MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Cos (MGC) plans to shut a paraxylene (PX) plant for a maintenance turnaround, according to Apic-online.
A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the plant is planned to be taken offstream in February 2016. It is likely to remain shut for around 45-50 days. Currently, the plant is operating at 80-90% production capacity rates.
Located at Mizushima in Japan, the PX plant has a production capacity of 350,000 mt/year.
As MRC wrote previously, in October 2014, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co. said that it had decided to discontinue its purified terephthalic acid (PTA) business. Mitsubishi currently operates a 260,000-t/y PTA plant at Mizushima, Japan, through its Mizushima Aroma joint venture with Toyobo Co. A spokesperson at Mitsubishi, when asked for the reason behind its decision to quit the PTA business, said "we cannot anticipate improvement of the profit without global oversupply." The company is "now examining" when to exit the business, he added.
Mitsubishi Chemical with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, is a diversified chemical company involved in petrochemicals, polymers, agrochemicals, speciality chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The company's main focus is on three business pillars: petrochemicals, performance and functional products, and health care.
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