Residents living within a 1-kilometre radius of Ming Dih Chemical factory in Samut Prakan have been allowed to return home, as the chemical pollution from a plastic factory explosion has been contained.
Samut Prakan governor Wanchai Kongkasem yesterday said the evacuation protocol has been lifted, but despite the successful control of air pollution, residue of the chemical styrene monomer remains in soil and water around the factory in Soi King Kaew 21 of tambon Bang Phli Yai.
Mr Wanchai said the removal of the remaining chemicals kept at the factory began on Saturday at noon. Four or five road tankers able each with a capacity of 24,000 litres per vehicle took the chemicals to be destroyed at Akkhie Prakarn Public Co Ltd at the Bang Pu Industrial Estate in Muang district.
The relocation is expected to be finished in five days, Mr Wanchai added.
The truckers will put the chemicals into three tanks, able to contain 600 tonnes of chemicals each, provided by the Akkhie Prakarn Public Co Ltd, before being incinerated at a temperature of 1,000°C.
The company's deputy managing director, Rerngchai Rurngpayoongsak, said that the plant will incinerate only a tonne per hour to reduce the risks inherent in the process and the tankers will be injected with nitrogen to avoid heat ignition during the transfer to the incinerator, he said.