Huntsman (chemical plant)

Huntsman Chemical Company of Australia Pty Ltd (HCCA) operated a complex chemical manufacturing plant in Somerville Rd Brooklyn in Melbourne. The site is approximately 40 hectares in size and is located in the City of Brimbank. HCCA was partially owned by the Huntsman Corporation.

The site was established in 1941 during World War II to manufacture aspirin and sulfa drugs. For most of its life the site has been owned and operated by the Monsanto Company Corporation. In 1988 Monsanto sold all of its Australian non-agricultural operations to Consolidated Press Holdings and Chemplex Australia Ltd was created. In 1993 Consolidated Press Holdings and Huntsman Chemical Corporation established the present joint venture partnership i.e. Huntsman Chemical Company of Australia Pty Ltd. The plant was shut down in December 2009 with the polyester business sold to Nuplex.

Styrene is produced in a continuous plant that was commissioned in 1977. The Styrene Plant consists of 7 units

This is located at the west end of the site near Market Rd. These tanks are used to store for raw materials for the other units of the Styrene Plant. The company purchases amination grade benzene and also a material called BTX. Both are liquids. BTX stands for Benzene, Toluene, and Xylene. BTX is a mixture of these chemical species plus many other species. Both liquids are stored in large steel tanks surrounded by concrete bunds. The tanks vent to a pair of carbon beds that collect most of the gaseous discharge from the tanks. When road tankers unload liquid benzene or BTX into the respective tanks, vapour rich in these materials is discharged from the tank vent and is trapped in activated carbon beds. Benzene and BTX are purchased overseas and is transported to nearby Coode Island where it is unloaded from ships and stored in a similar tank farm before being transported by road to the West Footscray site. The tank farm also contains similar tanks that contain the finished product styrene monomer and various intermediate liquids. See descriptions of these materials in the other sections below.

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