Evonik Degussa Breaks Ground Methacrylates Production Plant in SCIP   

By Sue Sun   

On September 15th, 2007, Evonik Degussa GmbH held a ground breaking ceremony for a new integrated production plant for the manufacture of methyl methacrylates (MMA) and methacrylate specialties in the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP).  
    "This investment will consolidate our position as a worldwide leading manufacturer of methacrylates." emphasized Dr. Klaus Engel, member of the Management Board of Evonik Industries with responsibility for the Chemicals Business Area (CBA), during a press conference on September 13th, 2007 in Shanghai. With a volume of 250 million euros, the integrated production plant is the second largest single investment ever made by the CBA of Evonik. The world-scale facility is scheduled to come on stream in mid-2009 after completion of the roughly two-year construction phase. The integrated MMA production includes, in addition to an annual capacity of about 100 000 tons of MMA, plants for the production of methacrylic acid, butyl methacrylate, and PMMA molding compounds. This provides for an optimized network, unique in the world, for supplying customers in optoelectronics, the paint and adhesives industry, and in automobile manufacture. The integrated production complex will be built on Evonik Degussa's multi-user site SCIP.
   The new production plant for thermoplastic methacrylate resins is scheduled to commence operation in the second half of 2009. With the new production plant, Evonik Degussa is continuing its string of extensive investments in China. The Group has been producing specialty chemicals products there since the 1990s. The Group now has nearly 20 companies in China, with production sites in ten cities.
   Evonik Degussa is a 100 percent daughter company of Evonik Industries. Evonik Industries is the creative industrial group which operates in three business areas: Chemicals, Energy and Real Estate (See Page 6 of this issue).