Shanghai - Invista has announced plans to add 40,000 tons of nylon 6,6 polymer capacity at its current 150,000-ton polymer plant at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP).
Construction is targeted for mid-2019 and production would begin in 2020.
“We are continuing to make strategic investments to best meet our customers’ needs,” said Pete Brown, Invista vice president of nylon polymer. “In looking at our forecast for the future growth of the nylon 6,6 polymer market, we see increased demand in Asia and are expanding our capacity to meet that demand.”
Invista says that the project aligns with the company's other recent announcements regarding additional capacity in the nylon 6,6 value chain. These include new the adiponitrile (ADN) plant announced for China by 2023, additional ADN capacity resulting from retrofits of its latest ADN technology at Butachimie, and the joint venture with Solvay in France in 2019 and at its Victoria, Texas, site, targeted for 2020.
The company has also highlighted the ADN production records at its Orange, Texas, site.
“We’ve invested more than $1 billion in the nylon 6,6 value chain in the past five years," added Brown. "We have recently committed to investing $1 billion more and are continuing to evaluate the market for additional opportunities in the future.”
Invista also has a 215,000-ton hexamethylenediamine (HMD) plant at SCIP.