MOSCOW (MRC) -- Following a construction phase lasting 20 months, Wacker Chemie AG has brought a new spray dryer for the production of dispersible polymer powders on stream in Ulsan, South Korea, as per the company's press release.
The plant is part of an ongoing site expansion aimed at boosting the company’s production capacity for dispersions and dispersible polymer powders in Asia.
Wacker is a world-leading producer of polymeric dispersions and dispersible polymer powders, which are important ingredients in the manufacture of building materials. Construction is currently booming in Asia. Growing just as strongly is the demand for high-quality, energy-efficient, sustainable construction solutions. This has prompted the Group to invest in the region and expand its production capacity for dispersions and dispersible polymer powders in South Korea. The commissioning of the new spray dryer represents a major milestone in the company’s expansion plans for its Ulsan site.
Wacker already produces vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer (EVA) dispersions in Ulsan. The new spray dryer converts liquid dispersions into dispersible polymer powder by feeding them through an atomizer into a stream of hot gas, which dries them extremely quickly to yield a fine powder. The new plant will have a total capacity of 80,000 metric tons per year. On completion, the spray dryer will be one of the two largest of this kind in the world. The second plant with this capacity is located at Wacker’s Burghausen site. The new spray dryer will create some 50 new jobs in Ulsan.
Construction is also underway in Ulsan on a further reactor for EVA dispersions, the feedstock for dispersible polymer powders. The reactor is scheduled for start-up in the first quarter of 2020. Overall capital expenditure on the plant complex, spanning the full production chain from VAE dispersions through to dispersible polymer powders, will come to some 65 million euros.
"Our binders not only enhance the properties of building materials but also make construction activities more resource-efficient," says Peter Summo, head of the Wacker Polymers division. "The new plant in Ulsan will help us serve the growing market in Asia and additionally shorten our delivery routes and times."
The dispersible polymer powders that Wacker produces in Ulsan belong to the VINNAPAS family, one of the Group’s best-known brands. The new spray dryer will be used to produce VINNAPAS 5010 N and VINNAPAS 5044 N, for instance. These binders are needed in the construction industry to formulate high-quality tile adhesives, mineral plasters, self-leveling flooring compounds, energy-saving external thermal insulation composite systems (ETICS/EIFS), building adhesives, smoothing compounds and joint fillers, for example.
"By expanding our production capacity, we are boosting Ulsan’s economic competitiveness and ensuring that it will remain the first point of contact for regional manufacturers of building materials seeking to optimize their products with dispersible polymer powders," says Dal-Ho Cho, head of the Wacker Chemicals Korea subsidiary.
As MRC reported earlier, in 2013, Wacker ramped up a new EVA production plant - with an additional 40,000 tonnes annually - at its Ulsan site in South Korea back in February. The production capacity of the site has, thus, almost doubled, making the plant complex one of the biggest of its kind in South Korea - thereby solidifying the company's global leading position in this segment.
According to MRC's DataScope report, July EVA imports to Russia increased by 4% year on year to 3,490 tonnes from 3,350 tonnes in July 2018, and overall imports of this grade of ethylene copolymer into the Russian Federation decreased in January-July 2019 by 14, 3% year on year to 22,440 tonnes (26,170 tonnes in the first seven months of 2018).
Wacker Chemie AG is a worldwide operating company in the chemical business, founded 1914. The company is controlled by the Wacker-family holding more than 50 percent of the shares. The corporation is operating more than 25 production sites in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The product range includes silicone rubbers, polymer products like ethylene vinyl acetate redispersible polymer powder, chemical materials, polysilicon and wafers for semiconductor industry.
MRC