TORAY TAPS CHINA

Abstract

IN BEIJING late last month, Japan’s Toray Industries and China National BlueStar held a ceremonial ground-breaking for a $73 million plant that will produce reverse-osmosis membranes for water purification. The venture, owned 50.1% by Toray and 49.9% by BlueStar, is based on a simple principle: The Japanese side provides the technology, and the Chinese side contributes a local sales network. Whereas Toray is a world-class inventor and producer of water treatment membranes, BlueStar is one of China’s largest chemical conglomerates. “I hope that our technology can provide solutions to some of China’s water shortages and environmental challenges,” Sadayuki Sakakibara, president and chief executive of Toray, said at the event. China is probably the world’s most dynamic market for companies active in water treatment (C&EN, May 11, page 18). Its planned fix for the growing water shortages plaguing the northern part of the country has long been to build huge canals to divert water from the ...