Sumitomo Chemical Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp) has completed construction of two catalyst manufacturing lines in its Chiba Works location (Ichihara, Chiba, Japan) to meet the demand of companies licensing its polypropylene (PP) and propylene oxide (PO) manufacturing technology, in order to enhance its licensing business.
For PO. the company’s production technology is based on a PO-only process, in which PO alone is manufactured without any accompanying coproducts by recycling cumene. The cumene method, which Sumitomo Chemical was the first in the world to commercialize, has the distinct advantage of achieving a high PO yield, when combined with the use of the company’s proprietary high-performance epoxidation catalyst, while ensuring superior stability in plant operation. It was licensed to S-OIL Corp. of South Korea and a subsidiary of PTT Global Chemical Public Co. Ltd. of Thailand, in addition to the company’s affiliate Petro Rabigh. Furthermore, the company signed a technology licensing agreement with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited of India in July 2019.
Sales of catalysts to licensing partners are expected to generate stable revenue that is unlikely to be affected by the market environment, as demand increases as more technology licensing agreements are signed. Sumitomo Chemical is committed to sustaining revenue by not only obtaining one-time technology licensing fees, but also through the sale of catalysts and providing technical support after licensing.
Sumitomo Chemical intends to work with its global licensing partners and expand the business portfolios in its Petrochemicals & Plastics Sector.