Ichihara,Hexene and Aniline production

Ichihara changes

With the changing market for chemical feed stocks and products MCI announced in January 2009 that it was changing the face of production at its Ishihara works.
MCI will also reorganise its corporate structure by April 2009 to replace a current product portfolio which competes with Middle East products to an added-value product portfolio employing differentiated technology and which does not compete with Middle Eastern suppliers.
The first step will be the termination of the Ichihara EOG (ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol) plant due to large amounts of ethylene glycol being produced in Asia and the Middle East making the market uncompetitive (used to produce polyester fibre and antifreeze).

Market conditions for domestic ethylene glycol are expected to become extremely dull due to large supplies of EG coming from numerous plants newly established in the Middle East and Asia. The Ichihara EOG plant will be shut down in November 2009. The 80,000 tons of ethylene used at the Ichihara Works for EOG production will then be diverted to production of value-added products.
MCI intends to construct a new 1-hexene plant that will use 40,000tpa of the ethylene surplus producing 30,000tpa by ethylene trimerisation using a new 600-fold chromium catalyst. The plant, which will require an investment of 7.5bn yen, will begin construction in November 2009 and is expected to be completed by October 2010 with commercial operation starting in December 2010.

Hexene

1-hexene is used as co-monomer of HAO-LLDPE (high-alpha olefin-linear low-density polyethylene) and HDPE (high-density polyethylene). The global consumption of the chemical is around 650,000tpa with an expected growth rate of 6% to 7% per annum.

MCI in a joint venture with Idemitsu Kosan Company Ltd, as Prime Polymer Co Ltd, uses 1-Hexene to produce a metallocene linear low-density polyethylene called Evolue using gas-phase polymerisation (for this production 1-hexene has previously been purchased from external suppliers).

The output of Evolue will increase from 240,000tpa to 300,000tpa. Evolue has superior strength, transparency, and sealing properties than other linear low density polyethylenes produced with Ziegler-Natta catalysts. MCI will now produce specialist polyethylene and polypropylene for the markets using its unique patented technology.

Aniline production

In January 2009 MCI announced its decision to withdraw from aniline sales by September 2009 and terminate its 66,000tpa production plant at Ichihara by March 2009. The decision is due to the increased production of aniline by methane diisocyanate (MDI) related manufacturers resulting in a decline in market demand.
Mitsui Chemicals Polyurethanes Inc's Ohmuta Works at Fukuoka uses aniline produced at its own plant in MDI production. Only 1% of the phenol produced at the plant is needed for aniline production and the remainder of the phenol production is supported by increased demand for bisphenol.