MOSCOW (MRC) -- Asahi Kasei and Mitsubishi Chemical on Wednesday announced that they have received all necessary regulatory approvals to establish the previously announced 50-50 joint venture company Asahi Kasei Mitsubishi Chemical Ethylene (Tokyo), which will combine the companies' naphtha cracking operations at Mizushima, Japan, said Chemweek.
The new jv will become operational on 1 April. Asahi Kasei and Mitsubishi Chemical have also announced that Makoto Sakamoto has been appointed president and Hiroaki Numata v.p. of Asahi Kasei Mitsubishi Chemical Ethylene, effective 1 April. Sakamoto is currently general manager of the basic chemicals division of Asahi Kasei, and Numata is the assistant to the COO at Mitsubishi Chemical's basic petrochemicals division.
Mitsubishi Chemical and Asahi Kasei previously operated separate crackers at separate Mizushima sites each with capacity for 500,000 m.t./year of ethylene. The two plants will be consolidated at the Mitsubishi Chemical cracker, and that plant will expand its ethylene capacity to 570,000 m.t./year. Asahi Kasei and Mitsubishi Chemical have decided to consolidate their cracker operations at Mizushima because the operating climate for petrochemical businesses in Japan has become challenging.
The companies announced the plans in 2010, and a feasibility study for the project was completed in 2014. The Mizushima naphtha crackers of the two companies are currently operated by a jv called Nishi Nippon Ethylene, which was established in 2011. After Asahi Kasei Mitsubishi Chemical Ethylene starts up, Nishi Nippon Ethylene will be involved in removing and disposing of equipment as required after naphtha production is consolidated. Sakamoto and Numata will be concurrently appointed as representatives of Nishi Nippon Ethylene on 1 April, the companies say.
As MRC informed earlier, Asahi Kasei in February 2016 shut a styrene monomer (SM) plant permanently. Located in Mizushima, Japan, the plant had a production capacity of 320,000 mt/year.
Asahi Kasei Corporation is a global Japanese chemical company. Its main products are chemicals and materials science.
Mitsubishi Chemical with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, is a diversified chemical company involved in petrochemicals, polymers, agrochemicals, speciality chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The company's main focus is on three business pillars: petrochemicals, performance and functional products, and health care.
MRC