Nouryon is expanding its partnership with Sumitomo Chemical to include a new plant Sumitomo is building at its site in Oita, Japan. 

The new plant will supply a key raw material used for Nouryon’s Perkadox 14 organic peroxide.

Perkadox 14 is an essential ingredient in the manufacture of many elastomeric products, including shoe soles, yoga mats and other rubber goods.

The plant, to be owned and operated by Sumitomo, will produce 1,3-di-isopropanol benzene (DIOL) and is due to start production in 2021. Sumitomo already supplies DIOL produced at its site at Chiba, Japan to Nouryon.

“We have a strong relationship with Sumitomo, which has supplied DIOL to us from Chiba for the past four years,” said Alain Rynwalt, VP 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 the security of supply.”

Nouryon produces Perkadox 14 at Mons, Belgium and at Ningbo, China, where it recently completed an expansion project to increase its production capacity.

“Asia is a key growth market for Nouryon, and we are continuing to invest in the region to build our presence and to support growing customer demand,” said Johan Landfors, president of Technology Solutions at Nouryon. “This agreement is also a great example of partnering with a supplier to support our strategy of expanding in attractive growth markets.”