Invista (Wichita, Kansas; www.invista.com) celebrated the grand opening of its nylon 6,6 facility, including a new 215,000-metric ton (m.t.) hexamethylene diamine (HMD) plant and a 150,000-m.t. polymer plant, at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP) in China. Officials from SCIP and the Jinshan government, utility and service providers, materials suppliers and neighbors joined Invista employees for the ceremony.
“As a world leader throughout the nylon 6,6 value chain, Invista is proud to have built this new facility with its most advanced technologies and provide a local supply base to support our customers’ growing demand in China and Asia,” said Kevin Robles, Invista’s senior vice president of global Operations. “Our constant commitment to environmental health and safety excellence was underscored by this project’s completion with nearly 10 million safe work hours.”
Bill Greenfield, president of Invista Intermediates, said, “We believe that China’s continued strong GDP growth will drive increasing demand for durable goods—products that can be enhanced by the use of nylon 6,6.” Greenfield added, “We are glad this facility will help advance the development of the nylon 6,6 industry in China, in line with national industry development goals.”
Invista ‘s nylon 6,6 products are used in applications such as apparel and industrial textiles, air bags, carpet, coatings and more. Known for its strength at high temperature as well as impact, chemical and abrasion resistance, nylon 6,6 offers significant advantages in many applications over other materials that have traditionally been used in China.