OREANDA-NEWS. Idemitsu Kosan Co.,Ltd. (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and CEO: Takashi Tsukioka) will increase its production capacity for syndiotactic polystyrene resin (hereinafter referred to as SPS, the product name: XAREC™).

SPS is an engineering plastic Idemitsu succeeded in synthesizing in 1985 for the first time in the world using metallocene catalyst technology. Idemitsu industrialized the product in 1997. SPS is low density engineering plastic and has high heat resistance, hydrolysis resistance, chemical resistance, and excellent electrical properties (high electric resistance, a low dielectric constant and loss). It is mainly being used for electric parts in automobiles (PCB connectors, high voltage components, and millimeter-wave radars) as well as for electrical and electronic parts, parts of home appliances, cookware for microwave ovens, and industrial film.

Idemitsu will increase the production capacity of the SPS manufacturing unit at its Chiba Plant (Ichihara City, Chiba), as new uses have been developed in recent years and demand for SPS is growing at an annual rate of approx. 10%. The planned completion date is April 2016 and the production capacity will increase from the current 7,000 tons/year to 9,000 tons/year.