Showa Denko (SDK; Tokyo; www.sdk.co.jp) has decided to license its technology to produce vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) to Shenghong Refining Petrochemical (Lian Yun Gang) Co., Ltd., (SRP) China, under a formal alliance agreement between SDK and engineering firm KBR, Inc. (Houston; www.kbr.com). In addition, SDK will provide catalysts for the VAM production facility to be constructed by Shenghong Refining Petrochemical Co., Ltd. (SRP).
SDK has been producing VAM from ethylene at its Oita Petrochemical Complex for 40 years, and has polished high-level technologies including that to develop catalysts. SDK formed alliance with KBR in 2015, and, since then, the two parties have been investigating possibilities to operate business to license SDK’s technologies to produce organic chemicals. As a result, SRP decided to adopt SDK’s technologies to produce VAM. The new VAM unit to be constructed in the premise of SRP is expected to have a capacity to produce 300,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of VAM.