Invista, DSM slate nylon plants in Asia

Invista has begun engineering for what it calls a world-scale facility in Asia that will produce nylon 6,6 and the feedstock chemicals adiponitrile and hexamethylenediamine. Start-up is expected by 2011. The company says it is evaluating several sites but would prefer to build in China. Invista says it is also expanding capacity for the two feedstocks by 100,000 metric tons per year at existing plants in Orange and Victoria, Texas; other intermediate chemical projects are under way in Wilton, U.K., and Sakra, Singapore. Meanwhile, DSM says it will build a new plant for high-viscosity grades of its Akulon nylon 6 at its Jiangyin site in China's Jiangsu province. The project will cost "several tens of millions of dollars" and will be completed in 2008, the firm says.