MCNS launches bio-polyol joint venture in India

Mitsui Chemicals & SKC Polyurethanes Inc. (MCNS) announced that it has celebrated the official launch of its joint venture bio-polyol manufacturing company in India, called Vithal Castor Polyols Pvt. Ltd. (VCP), with an opening ceremony on 25 February 2016.

At the opening ceremony, Co-CEOs of MCNS Ki Don Won and Hiroyasu Ishimaru and Jayant Agro-Organics Ltd. Chairman Abhay V. Udeshi addressed the guests, which included ministers from the South Korean and Japanese missions in India, amongst others.

VCP was established in September 2013. The joint venture is owned by MCNS (40 %), Itoh Oil Chemical Co., Ltd. (10 %) and India's Jayant Agro-Organics Ltd. (50 %). The company will manufacture and sell bio-polyol based on Indian castor oil as a main raw material. VCP’s manufacturing plant in Gujarat, India, which commenced commercial operations in January 2016, has a production capacity of 8,000 t/y and can supply bio-polyol at costs competitive to fossil fuel-derived polyol.

MCNS manufactures and sells urethane materials for a wide range of applications, including refrigerator insulation. In the automotive field, the company says it is one of the largest suppliers of polyurethane materials for interior use to Japanese and Korean car makers, and claims to be the only manufacturer in the world to commercially supply bio-polyols derived from non-edible plants. MCNS says it aims to expand sales in automotive applications by capitalising on its strong system house network comprised of nine Asian sites, including those in Japan and South Korea, and three sites in the Americas and Europe.