Asahi Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. (Asahi Chemical; President,
Kazumoto Yamamoto) and Tongsuh Petrochemical Corp.,
Ltd. (Tongsuh; President, Kyun-Chul Lee), its wholly
owned subsidiary in South Korea, have decided to expand
the production capacity of Tongsuh’s acrylonitrile
(AN) plant, following their joint study on effective
means of meeting the growing demand for AN in the Asian
market. The expansion will involve the construction
of a new AN production unit with an annual AN production
capacity of 200,000 tons, in place of one current AN
production line of 60,000 tons annual capacity. Construction
is scheduled to begin in December 2000.
In conjunction with the AN capacity expansion, the Tongsuh
facility for production of sodium cyanide (NaCN) will
be expanded by 15,000 tons per year, for efficient utilization
of byproduct hydrogen cyanide (HCN) from the AN production.
Background and circumstances of
capacity expansion
The demand for AN in Japan and other parts of Asia is
growing. The Asian demand currently represents about
half of the worldwide AN demand of some 5,000,000 tons
per year, and its growth is expected to continue. The
AN operations of Asahi Chemical, with their strategic
position in the rapidly growing Asian market, have developed
in concert with a strong and growing AN demand, and
in an overall program of timely restructuring of operations
to effectively anticipate and meet the continuing rise
in AN demand.
The total AN production capacity of the Asahi Group
at present is 580,000 t/y, including 400,000 t/y from
the Asahi Chemical plants at Mizushima and Kawasaki
in Japan, 130,000 t/y from the Tongsuh plant in South
Korea, and 50,000 t/y in capacity rights from Solutia
Inc. of the U.S., but this will not be sufficient to
meet the rising AN demand of the Asian region.
The Tongsuh facility holds the capability for an expansion
that will meet this rising demand on a timely basis
and will concurrently enhance the cost-competitive position
of the AN operations, through a scrap-and-build expansion
that will bring online a new production unit of 200,000
t/y capacity and a net increase of 140,000 t/y in the
total production capacity of the Tongsuh facility. For
the Asahi Group, this addition will mean an increase
in its total AN production capacity to 720,000 t/y.
Essentials of expansion program
Capacity of new AN production unit: 200,000 t/y
To be accompanied by
shutdown of an existing Tongsuh AN production line
of 60,000 t/y capacity, thus bringing a net increase
of 140,000 t/y and a total Tongsuh AN production capacity
of 270,000 t/y.
NaCN capacity expansion: 15,000 t/y
To result in a total Tongsuh NaCN
production capacity of 40,000 t/y.
To bring the total NaCN production
capacity of the Asahi Group to 50,000 t/y after the
completion of a new NaCN plant of 10,000 t/y capacity
by Asahi Chemical at Kawasaki, Japan at the end of
2001.
Capital investment: Approx. ¥10,000 million total,
for AN and NaCN facilities at Tongsuh.
Location: Within Tongsuh’s Ulsan plant grounds.
| Schedule: |
Groundbreaking, December
2000. |
| |
Commercial start-up, March
2003. |
| Corporate
profile, Tongsuh Petrochemical Corp., Ltd. |
| Capitalization |
15,640 million
Won (approx. ¥1,490 million) |
Shareholder
| Asahi Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.
(100%) |
Operations |
Production (capacity in parentheses)
and sale of: |
| |
AN (130,000 t/y) |
| |
NaCN (25,000 t/y) |
| |
Acrylamide (10,000 t/y) |
| |
EDTA (3,000 t/y) |
| Representatives |
Kyun-Chul Lee, President |
|
Yoshinao Matsui, Vice President |
| Location |
Head Office and Plant located at
Ulsan, Kyongsangnam Do, Republic of Korea |
|
