February 5, 2013
Adisseo, China National Bluestar to operate China's first methionine plant in China
China's dependence on imports of animal feed additive will soon end in April this year, with its first methionine plant built by Bluestar Adisseo Nanjing Co. Ltd (Adistar), a joint-venture investment by China National BlueStar Co. and Adisseo.
The new, fully integrated Rhodimet® AT 88 methionine plant at the Nanjing Chemical Industrial Park, Jiangsu province is a joint venture by China National BlueStar Co. Ltd. and its fully owned French subsidiary, Adisseo Group. Construction began in August 2010.
The plant will begin production of Rhodimet AT 88 in two phases. The first phase is planned for April 2013 with the production of 70,000 metric tonnes of Rhodimet AT 88 per year. The plant's full capacity, 140,000 metric tonnes per year, will be realised in the second phase.
The new, fully integrated plant converts basic raw materials such as propylene and sulphur to intermediate products and then to liquid methionine.
China needs about 120,000 tonnes of methionine annually and is totally dependent on imports, according to Bluestar.
"The total production capacity of the plant is expected to be 140,000 tonnes a year to meet the growing demand both in China and in other Asian countries," said Ru Chengjun, executive vice-general manager of Adistar.
The plant will become one of the lowest-cost liquid methionine production facilities in the world when it's operating at full capacity, Ru said.
The new plant is part of the company's overseas strategy. As a subsidiary of the State-owned China Chemical Corp, or ChemChina, Bluestar acquired the then third-largest methionine producer in the world, Adisseo, for US$565.4 million in January 2006, in China's largest overseas merger and acquisition deal in France.
After the acquisition, the company helped Adisseo France turn from losses to profit in four years.
