Ube and HighChem to provide technology to Chinese firm Qianxixian

TOKYO, JAPAN: Ube Industries Ltd and HighChem Co Ltd will license their technologies for transforming a synthetic gas (a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen gases) derived from coal gasification into a polyester feedstock to the Chinese firm Qianxixian Qianxi Coal Chemical Investment Co Ltd.

The license covers the process for manufacturing dimethyl oxalate (DMO) and the process for manufacturing ethylene glycol (MEG), a polyester feedstock derived through the reduction of DMO. These technologies enable a MEG industrialization process that is clean, economical, and has a low environmental impact.

Based on this licensed technology, Qianxixian will build a coal gasification facility and a 300,000-ton MEG (720,000-ton DMO) manufacturing facility in Guizhou Province, with plans to bring them online sometime around the end of 2012 or early 2013. MEG demand in China is rising at a rapid 10 to 15 per cent per year for use in polyester fibre and PET resin, but naphtha-based MEG production is limited.

Ube Industries and HighChem are also pursuing negotiations to license these technologies to other Chinese companies. The firms expects more technology license agreements in China for “several millions of tons” and to receive around Yen 5 billion ($ 60 million) in royalty payments within the next two to three years.

(C) WOC News