Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (MCI; Tokyo; www.mitsuichem.com) has expanded its production facilities for meltblown nonwovens at its wholly owned subsidiary Sunrex Industry Co., Ltd. The move comes as an effort to respond to growing demand for industrial-use meltblown nonwovens, and will increase the Mitsui Chemicals Group’s overall production capacity for these materials by 50 percent. The expanded plant is located in Asakecho, Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture. Construction of the expansion began in August 2018 and business operations officially commenced in January 2020.
Mitsui Chemicals is positioning its nonwovens business as a growth sector, making efforts here to supply high-quality nonwovens as industrial materials for a variety of applications. This includes use in car seats, masks and agricultural sheets. With particular respect to SYNTEX MB nano products, marketing efforts are going toward use in filters and other applications that will take advantage of the meltblown nonwovens line’s superfine fibers, which are less than several hundred nanometers in diameter.
Through this latest facility expansion, Mitsui Chemicals plans to further bolster and grow its business for nonwovens going forward.