JGC Corp. (Yokohama, Japan; www.jgc.com) has been awarded the contract for the construction of a Methionine production facility for Sumitomo Chemical Company, Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan; www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp).
This new plant, which will be constructed alongside Sumitomo Chemical’s existing factory located in Niihama City, Ehime Prefecture, is scheduled to be completed in the middle of 2018. JGC will be responsible for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the complete set of methionine processing facility.
Methionine is a type of amino acid used as an indispensable feed additive to encourage the growth of poultry. As a result of the increasing consumption of poultry in recent years, especially in developing countries, there has been a growing demand for methionine for adding to poultry feed. The present project to construct a new facility to produce methionine is indicative of Sumitomo Chemical’s response to this increase in the global demand for this product.
While domestic chemical makers are continuing the production of high value-added specialty products in Japan, there is an apparent trend for the production of general petro-chemical and chemical products to be moved overseas. Against this background, JGC seeks to respond closely to these moves by domestic chemical makers through contributing to the realization of facilities for the production of high value-added products within Japan while also leveraging its extensive overseas experience to offer JGC’s services in support of those moves to establish production facilities in other countries.