OQ Chemicals announced on May 29 it lifted its force majeure declaration for all products from its German plants in Oberhausen and Marl.
On May 7, the company had announced successful restart of production at the German plants after overcoming a disruption at a raw material supplier’s synthesis gas plant at the end of February. However, remaining in effect at that time was a force majeure declaration March 4 for certain products, including some that can be used as a building block in lubricants.
On March 4, the company had said the problem stemmed from a Feb. 27 accident at the unit that supplies synthesis gas to OQ as raw material for further processing. The raw material supplier’s affected unit was automatically shut down. The synthesis gas production stoppage had led to supply constraints for certain products that OQ Chemicals manufactured in Germany.
“All plants are now fully operational and producing at nameplate capacity,” OQ said in the May 29 press release. During the operational pause, OQ Chemicals said it implemented enhancements to optimize production processes, such as data flows and work processes, across asset management, operations technology, and engineering.
Impacted products with applications in lubricant production included neopentyl glycol and isononanoic acid. Neopentyl glycol can be used in making products such as synthetic lubricants, greases, hydraulic fluids and metalworking fluids. Isononanoic acids are carboxylic acids that can be used to make synthetic polyol ester-based lubricants for use in industries, including refrigeration and aviation. Other products impacted by the force majeure declaration include isobutyraldehyde, n-butyraldehyde, n-butanol, i-butanol, 2-ethylhexanol, n-butyl acetate, n-butylamine (all grades), TCD Alcohol DM, n-propionaldehyde, isovaleraldehyde, 2-methylbutyric acid, 2-ethylhexanoic acid, n-butyric acid, isobutyric acid, isopentanoic acid, isovaleric acid, n-valeric acid, OXSOFT 3G8 and OXFILM 351.