Power Outage Halts PA Production at Stepan Plant

Chemical solutions firm Stepan said Wednesday that it was forced to declare a force majeure for its supply of phthalic anhydride (PA) and some of its surfactant products after a power outage on February 20 disrupted production at its Millsdale, IL facility. 

The outage caused issues for the site’s waste water treatment plant, leading Stepan to stop production of PA and surfactants at the site, the company said in a release.

“Our team has been working diligently, and I am pleased to report that the waste water treatment plant at our Millsdale facility is back in operation, which has allowed us to restart the production of surfactant products at the facility,” said Stepan President and Chief Executive Officer F. Quinn Stepan Jr. in a statement. “As we build surfactant inventories, we anticipate lifting the force majeure by product line.”

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Located near Joliet, IL, the facility manufactures alkoxylates, alpha sulfo methyl esters, amides, amine oxides, esters, sulfonates, sulfates, blends, phosphate esters, quaternaries, polyols, PA and urethane systems. 

“We expect PA production at Millsdale will remain down for approximately two to three weeks and the force majeure declaration for PA remains in effect,” the CEO said. “We remain committed to working with customers to minimize supply disruptions.”

Earlier this month, Stepan released its full year results for 2019, reporting that its total sales volume slipped by 2%.

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