Cathay Industrial Biotech invests $500M to expand biobased materials production

In China, Cathay Industrial Biotech takes a decisive step to expand its output of bio-based pentamethylene diamine and long-chain diacids with a $500 million investment. This will double Cathay’s production capacity of the respective products at the Wusu site and meet the expanding market demand. Cathay will apply its latest proprietary technologies.

Cathay has successfully completed the construction of the first phase of its Wusu manufacturing plant and has started up production of 30,000 tons of bio-method long-chain diacids, 50,000 tons of bio-based pentamethylene diamine and 100,000 tons of bio-based polyamides. According to the agreement, an additional investment of USD 500 million will be made in the same facility in order to expand the annual output by 30,000 tons of bio-process long-chain diacids and 50,000 tons of bio-based pentamethylene diamine.

Cathay operates two production plants. One has an annual capacity of 40,000 tons of bio-process long-chain diacids. It also operates over thousand tons of pilot production lines for bio-based pentamethylene diamine and bio-based polyamides. Cathay’s second production plant has output capacities of 30,000 tons of bio-method long-chain diacids, 50,000 tons of bio-based pentamethylene diamine and 100,000 tons of bio-based polyamides. The Wusu plant commenced production in the second half of 2018.