INVISTA, a fiber, resin and intermediates company headquartered in the United States has announced completion of its capacity expansion work at its polymer plant in the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP), China. The news comes nearly two weeks after the company’s adiponitrile (ADN) project at the SCIP received its final construction permit whose groundbreaking ceremony was held in June.

The project is aimed at expanding the facility’s Nylon 6,6 capacity by 40 KTPA, making its total annual capacity to 190 KTPA. The new plant can now manufacture 30 KTPA autoclaves and 160 KTPA continuous process Nylon 6,6 polymer. INVISTA’s new plant is the company’s strategic investment to cater to the buoyant demand for high-quality nylon products in Asia.

The company’s nylon chain business director for the Asia Pacific region, Angela Dou expressed in a statement that China is estimated to become the world’s largest consumer of Nylon 6,6 in the upcoming years, with many  factors driving the growth of engineering polymers such as its growing investments in the automotive, electrical and engineering markets backed by increasing light weighting, electrification and automation requirements. INVISTA’s SCIP polymer plant also houses a 215 KTPA Hexamethylenediamine (HMD) plant and a 400 KTPA adiponitrile (ADN) plant which are currently under construction.

The construction of ADN, which an intermediate ingredient used in the production of Nylon 6,6 is slated to completed 2022. According to ChemAnalyst, “INVISTA’s move is aimed at serving the vast potential that the Chinese Nylon industry holds and maintain its strategic presence in the global market. The Chinese market players hold an optimistic outlook in the upcoming quarters, looking at materializing recovery in the local demand post the pandemic blows.”