Ube Industries, Ltd. (Ube; Tokyo, Japan; www.ube-ind.co.jp) has announced that its Thai subsidiary, UBE Fine Chemicals (Asia) Co., will open a production facility for polycarbonate diol (PCD) to meet rising global demand. The new facility is designed to manufacture 3,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of PCD and is scheduled to start production in October 2015.
The completion of the new production facility in Thailand will bring the UBE Group’s annual production capacity up to 11,000 m.t./yr, including 2,000 m.t./yr in Japan, 6,000 m.t./yr in Spain, and the 3,000 m.t./yr in Thailand. With the addition of the new facility, the UBE Group will strengthen its global supply network as the largest manufacturer of PCD in the world.
PCD is one of Ube Industries’ core products in the fine chemicals segment. It is mainly used as a polyol component in the principal raw material in high-grade polyurethane. Applications for PCD-based polyurethane are expanding as more and more users recognize it as a highly functional new material suitable in a wide range of fields, including automotive, furniture, building materials, coatings for electronic devices, artificial leather, adhesives and other products.