US-headquartered Invista has several patents pending on a new nylon 12 monomer technology, which the global polymer company will soon produce at pilot scale. With this new technology, Invista says it will be a significant supplier of nylon 12 polymer, providing solutions to meet the growing industry needs. The firm is also seeking market input and feedback almost immediately and expects to begin product qualifications as early as 2015. After that, the company plans to begin scaling up of the new process and prepare for full scale manufacturing.

“If the pilot is successful, Invista will become the first new, fully integrated nylon 12 producer in more than 30 years,” said Ed Sullivan, Global Business Director, C12 intermediates. “In addition, based upon results to date, we believe Invista’s nylon 12 technology is simpler and more efficient than existing technologies.”

“Our nylon 12 chemical intermediates were critical to assisting the market during the industry’s shortage in 2012. Since then, in an effort to provide this market with more supply options, we have been researching novel approaches to the production of nylon 12 monomer and other long chain molecules,” said Sullivan.

Nylon 12 is a key component found in many challenging and safety-critical applications, such as automotive fuel lines, brake lines, natural gas transport lines and some medical devices.

“During the last several years, Invista’s businesses have made significant investments in product and application development capabilities and manufacturing assets for a growing range of polymers and engineered compounds,” said Kurt Burmeister, Executive Vice-President, Engineering Polymers.

“These investments are based on the company’s existing integrated production of intermediate materials and its polymerisation expertise. We are now applying these capabilities to the high-performance polyamide value chain, including polymers such as nylon 6,6, nylon 6,12 and nylon 12.”

Invista’s innovations across the entire nylon value chain include its raw materials such as butadiene, intermediates such as its new adiponitrile (ADN) technology, and downstream products such as the company’s Torzen engineering polymers.