Nouryon is expanding its partnership with Sumitomo Chemical to include a manufacturing facility the Japanese company is building at its site in Oita.

The new plant, to be owned and operated by Sumitomo, will supply 1,3-diisopropanolbenzene (DIOL), which is a key raw material for Nouryon’s Perkadox 14 organic peroxide. Start-up is due in 2021.

Perkadox 14 is used to make a variety of elastomeric products, including shoe soles, yoga mats and other rubber goods.

 “We have a strong relationship with Sumitomo, which has supplied DIOL to us from Chiba for the past four years,” said Alain Rynwalt, vice president of polymer catalysts at Nouryon. “In response to increased customer demand for our organic peroxides in Asia, we worked with Sumitomo to develop a plant in Oita to help ensure security of supply.”

Johan Landfors, Nouryon’s president of technology solutions, added that the agreement is “a great example of partnering with a supplier to support our strategy of expanding in attractive growth markets.”

Nouryon produces Perkadox 14 at Mons, Belgium, and Ningbo, China, where it completed a project last June that lifted capacity by 25%.