INVISTA Nylon Chemicals (China) Co. recently held the inauguration ceremony for its new adiponitrile (ADN) plant at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP).

Being a critical part of INVISTA’s integrated nylon 6,6 value chain, the plant, which is a more than RMB 7 billion (over US$1 billion) investment, has a capacity of 400,000-ton/year and is the largest capital project in the company’s history.

The plant will further boost local production capability for nylon 6,6 and help accelerate the high-quality upgrades of the Chinese chemical industry. The plant inauguration is also one of the core activities of SCIP’s Integrated Nylon Base launch event.

INVISTA celebrates inauguration of its ADN plant at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park.

“We are excited about the completion of ADN plant and are grateful for SCIP’s support through the entire project,” said Gary Knight, global vice president of Operations, INVISTA Nylon Enterprise. “INVISTA believes that China will be the largest consumer for nylon 6,6 in the near future, and the plant reinforces our long-term commitment by providing the key building block to produce nylon polymers.”

"Today we are here to witness the signing, groundbreaking and start-up of several projects, which are led by the INVISTA ADN project that further enhances the efficiency and stability of the nylon 6,6 value and supply chains," commented Zhang Wei, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and vice mayor of Shanghai Municipal People’s Government.

The new plant deploys INVISTA’s most advanced, proprietary, butadiene-based adiponitrile technology. In addition to advantages in commercial scale and overall efficiency, INVISTA’s ADN technology and manufacturing process result in up to 60% lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to propylene-based ADN and up to 80% lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to adipic acid-based ADN. Once in full operation, the new plant can support 800,000 tons of nylon 6,6 production every year.

In line with the need for reduced cost and improving demand, INVISTA’s nylon 6,6 value chain integrates the recently opened INVISTA Asia Innovation Center and existing HMD and polymer sites, providing a comprehensive capability ranging from application development and raw materials to high-performance polymer supply.

ADN can be used to make nylon polymer, fibers and other specialty materials such as hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) for coatings.

During the event, INVISTA also announced the start of construction for the project to double its nylon 6,6 polymer capacity to 400,000-ton/year.