Reacting to what it said is strong local demand for the intermediate used to produce PA 6.6, US nylon giant Invista has begun engineering work on a world-scale adiponitrile (ADN) plant in China.

The company, which is the world’s largest producer of polyamide, owns the name nylon as well as several production facilities acquired from inventor and original trademark owner DuPont. Invista said the plant will be able to produce “at minimum” 300,000 t/y of the intermediate. Investment costs of more than $1 billion are projected. Construction is targeted to begin in 2020, with production expected to start in 2023.

A location for the new production line, which will use the company’s proprietary technology, has not been disclosed, but reports suggest it will be built at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park, where Invista four years ago announced plans for a facility of the same size that was never realized.

Kyle Redinger, vice president of Invista Intermediates, Asia Pacific, who has been appointed to a newly created position dedicated to meeting China’s long-term needs for ADN, said the company supplies more of the merchant market than any other producer, so “we want to ensure those customers have the best technology available.”

The last world-scale plant was built more than 35 years ago, as Redinger noted.  ADN is currently said to be short in Asia because most of the world’s output is concentrated in the US and Europe.

Bill Greenfield, president of Invista Intermediates, said the company is pleased by the feedback it has received in the market and is confident of reaching agreements with selected partners for the project over the next few month.

Over the past five years, Invista has invested more than $600 million in China to support the nylon market, Greeenfield said. This includes a 215,000-t/y hexamethylenediamine (HMD) plant and a 150,000 t/y PA 6.6 polymer plant, both in the Shanghai park.