Gas leak: 500kg neutralizer from Vapi flown to Vizag

Surat: Around 500kg of specialized chemical to neutralize the effect of chemical leakage from LG Polymer plant at Gopalapatnam on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam, was airlifted from Daman in an Indian Coast Guard plane on Thursday afternoon.
Para-tertiary butyl catechol or PTBC, a chemical manufactured by KK Poonja and Sons in Vapi GIDC was airlifted from the Daman airstrip, after the Andhra Pradesh government requested Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani to facilitate sending the chemical from Vapi. The gas leak took place at the LG Polymer plant in the early hours of Thursday that so far has claimed 11 lives and affected hundreds of others.
The gas leakage has impacted villages within a five-km radius of the plant. Scores of citizens have been complaining of breathlessness, nausea and other problems. Several of them have been admitted to hospitals. Partner of KK Poonja and Son, Sanjay Khatau told TOI, “We got a call from LG Polymers in early morning hours after the gas leakage incident for supplying PTBC. Due to the lockdown and non-availability of transport, the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat government coordinated swiftly and the material was airlifted within two hours from Daman airport.”
Khatau added, “The gas leakage is of styrene chemical and the polymerisation impact has to be controlled for causing further damage to the humans and environment.”
According to Khatau, the PTBC has a unique property to neutralize the polymerisation caused due to styrene gas.
Khatau company is the only manufacturer of PTBC in India and its annual production capacity is about 500 metric tonnes. “The LG polymers is our regular client and we are supplying them about 100 kilogram of PTBC per annum. Since the gas leakage was huge, there was additional requirement of 500 kg to control the polymerisation of styrene,” said Khatau. He said that the company supplies about 30% of PTBC in the domestic market and the rest is exported to Europe, USA and Middle East.