Showa Denko to License Vinyl Acetate Monomer Technology to Shenghong Refining Petrochemical, China

November 19, 2019
Showa Denko K.K.

Showa Denko (SDK) (TOKYO: 4004) has decided to license its technology to produce vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) to Shenghong Refining Petrochemical (Lian Yun Gang) Co., Ltd., China, under a formal alliance agreement between SDK and KBR (NYSE: KBR), a global engineering and technology solutions company based in the U.S.. 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 tons of VAM per year.

The Showa Denko Group’s Vision is to make itself a “KOSEIHA Company” (a group of KOSEIHA Businesses that can maintain profitability and stability at high levels over a long period), and the Group aims to make more than half of its businesses KOSEIHA Businesses by 2025. In its Petrochemicals segment, which operates organic chemicals business including VAM production, the Group has been making effort to strengthen its business character in order to maintain high profitability which is resistant to market fluctuation. Toward the future, SDK will continue aiming to make its petrochemicals business the most competitive one in East Asia by enhancing competitiveness of Oita Petrochemical Complex through commercialization of new derivatives and expanding its licensing business.