Mitsui, Sinopec to build EPDM plant in Shanghai joint venture

ERJ staff report (DS)

Shanghai, China - Mitsui and Sinopec have formed a 50-50 joint venture to build a 75kt/year EPDM plant in Shanghai. The plant will use the latest metallocene catalyst technology. The two companies said the plant will be the world's most advanced EPDM facility.

A joint feasibility study resulted in a letter of intent, signed in December 2009. The two companies said the plant aims to serve the developing automotive segment in China.

The joint venture company is named Shanghai Sinopec Mitsui Elastomers Co Ltd. It will build a plant with capacity for 75,000 tonnes/year at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in Shanghai, China. The plant is due on stream in the first quarter of 2014 and represents an investment of some RMB 2000 million (euro 250 million)

In a press release, Mitsui said the plant will make ethylene-propylene ter-polymers. The third monomer in the ter polymer is typically a diene, hence the name ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM). Dienes currently used in the manufacture of EPDM rubbers are

dicyclopentadiene (DCPD), ethylidene norbornene (ENB), and vinyl

norbornene (VNB).

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Press release from Mitsui