Industry leader
Olaf Poorter , Manufacturing Owner and Manager of Technology and Projects , elaborates further : “ We are in the business of making caprolactam , but we also capitalize on its major byproduct , ammonia sulphate ( AS ; an artificial fertilizer ). In the 1960s we developed our inhouse process now known as HPO , due to the lesser demand for ammonia sulphate during that era . It basically allowed us to go from producing 4.5 kg of AS to every 1 kg of caprolactam , down to 1.5 kg of AS . The first plant was actually built in Japan , in 1971 . Following this , we started to license out the technology to other manufacturers around the world to implement in their plants , as well as starting our own in 1976 . This approach to growth and creation continued through to the 21st century , seeing the development of our HPOPLUS ® production process and forming of a joint venture of the plant that we had previously licensed in China . This has culminated in Highsun buying us in 2018 , as an extension to the two caprolactam lines it already owned , collectively making us the largest caprolactam producer in the world .” The environmental issues with this form of chemical manufacturing
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