Nippon Shokubai Co. (Osaka, Japan; www.shokubai.co.jp) has decided to build a new production plant for superabsorbent polymers (SAP) at its existing Himeji plant site. The new plant will have an annual capacity of 50,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr). The company will apply its latest production technology to this new SAP facility. After validation of this technology at the Himeji plant, it will be applied to future SAP production facilities worldwide. With the start of the new SAP plant at Himeji, Nippon Shokubai’s global SAP production capacity will be 610,000 m.t./yr. Mechanical completion of the plant is scheduled for June 2016.
In addition to this expansion at the Himeji plant, Nippon Shokubai is also planning further large-scale expansions in Belgium and other regions, as planned in the new longterm business plan, which was announced in April 2014.