Asahi Kasei will increase production capacity for Celgard™ and Hipore™ Li-ion battery (LIB) separator* at its plants in North Carolina, United States, and Shiga, Japan, respectively
Düsseldorf, January 22, 2018 – With increasing demand for electric-drive vehicles worldwide, the LIB market is forecasted to grow substantially in automotive applications. Asahi Kasei holds a world-leading position as an LIB separator manufacturer, supplying both dry-process and wet-process separators with its Celgard™ and Hipore™ products.
Dry-process manufacturing plants are located in the United States (North Carolina) while wet-process manufacturing plants are located in Japan (Moriyama, Shiga, and Hyuga, Miyazaki) and Korea (Chungbuk). The expansions announced today are part of a proactive expansion of the LIB separator business, in line with the company“s plans to raise total capacity to 1,100 million m2/year by 2020 as announced in May 2016.
Outline of the new capacity expansions:
Dry process
Location:North Carolina, the US
Product:Celgard™ LIB separator
Capacity:90 million m2/year
Start-up:Second half of fiscal 2018 (scheduled)
Wet process
Location:Moriyama, Shiga, Japan
Product:Hipore™ LIB separator
Capacity:150 million m2/year
Start-up:First half of fiscal 2020 (scheduled)
Total investment for both wet and dry process expansions will be approximately 55 Million EUR (7.5 billion).
When completed, the above expansions will raise Asahi Kasei“s total LIB separator capacity to 1,100 million m2/year, with dry-process capacity increasing to 400 million m2/year and wet-process capacity increasing to 700 million m2/year. The company will continue to further reinforce its capability to provide stable supply to meet rising global demand for LIB separators in accordance with customer needs.
„Asahi Kasei provides both dry-process and wet-process separators for lithium-ion batteries. The demand for automotive lithium-ion batteries is expected to increase significantly in the coming years. We therefore decided to increase the production capacities for both dry-process and wet-process separators and will continue to react to the changing market demands“, Shigeki Takayama, President of Asahi Kasei“s Separators Strategic Business Unit (SBU) said.
* A thin microporous film of polyolefin placed between the cathode and anode of lithium-ion batteries. It prevents contact between the electrodes which would cause a short, while allowing lithium ions to pass between the electrodes.
About the Asahi Kasei Corporation
The Asahi Kasei Corporation is a globally active technology group that works in the three business areas of Material, Homes and Health Care. Material includes fibres & textiles, petrochemicals, high-performance polymers, high-performance plastics, consumer products, battery separators and electronics. Homes offers construction material to finished houses on the Japanese market. The area Health Care includes pharmaceuticals, medical technology, as well as devices and systems for acute and intensive medicine. With about 34,000 employees across the world, the Asahi Kasei Group supports customers in more than 100 countries.
„Creating for Tomorrow“. With this slogan, the Asahi Kasei Group refers to the common mission of all its companies, to help people across the world towards a better life and living with sustainable products and technologies. You can find further information at
www.asahi-kasei.co.jp/asahi/en/.
www.asahi-kasei.eu/
The Asahi Kasei Group is a diversified group of companies led by Asahi Kasei Corp., with operations in the Material, Homes, and Health Care business sectors. Asahi Kasei distributes its innovative technologies and unique materials on markets worldwide.
With more than 30,000 employees around the world, the Asahi Kasei Group serves customers in more than 100 countries. Asahi Kasei is „Creating for Tomorrow“ with all operations sharing a common mission of contributing to life and living for people around the world.
Company-Contact
Asahi Kasei Europe GmbH
Sebastian Schmidt
Am Seestern 4
40547 Düsseldorf
Phone: +49 (0)211 280 68 139
E-Mail: Sebastian.Schmidt@asahi-kasei.eu
Url: https://www.asahi-kasei.eu/
Press
financial relations GmbH
Henning Küll
Louisenstraße 97
61348 Bad Homburg
Phone: +49 (0) 6172 27159 12
E-Mail: h.kuell@financial-relations.de
Url: http://www.financial-relations.de
