Mitsubishi companies will merge acrylonitrile businesses

Mitsubishi Rayon Co. (Tokyo, Japan) plans to merge its acrylonitrile operations with those of Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (Tokyo). The company will have sales of about ¥30 billion its first year.

Slated to begin operations April 1, 2001, the 50-50 joint venture will combine Mitsubishi Chemical's 115,000 mt/yr Mizushima unit and Mitsubishi Rayon's 90,000 mt/yr Otake facility. The company will also make acrylamide.

It will supply acrylonitrile feedstock for the partners' downstream acrylic fiber operations. Mitsubishi Rayon is Japan's largest acrylic fiber producer.

The new company will operate about one-quarter of Japan's total acrylonitrile capacity. Still, it will rank far behind Japan's top producer, Asahi Chemical Industry Co., with 400,000 mt/yr capacity.

"The merger plan is primarily for the purpose of surviving in the international acrylonitrile business," says Mitsubishi Chemical president Kanji Shono.

Mitsubishi Rayon also plans to boost its presence in the methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomer business. The world's fourth largest MMA manufacturer, it has a strong regional presence in Asian markets. It says its newest MMA plant, Thai MMA Co., Ltd., has been running full out since it opened in April 1999.

Now Mitsubishi Rayon wants to launch the business on a global stage. It says it has begun a feasibility study to build a 100,000-150,000 mt/yr MMA facility in Texas.

It is also considering an adjacent 12,000 mt/yr specialty monomers plant adjacent to the MMA unit. Plans for the US facility arise from the strong performance of two of the company's US subsidiaries, San Esters Co., Ltd., which sells specialty monomers, and Dianal America Inc., a coating resins supplier.

In addition, Mitsubishi Rayon has begun a feasibility study for a new polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) pellet unit in Southeast Asia and an additional MMA monomer facility in Asia.

Mitsubishi Rayon says startup dates for these facilities range between late 2003 and the middle of 2004, when it expects MMA shortages to hit US markets. Since MRC already produces MMA-based acrylic coating resins, sheets, and additives in the United States, it wants to develop feedstocks for its own escalating demand.

Edited by Alan S. Brown
Managing Editor, Chemical Online
abrown@vertical.net

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