TOKYO—Kuraray Co. Ltd. has entered a joint venture agreement with Thai petrochemical company PTT Global and Sumitmo Corp. to produce butadiene derivatives in Thailand.
The newly formed company, Kuraray GC Advanced Materials Co. Ltd., will produce heat-resistant polyamide (PA9T) and hydrogenated styrenic block copolymer (HSBC) products at a plant in Rayong, Thailand. The Map Ta Phut complex in the Hemaraj Eastern Industrial Estate in Rayong has been identified as a candidate production site.
The JV will be headquartered in Bangkok.
Kuraray will hold 53.3 percent of the shares in the JV, while PTTG and Sumitomo will own 33.4 percent o13.3 percent, respectively.
The decision to move forward with the JV 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 annually will produce 13,000 metric tons of PA9T and 16,000 tons of HSBC.
Solely, Kuraray also will carry out production of 3-methyl-1,5-pentanediol (MPD), one of the company's isobutene derivatives, on the same premises.
The company will establish a wholly-owned subsidiary, Kuraray Advanced Chemicals (Thailand), for the MPD plant, which previously has been announced to have a capacity of 5,000 tons per year.
PTTGC will supply butadiene and isobutene as key raw materials for the new plant.