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Comment: A catalogue of TiO2 disasters

July 27, 2010 - 00:00 GMT

KEYWORDS: titanium dioxide , Reg Adams

Lack of criticism for industry despite less than perfect record

At the same time, outages affecting one supplier offer windfall opportunities for competitors to seize business from customers who have been suddenly deprived of a vital product. But what happens when the outage is over and the affected plant is back in action?

When compared against other plants, chemical plants generally notch up an unacceptably high score for serious accidents per thousand workers employed.

At a typical chemical plant, substantial volumes of toxic and corrosive fluids are circulating through pipes and reaction vessels, so the high accident risk is endemic. Most accidents are due to equipment failure, human error or a lack of rigour in following established safety protocols.

BP parallels for TiO2

The titanium dioxide (TiO2) industry seems to have had more than its fair share of accidents serious enough to cause plant shutdown and force majeure, the recent occurrences at plants in the UK and Australia being the...

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