HSE and Industry Associations

Japan’s Nippon Shokubai restarts idled SAP plant in US

ICIS News : 7-Dec-12 09:24

TOKYO (ICIS)--Japan’s Nippon Shokubai said on Friday its US subsidiary – NA Industries – has restarted a super absorbent polymer (SAP) plant at Chattanooga, Tennessee, six months after the unit was closed.

The plant, which previously had a capacity of 60,000 tonnes/year, is expected to operate until December 2013 at a capacity of 40,000 tonnes/year, the Nippon Shokubai said in a statement.

The US plant is expected to partly make up for the loss of SAP output at Nippon Shokubai’s fire-hit Himeji facility, which remains to be shut, the company said.

The SAP plant at Chattanooga had ceased production in June this year, when NA Industries brought on stream a new 60,000 tonne/year facility in Texas.

By Tomomi Yokomura
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icisnews.asia@icis.com