Mitsui Chemicals starts the commercial production of New LUCANT™ Plant at Ichihara Works

Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (Tokyo: 4183; President & CEO: HASHIMOTO Osamu) today announced that started the commercial production of a new plant to produce LUCANT™, a series of hydrocarbon-based synthetic fluid, at its Ichihara Works in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture from April 2021.
With this new plant coming on top of an existing plant at Iwakuni-Ohtake Works, Mitsui Chemicals’ production capacity for LUCANT™ is now set to increase, allowing the company to comfortably keep up with the strong global demand for the product. Further, by moving to a two-base system spread across Iwakuni-Ohtake Works and Ichihara Works, Mitsui Chemicals aims to bolster its business continuity planning for LUCANT™.

LUCANT™

Mitsui Chemicals’ LUCANT™ is a high-performance hydrocarbon-based synthetic oil – the world’s first such product to be offered commercially. In addition to its viscosity being largely resistant to temperature changes, the material has a number of other noteworthy properties, including excellent shear stability and thermochemical stability.
These characteristics see LUCANT™ finding use as a viscosity modifier in applications that require very high quality – such as gear oil for automotive drivelines, as well as industrial lubricants and greases. The product has been approved for use by prominent automakers and lubricant manufacturers.
Amid an era of heightening needs for eco-friendly products, LUCANT™ is expected to meet with rising global demand as a product able to help achieve improved fuel efficiency and longer operating life.

Pursuing business growth for LUCANT™

Mitsui Chemicals has a strategic partnership with The Lubrizol Corporation’s Additives Segment (Segment President：Tom Curtis ) which acts as a major producer of lubricant additive packages. Going forward, both Mitsui Chemicals and Lubrizol intend to further expand and grow the LUCANT™ business in the lubricant market.
Further, as its own independent initiative, Mitsui Chemicals intends to tackle market development and application development for the expanded use of LUCANT™ as a functional liquid polymer, including applications as a modifier for elastomers and engineering plastics.

Overview of the new plant