Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp. (TYO:4188) plans to step up its use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other cutting-edge information and communication technology (ICT). Soon the chemical manufacturer will start up five or six flagship projects. These projects involve focus areas such as carbon fiber and the company’s Mizushima Plant, a petrochemical facility in Okayama Prefecture....
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Diplomatic Rift Between Arab Powers Could Destabilize Helium Supply From Qatar
Industry insiders are worried about the supply stability of helium gas out of Qatar. Export routes have been disrupted by diplomatic issues between Qatar and four Middle Eastern nations, including Saudia Arabia and the UAE. Qatar is the world’s second largest exporter of helium after the U.S., holding 40 percent of the global market share....
Ube Industries to Boost PCD Production in Thailand, Spain
Ube Industries Ltd. (TYO:4208) is gearing up to expand its Thai and Spanish production of polycarbonate diol (PCD), a raw material for polyurethane. With plans to bring in new technologies to increase productivity without increasing facilities, Ube Industries is seeking to increase its total capacity by roughly 30 percent, from 11,000 tons per annum at...
Toyo Tanso Graphitizes Porous Carbon for Improved Oxidation Resistance, Conductivity
Toyo Tanso Co. Ltd. (TYO:5310) is moving up a gear in the application of its CNovel porous carbon. The firm has used its proprietary graphitization technology to develop graphitized CNovel. Toyo Tanso has succeeded in creating a graphite particle structure that retains the nanopores in CNovel while offering improved conductivity and oxidation resistance. CNovel normally...
Mitsubishi Chemical to Enter Animal Feed Market With Lactic Acid Bacteria Product
Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. will make a full-scale entry into the animal feed industry, with the company planning to market Lacris – a lactic acid bacteria product – as an animal feed additive for chickens and other livestock. The company made the decision to expand into this market based on studies showing that lactic acid bacteria...
Chemical Industry at the Forefront of Digital Push
The chemical industry is at the forefront of a push to digitize business operations for the sake of greater productivity. In 2015, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) touted materials informatics (MI) as a way to incorporate information science into materials design. Since then, four general chemical companies and others have come together...
Denka to Boost Acetylene Black Production in Singapore by 50%
Denka Co. Ltd. (TYO:4061) plans to ramp up production of high-purity acetylene black used in power cables by 50 percent in Singapore. The decision is in response to growing demand for high-voltage and extra-high-voltage power cables in Europe, which is aggressively introducing renewable energy such as offshore wind power, and in China, a country actively...
Taiyo Holdings Develops Stretchable Conductive Paste
Taiyo Holdings Co. Ltd. (TYO:4626) is rapidly bringing new products to market in the field of conductive paste for wearable devices. One such product is the company’s new Elepaste NP1, a conductive paste able to maintain one of the industry’s highest levels of electrical conductivity even when the elastic film — onto which circuits are...
Needle Coke Prices Shoot up Amid Surging Chinese Demand
Supply for needle coke is growing tight. This comes amid healthy demand in China for the product as an anode material for batteries in electric vehicles (EVs) and the country’s tighter clampdown on illegal iron and steel production. The result has been overseas market conditions trending upward, with needle coke prices rising by over 50...
Fujitsu Moves Forward With IT-Soyaku Drug Discovery Technology
Fujitsu Ltd. (TYO:6702) has announced that it will move forward with IT-Soyaku, a new computer technology for in silico drug design, as part of the company’s plan to expand its health care operations. The software uses calculations to optimize the usually costly and time-consuming drug discovery process, analyzing the structure of a small-molecule compound drug...
Chinese VOC Regulations for New Cars Could Mean AD Duty on POM Imports
Regulations in China now require low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) inside all new cars sold in January of this year onward. The new regulations were put into effect based on the previously recommended VOC criteria by the Chinese government. Cars sold before January of this year will also be required to meet the...
Casio Launches World’s First 2.5D Printer
Casio Computer Co. Ltd. (TYO:6952) has commercialized the world’s first 2.5D inkjet printer, capable of adding fine 3D textures to a variety of materials. The printer incorporates electromagnetic wave technology cultivated by Casio in its projectors and camera products. With the new printer able to create such tactile surfaces as bricks and leather, Casio is...
FPSO Market Set for Swift Recovery Amid Tight Crude Concerns
The market for floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) systems seems set for a swift recovery this year. Projects in Brazil and other locations worldwide are expected to start taking shape, with tendering for several already under way. The FPSO segment has been stagnant for the last two years due to the slump in crude...
Mitsui Enters Vegetable Seed Business With Acquisition of Israeli Firm
Mitsui & Co. Ltd. has entered the seed business through the acquisition of Israeli vegetable seed company Top Seeds Ltd., since renamed Top Seeds International Ltd. The move is a starting point for Mitsui to round up other small and medium-sized Japanese seed makers with advanced technology while forming partnerships. Mitsui plans to assemble other...
Japanese Chemical Giants to Leverage AI, Big Data for Joint Research Into Polymer Materials
Mitsubishi Chemical Corp., Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd. (TYO:4005), Asahi Kasei Corp. (TYO:3407) and Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (TYO:4183) plan to work with the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) on basic research into polymer materials. The four firms have agreed to contribute both basic research data on polyolefins and researchers in the hope of developing data...
Kaneka to Acquire Applied Poleramic for Full-Scale Entry Into Aerospace
Kaneka Corp. (TYO:4118) recently announced that it will acquire California-based Applied Poleramic Inc., a manufacturer and vendor of compounded resin used in aerospace components and carbon fiber composites. Kaneka will purchase 100 percent of Applied Poleramic’s shares, making it a consolidated subsidiary for an approximate amount of 1.5 billion yen ($13.46 million). In order to...
Asia Could See Large Influx of US Shale-Derived Ethylene
U.S. shale-derived ethylene is expected to increase in the Asian market, with a number of companies planning the construction of ethylene export terminals. For such projects, 10,000-ton class tanks require billions of yen (1 billion yen = $87.87 million) in investment, making the plans appear to be targeted at recruiting long-term customers primarily from Asian...
Japan Polyethylene Fights Influx of US PE With Special LLDPE
Japan Polyethylene Corp., a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp. (TYO:4188), will commence full-scale mass production of new low-density polyethylene products sometime in 2017. As the competition in generic products seems likely to intensify due to U.S. shale-derived products coming into Asia, Japan Polyethylene is speeding up a shift focused on high-performance chemicals. These new...
Teijin to Supply Polycarbonate Resin for GLM Electric Car Windshield
Teijin Ltd. (TYO:3401) has announced that its polycarbonate (PC) resin has been selected for use in the pillarless front windshield of the Tommykaira ZZ, a sports electric vehicle (EV) manufactured by GLM Co. Ltd., a Kyoto University-spawned automaker. This represents the world’s first production model road car windshield to be made of resin. Teijin uses...
Key to the Car of Tomorrow: V2X – Part 2
When it comes to the connected car and other next-generation automobiles, attention has mostly focused on fuel and driving innovations. Yet improving comfort is also an important factor. New technologies are coming in light of a variety of objectives, such as drivability and ride quality. In addition to air conditioning and lighting, there is growing...
