At around 9:30 p.m. EST on July 14th, a fire broke out at the Dow Chemical Plaquemine plant in Plaquemine, Louisiana, USA, and a series of explosions occurred.
According to local media reports, a total of six explosions were detected at the Plaquemine plant at the time. Witnesses living nearby filmed huge flames and said the blast wave could be felt miles away. After the incident, residents within a radius of 0.5 miles (about 805 meters) of the factory were asked to shelter at home.
According to public information, Dow Chemical was founded in 1897 and is headquartered in Midland, Michigan, USA. It is one of the largest chemical companies in the world. It mainly develops and produces a series of chemical products, plastics and agrochemical products, and its business covers agriculture and construction. , electronics, energy and many other fields. Among them, Dow Chemical has a wide range of applications and profound technical accumulation in the field of semiconductor components.
As an important supplier of semiconductor-grade chemicals in the world, Dow Chemical not only has a high-purity chemical product line, but also provides a series of lithography materials including photoresists, lithography solvents, lithography auxiliary agents, etc., and in CMP materials (such as polishing pads, polishing liquid, etc.) also has deep market accumulation and leading technology. Therefore, the explosion at the Dow Chemical factory has aroused the attention of many people in the semiconductor industry.
In response to this incident, some media pointed out that the explosion at the Plaquemine factory mainly occurred in the Gylcol 2 department in the factory building, which mainly deals with ethylene oxide, a flammable and highly carcinogenic chemical substance.
However, the Dow Chemical Company issued a statement saying that no release of gas that could have affected the outside of the plant was detected during the accident. "The Dow Chemical Emergency Operations Center is working closely with local and state agencies to respond to the incident at the Plaquemine, Louisiana plant site following the incident. All personnel have been determined to be safe and no hazardous airborne contamination has been detected. substance."
In addition, the local air monitoring results also show that the factory involved has not found any leakage of dangerous chemicals. This is undoubtedly good news for nearby residents, because chemical spills may pose a threat to their health and safety.
As of press time, the explosion accident is still under investigation, and it is not yet clear what caused the fire and the extent of the damage to the factory. Fortunately, there have been no reports of casualties.
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