Japan’s Nippon Shokubai has announced that its subsidiary PT.NIPPON SHOKUBAI INDONESIA (NSI) recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of its acrylic acid (AA) plant in Cilegon, Banten, Indonesia with a production capacity of 100,000 tonnes per year.
Currently, the site can produce 140,000 tonnes per year of AA and will be increased to 240,000 tonnes per year after the completion of the expansion in 2021. The investment in the new plant is approximately $200 million.
“Acrylic acid, one of Nippon Shokubai’s core businesses, shows steady growth of demand as a key material for superabsorbent polymers (SAP) and acrylates (AES). In recent years, the demand and supply balance of acrylic acid is highly tight especially in Asia”, said the company in a statement.
“To accommodate the demand and fulfill its responsibility to supply products, Nippon Shokubai concluded to expand the capacity of its plant in Indonesia in October 2018”, it added.
With this new plant, the group’s global acrylic acid production capacity will be increased from 880,000 to 980,000 tonnes per year.
