in the accident.

11 December 2006–Three people were killed in an explosion at PetroChina subsidiary Lanzhou Petroleum and Chemical’s maleic anhydride unit.

12 November 2006–Three people were injured after 20-tonne storage tanks exploded at Shanghai Huayi Acrylic Acid.

29 October 2006–Xinjiang Dushanzi Petrochemical, a subsidiary of PetroChina, suffered an explosion in a 100,000m3 crude oil tank due to the evaporation of combustibles from the antiseptic paint, killing 26.

18 October 2006–The distillation section of Nantong Dasheng Chemicals’ peroxide plant exploded causing one death and four injuries.

17 October 2006–An explosion at Jiangsu Sopo’s acetic acid plant killed one and injured four. Acetic acid prices surge after the accident.

11 September 2006–Daqing Petrochemical shut its 600,000 tonnes/year cracker at Daqing, Heilongjiang province, after its heat exchanger caught fire.

8 September 2006–Seventeen workers were injured in an explosion at the hydrofuran recovery reactor at Zhejiang NHU Co.

28 August 2006–Sixteen deaths were reported in the explosion at Dangtu Longsheng Chemicals Co Ltd in Anhui Province. The fire started in the desulphurization unit after flame from grinding wheel mixed with flammable gas.

28 August 2006–Two workers were killed and one seriously injured in an explosion at Longsheng Chemical’s fertilizer plant.

21 August 2006–Sinopec Jinling Petrochemical’s fertilizer plant exploded after inflammable gas leaked from the pipeline of a coal-water slurry gasifier.

13 August 2006–Five workers were injured in an explosion at a phosphoric acid unit operated by Yunnan Malong Chemicals and Construction at Anning in Yunnan province, China.

7 August 2006–Tianjin Yishen Fine Chemicals Science& Development Co Ltd which is located in Tianjin Xinda Industrial Zone was hit by fire after an explosion in its nitrification retort. The fire was brought under control in one hour but resulted in nine deaths and three hurt.

28 July 2006–Without authorization by the government, Yancheng Fuyuan Chemicals Co in Jiangsu Province starts its production. A blast in the fluorination reactor kills 22 and injuring 29.

28 July 2006–Three people died and at least 12 others were injured in an explosion at Fadun Chemical Plant in eastern China.

28 July 2006–Four people were injured after a blast at a hydrogen peroxide production facility at Shanghai Yuanda Peroxide plant in Baoshan District in northern Shanghai.

18 July 2006–Two workers were injured after a waste water treatment tank exploded at Dairen Chemical’s ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) plant in China.

15 June 2006–Zhejiang Longxin Chemical Plant, a hydrogen peroxide producer in Zhejiang Province was hit by a fire which caused two death. Poisonous gases set off by the fire polluted the Oujiang River.

29 May 2006–An explosion at Lanzhou Chemical Industrial Co’s aniline unit killed four workers and injured 11 others.

6 April 2006–One was hurt in a fire at Harbin Xinxing Chemical Factory. Five of its nine storage tanks were damaged by the fire.

28 March 2006–Over 100 villagers were hospitalised after a chlorine gas leak at Ningbo Donggang Electrochemical in eastern China. At least four suffered serious poisoning and went into a coma.

4 February 2006–Three out of four processing tanks at Shaanxi Jintai Chlor-alkali Chemical collapsed and spewed 2,000 tonne of alkaline waste water, which contained sulphides, into the Wuding River.

25 November 2005–An explosion at a pharmaceutical factory in Dianjiang county, Chongqing city killed one person and injured three others. The explosion at Yingte Chemical also caused a benzene leak. Two schools near the plant were shut after the accident.

13 November 2005–Explosions at the Jilin Petrochemicals aniline plant, which killed 5 workers, resulted in the leakage of 100 tonnes of aniline, benzene and nitrobenzene into the 1,850km Songhua River, the main water source for millions living in Heilongjiang in north eastern China.

14 July 2005–Three people were hurt in a fire after benzene leaked from a train in Fushun at Liaoning province. More than 1,000 residents were evacuated and seven houses were destroyed in the accident.

24 June 2005–A truck carrying 13 tonnes of acrylonitrile (ACN) overturned on an expressway at Huaian, Jiangsu province. The truck exploded, killing the driver and leaked ACN. Authorities evacuated 12,000 residents in nearby towns and villages.

21 April 2005–Dongxi Chemical Plant at Gunan, in Chongqing, China suffered a blast in emulsification section due to the thunder weather which results in 12 deaths.

29 March 2005–A tank truck carrying liquid chlorine turns over on the road in Huai’an, Jiangsu Province in China, and killing 28 after toxic gas were released from the chlorine leakage.

27 October 2004–Daqing Petrochemical’s desulfuriser unit at Heilongjiang, Daqing province, exploded, killing at least two people. Five people were missing.

29 February 2004–Ammonia and nitrogen from Sichuan Chemical Works Group’s urea plant leaked into in the Tuo River, a tributary of China’s Yangtze River. About 1m residents were deprived of drinking and bathing water for about three days.

23 December 2003–Petro-NO.16H well of China Southwest Oil & Gas Fields faced a natural gas blow out, which led to 243 deaths from the toxicosis by sulfureted hydrogen.