Expansions: UBE to set up compounding facility and expand PC diol production in Thailand

Japan’s UBE Corporation has decided to establish a new compounding facility for special grades at one of its local subsidiaries in Thailand, UBE Chemicals (Asia), in response to growing demand for related products in the Asian region. The facility is scheduled to go into operation in early 2024.

Since starting production of composite products in 2002, Ube Chemicals has gradually increased its production capacity in response to market expansion in the Asian region. This time, in order to meet growing demand and high-quality requirements in the automobile and electrical and electronic equipment industries, it will establish a new production facility for high-performance composite products. At the same time, it will strengthen its cooperation with the adjacent R&D centre, UBE Technical Centre (Asia).

Ube has also acquired Repol in Spain in 2019 and Premium Composite Technology North America Inc. in US in 2020, to strengthen its global production bases in four regions of Japan, Asia, Europe and North America and promote further expansion of its composite business.

Meanwhile in related news, Ube says that it has started third expansion of its production facilities for polycarbonate diol (PCD) at one of its local subsidiaries in Thailand, The additional facility at Rayong will start operations in August 2023, making one of Ube’s core products that is mainly used as a polyol component to make high-grade polyurethane. The production capacity is planned to be increased from 8,000 to 12,000 tonnes/year.

PCD is one of UBE’s core products that is mainly used as a polyol component in the principal raw material in high-grade polyurethane. It has been adopted for a lot of uses including automotive, furniture, coatings for building materials, synthetic leather, adhesives, and other products. PCD-based polyurethane offers superior performance in resistance to heat, hydrolysis, oil, and weather (UV). It is also said to excel in many other ways, including when used as a high-grade material with a smooth texture. For these reasons, demand for PCD-based polyurethane has been growing rapidly.

There is also growing demand for PCD as a raw material for environmentally responsible water-based paints that use polyurethane dispersion (PUD) technology. These paints contain no solvents and fill a need in an environment of increasingly strict regulation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

In order to respond to further increases in demand in the future, especially in Asian region including China, UBE decided to expand its production in Thailand.

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