While the polystyrene market in Europe has been on the decline for years, with more and more capacities being taken offstream, companies in other parts of the world are adding production lines. In Zhangzhou in China’s Fujian province, Taiwan’s ChiMei (Tainan City; www.chimeicorp.com) has put a new PS line into operation. The company said when the facility reaches full capacity in the second half of 2023, it will add 350,000 t/y to the existing capacity of 570,000 t/y.

ChiMei is still in the process of expanding its ABS production in Zhangzhou. After a 450,000 t/y line came onstream in September 2021, the company plans to expand output capacity to 600,000 t/y by 2025. A 180,000 t/y polycarbonate plant is also set to start up by then.

In other news, the Taiwanese firm announced the launch of its Ecologue Bio ABS grade, which it said uses bio-based feedstock instead of petrochemical base materials with no adverse effect on the performance compared to conventional ABS. The company emphasised that the renewable feedstock is not derived from food-related sources, adding that customers can considerably improve the carbon footprint of their products with the ISCC Plus-certified material.

In addition to bio-based feedstock, ChiMei’s Ecologue range uses raw materials containing mechanically and chemically recycled grades, such as rPMMA, and rPC made using carbon capture.