MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay says it has completed a production facility for high-purity hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) at the company’s Bernburg, Germany, site, according to Chemweek.
Product will be supplied to the electronics industry in Europe for the manufacture of semiconductor chips.
"Developments in society and technology in recent years have reinforced our belief that demand for our product can only grow," says Maik Diederich, business manager/EMEA at Solvay. "What is now obvious to everyone - especially after the recent impact of COVID-19 on our lives - is that our world is heading towards extensive digitalization in all areas: homeschooling, home office, Internet of Things, 5G, cloud computing, smart home, industry 4.0, and electromobility. The European semiconductor industry plays a crucial role in these developments."
The new production line incorporates innovations and benefits from the additional know-how acquired with the several H2O2 purification units that Solvay completed in Asia and Europe in recent years, the company says. Product from the new line has been qualified with Solvay’s main customers, it says.
As MRC informed earlier, in August, 2020, through the acquisition of the Solvay polyamide (PA) business, BASF enhanced its R&D capabilities in Asia Pacific with new technologies, technical expertise, and upgraded material and part testing services. BASF is planning to integrate the R&D centers from Solvay into its R&D existing facilities in Shanghai, China, and Seoul, Korea. The enhanced capabilities will boost BASF’s position as a solution provider to develop advanced material solutions for key industries.
We remind that in mid-February, BASF said it was restarting one of its steam crackers at its Ludwigshafen complex in Germany after operations were halted last Wednesday due to a technical issue. The naphtha cracker produces ethylene and propylene, and is one of two crackers on the site. One has a production capacity of 420,000 metric tons/year, with the other's capacity at 240,000 metric tons/year, according to IHS Markit data.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers" inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
Solvay is a science company whose technologies bring benefits to many aspects of daily life. With more than 24,100 employees in 64 countries, Solvay bonds people, ideas and elements to reinvent progress. The Group seeks to create sustainable shared value for all, notably through its Solvay One Planet plan crafted around three pillars: protecting the climate, preserving resources and fostering better life. The Group’s innovative solutions contribute to safer, cleaner, and more sustainable products found in homes, food and consumer goods, planes, cars, batteries, smart devices, health care applications, water and air purification systems. Founded in 1863, Solvay today ranks among the world’s top three companies for the vast majority of its activities and delivered net sales of EUR10.2 billion in 2019. Solvay is listed on Euronext Brussels (SOLB) and Paris and in the United States, where its shares (SOLVY) are traded through a Level I ADR program.
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