Expansions: Invista to double PA6.6 capacity in Shanghai; Sumitomo Chemical to expand capacity for high-purity chemicals for semiconductors

Invista Nylon Chemicals (China) Co. plans to double its current nylon 6,6 polymer production at Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP) and signed a memorandum of cooperation with SCIP recently. Following a 40,000-tonne/year capacity increase in 2020, this new increased production, with an investment of US$230 million, will double the plant capacity to 400,000 tonnes/year and strengthen its integrated nylon 6,6 value chain in China. The new capacity will also enable Invista to more quickly respond to the growing demand for engineering plastics in automotive, electrical and electronics, and other application fields.

The need for nylon 6,6 polymer rose drastically in recent years. The estimated compound annual growth rate for nylon 6,6 through 2029 is approximately 2 percent globally and 4 percent for China*. We anticipate China's demand for nylon products will account for more than half of the total production and consumption of nylon in the Asia-Pacific region and is expected to become the world's largest nylon consumer.

Located at SCIP, the expanded production line will be equipped with six batch autoclaves and three continuous polymerization lines. The additional capacity will support the development of engineering polymer, industrial and apparel segments, and satisfy the downstream application requirements for nylon 6,6 products and solutions, including stronger mechanical properties, higher temperature resistance, and higher heat resistance.

“The growing nylon 6,6 polymer demand in China and the Asia Pacific region has encouraged us to continue our investments over the past years. With this expanded capacity, we will be able to help our customers meet their growing demands for nylon products,” said Pete Brown, Invista’s executive vice president of nylon polymer.

Construction of the product lines is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2022 and be in operation in first quarter of 2024. Supporting the expansion is Invista’s upcoming Asia Innovation Centre, which will bring strengthened research and service capabilities to support downstream partners as they seize growth opportunities driven by innovation and high-quality development.

Invista is also constructing a 400,000-tonne/year ADN plant in Shanghai.

In other news, Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical has decided to expand its production capacity for high-purity chemicals for semiconductors. The company will install new production lines to double the capacity for high-purity sulfuric acid at its Ehime Works (Niihama city, Ehime, Japan) and increase the capacity for high-purity ammonia water at the Iksan Plant of Dongwoo Fine-Chem Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary in South Korea, by approximately 40%. The new production lines are due to commence operation in the first half of fiscal 2024 for Ehime Works, and the second half of fiscal 2023 for the Iksan Plant.

Sumitomo Chemical’s business of high-purity chemicals for semiconductors got its start in 1978, when the company began the production of sulphuric acid and nitric acid for semiconductors at its Chiba Works in Japan. The production of high-purity sulphuric acid at the Ehime Works commenced in 1991, and today the company actively engages in this business in Japan, South Korea, and China.

High-purity chemicals used in the semiconductor production process, mainly for precision cleaning, are manufactured by using ultra-high purification technology to reduce impurities down to a parts-per-trillion level in order to prevent foreign materials such as metal and organic impurities from affecting both quality and yield of semiconductors.

Sumitomo Chemical says its products meet those stringent requirements to eliminate impurities in every step from manufacturing to delivery and has put in place a rigorous quality assurance system based on nano-scale impurity analytical technology. In addition, the company has been receiving high acclaim from semiconductor manufacturers in and outside Japan for its delivery track record over many years to customers’ advanced production lines and agility in adapting its supply capacity to increases in demand.

With Dongwoo Fine-Chem operating two production bases, the Pyeongtaek and Iksan Plants, in South Korea and Sumika Electronic Materials (Xi'an) Co., Ltd. and Sumika Electronic Materials (Changzhou) Co., Ltd., subsidiaries in China, manufacturing and selling high-purity chemicals in the country, the Sumitomo Chemical Group has built a global supply system focused on being close to its customers’ production sites.

The semiconductor device market has continued to grow, driven by demand for 5G smartphones and, amid lifestyle changes, increased demand for personal computers and data centre-related equipment. Against this backdrop, demand for high-purity chemicals, which are essential to the semiconductor production process, is expected to continue to increase strongly. By the capacity expansion both in Ehime and Korea, the Sumitomo Chemical Group will provide a stable supply of high-purity chemicals.

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