Mitsubishi dusts off plan to build US methyl methacrylate plant

Mitsubishi Chemical says it is advancing plans to build a 350,000-metric-ton-per-year methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant in the US. The plant will be based on the firm’s Alpha technology, which derives MMA from ethylene, methanol, and carbon monoxide. It is an alternative to the more traditional acetone cyanohydrin process, based on hydrogen cyanide and acetone. Mitsubishi has been considering the plan for a while. In 2014, it announced a partnership with Mitsui & Co. on a plant that would have used ethylene from Dow. MMA is used to make acrylic polymers like Mitsubishi’s Lucite.