Invista plans to add 40,000 tonnes/year of polyamide (PA) 66 polymer capacity at its current 150,000-tonnes/year polymer plant at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP). Construction is targeted for mid-2019 and production would begin in 2020.

We are continuing to make strategic investments to best meet our customers’ needs,” said Pete Brown, Invista vice president of nylon polymer. “In looking at our forecast for the future growth of the PA 66 polymer market, we see increased demand in Asia and are expanding our capacity to meet that demand.” Automotive air bags is one fast-growing application for PA 66.

This project aligns with Invista’s other recent announcements regarding additional capacity in the PA 66 value chain: a new adiponitrile (ADN) plant announced for China by 2023. The monomer is a precursor for PA 66; additional ADN capacity resulting from retrofits of Invista's latest ADN technology at Butachimie, Invista's joint venture with Solvay in France in 2019, and at Invista's Victoria, Texas, site, targeted for 2020.

Brown added, “We’ve invested more than $1 billion in the PA 66 value chain in the past five years, have recently committed to investing $1 billion more and are continuing to evaluate the market for additional opportunities in the future.” Invista also operates a 215,000-tonnes/year hexamethylenediamine (HMD) plant at SCIP. HMD is also a precursor used in PA 66 manufacture.