Invista (Wichita, Kan.) announced that INVISTA Nylon Chemicals (China) Co. held the inauguration ceremony for its new adiponitrile (ADN) plant at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP). Being a critical part of INVISTA’s integrated nylon 6,6 value chain, the plant, which is a more than 7 billion RMB (over 1 billion USD) investment, has a capacity of 400,000-ton/year and is the largest capital project in in the company’s history. The plant will further boost local production capability for nylon 6,6 and help accelerate the high-quality upgrades of the Chinese chemical industry.
The ADN plant inauguration is one of the core activities of SCIP’s Integrated Nylon Base launch event. Zhang Wei; member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, vice mayor of Shanghai Municipal People’s Government and Fu Xiangsheng, vice chairman of China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation sent congratulatory videos; Ma Jing, director general of Shanghai Chemical Industry Park Administrative Committee; and other officials from related Shanghai Municipal Government agencies and representatives of SCIP attended the event. INVISTA senior executives included Gary Knight, global vice president of Operations, INVISTA Nylon Enterprise; Kyle Redinger, vice president of Nylon Intermediates, Asia Pacific; and Angela Dou, director of Intermediates, Asia. Jeff Gentry, INVISTA chairman and CEO, shared remarks via video.
“We are excited about the completion of ADN plant and are grateful for SCIP’s support through the entire project,” said Gary Knight, “INVISTA believes that China will be the largest consumer for nylon 6,6 in the near future, and the plant reinforces our long-term commitment by providing the key building block to produce nylon polymers. Together with our partners and customers, we hope to realize the full potential of the nylon industry and downstream applications areas.”
“Today we are here to witness the signing, groundbreaking and start-up of several projects, which are led by the INVISTA ADN project that further enhances the efficiency and stability of the nylon 6,6 value and supply chains. These projects, like ‘water from the source,’ will contribute to Shanghai’s nylon industry development and future material industrial zones,” said Zhang Wei.
The new plant deploys INVISTA’s most advanced, proprietary, butadiene-based adiponitrile technology. In addition to advantages in commercial scale and overall efficiency, INVISTA’s ADN technology and manufacturing process result in up to 60% lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to propylene-based ADN and up to 80% lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to adipic acid-based ADN *. Once in full operation, the new plant can support 800,000 tons of nylon 6,6 production every year.
In line with the need for reduced cost and improving demand, INVISTA’s nylon 6,6 value chain integrates the recently opened INVISTA Asia Innovation Center and existing HMD and polymer sites, providing a comprehensive capability ranging from application development and raw materials to high-performance polymer supply. ADN can be used to make nylon polymer, fibers and other specialty materials such as hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) for coatings.
During the event, INVISTA also announced the start of construction for the project to double its nylon 6,6 polymer capacity to 400,000-ton/year.
