MOSCOW (MRC) -- Asahi Kasei (Tokyo, Japan) is likely to shut its naphtha cracker permanently, reported Apic-online.
A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the cracker is planned to be shut permanently in April 2016.
Located in Mizushima, Japan, the cracker has an ethylene capacity of 470,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 300,000 mt/year.
We remind that, as MRC informed previously, Asahi Kasei Chemicals has developed AZP as a new optical polymer featuring zero birefringence achieved through novel molecular design. Manufacturing facilities for AZP will be constructed at the company’s Chiba Plant (Sodegaura, Chiba, Japan), with start-up scheduled for early next year.
Besides, Asahi Kasei’s Fibers division will expand production capacity for polypropylene spunbond nonwovens in Thailand at its subsidiary Asahi Kasei Spunbond (Thailand) Co. AKST will add a new production line of 20,000 metric tons per year capacity which, combined with its existing production line, will double its capacity for spunbond nonwovens to 40,000 m.t/yr. The investment for the capacity expansion is approximately USD5 billion, with a scheduled startup of November 2015.
MRC