The authorities of the Rhine-Palatinate Environmental Protection Authority have criticized BASF's information policy after the mid-October incident involving the chemical giant's new TDI plant with a capacity of 300,000 t / a in Ludwigshafen. , The security department also concluded that the contaminated bubble will not cause more risks to health.
On October 10, BASF informed the Environmental Protection Agency and its customers that about 7,500 tonnes of TDI produced during the period from 25 August to 29 September were contaminated with dichlorobenzene and that dichlorobenzene was a potentially carcinogenic substance.
During this period, the predecessor of the elastic foam - especially for the foam in the mattress - has been provided to the customer. Pollution begins when exposure is detected by a mattress manufacturer.
BASF made the following amendments to the contaminated TDI data mentioned above, claiming that only 6900 tonnes were affected, 10 years after the accident, and without any special instructions, however, the Minister of the Environment, Ulrike Höfken, The supply of a problematic product over a period of time indicates that there is a lack of quality control and information policy in the factory, and she calls for an improvement in the inspection process to ensure that the material delivered to the customer is free of residual solvents.
On October 20, BASF claimed that it had recalled about 30% of the problems in the TDI, and set the terms and then recover 50%. Those who have been processed into foam products will be recalled from the customer and then processed.
BASF believes that contaminated products will not pose any threat to human health, this conclusion has also been supported by individual authorities, including the German Federal Risk Assessment. Last weekend, BASF will be known for this event and thus shut down the factory closed again The
The large-scale isocyanate plant in Ludwigshafen has a total investment of € 1 billion, which includes eight different production processes, in addition to TDI, which has been plagued by problems from the start.
Even before the start of the construction, a World War II bomb was found in the soil, and the start was delayed for a year because the bomb had to be demolished.
After the start of the third quarter of 2015, the plant had to stop production due to a technical defect at the end of 2016, and its reactor was replaced by a smaller backup, which was reopened only in February 2017.
Nearly a year ago, after a fatal accident at the Ludwigshafen plant, the company faced a lot of criticism about its information policy, BASF CEO Kurt Bock said the group might have to reflect on its own practice in crisis communication