TOKYO—Japan's Kuraray Co. Ltd. and Sumitomo Corp. have signed a joint venture agreement along withThailand's PTT Global Chemical Public Co. Ltd for manufacturing and sales of butadiene derivatives.
According to a statement issued by Kuraray, the agreement will allow the JV company to produce heat resistant polyamide (PA9T) and hydrogenated styrenic block copolymer (HSBC) products in Thailand. Hemaraj Eastern Industrial Estate in Rayong, Thailand, has been identified as a candidate production site.
The decision builds on an agreement signed in September 2016 to conduct a front-end engineering design (FEED) study for the project. According to previous announcements, the JV will produce 13,000 metric tons per year of PA9T and 16,000 tons of HSBC annually.
Kuraray did not give further details on the possibility producing 3-methyl-1,5-pentanediol, one of the company's isobutene derivatives. It previously said that the plant would have the capacity to produce 5,000 tons of the product each year.
PTTGC will supply butadiene and isobutene as key raw materials for the new plant.
Kuraray will hold 53.3 percent of the shares in the JV, while PTTG will own 33.4 percent of the shares and Sumitomo the remaining 13.3 percent.
The companies have yet to decide on the name and the headquarters location of the JV.