Lubrizol restarts production in Rouen, France

Lubrizol France’s additive manufacturing facility in Rouen, France, which has been closed since a mercaptan leak on January 21, received approval to restart production, except for the unit responsible for the leak. Lubrizol France is a subsidiary of U.S.-based Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary Lubrizol Corp., headquartered in Wickliffe, Ohio.
The Rouen plant experienced a malfunction in one unit on January 21. This incident released emissions of mercaptan, a gas with a very strong, unpleasant odor. Moreover, the local incident became national when the mercaptan odor first noticed in Seine-Maritime later spread from the English Channel to the Paris region, according to a press release issued by the Prefect of Seine-Maritime and published in the Lubrizol website.
The Rouen site employs 300 people to manufacture additives for fuels and lubricants. Although the additives production unit where the leak occurred has been cleaned and checked by the French Regional Department of the Environment, Planning and Housing (DREAL), it will not be able to reopen until Lubrizol produces a complete report on the cause of the accident and the measures the company is taking to prevent a repetition of the incident.