MOSCOW (MRC) -- To support its customers’ growth, in particular in the refining and petrochemicals sector of Asia and the Middle East, Arkema, through its subsidiary CECA, an adsorption and filtration specialist, has announced a project to double production capacity for its specialty molecular sieves, said the producer on its site.
This capacity extension, representing capital expenditure of some EUR60 million, will take place in France on the Honfleur site dedicated to molecular sieves.
This capacity extension is designed to produce adsorbents for aromatics separation in petrochemicals, in particular the latest generation ultra high performance CECA molecular sieves - Siliporite SPX 5003 - already produced industrially and marketed throughout the world.
Production is scheduled to come on stream in two phases, the first in summer 2016 and the second in early 2017.
"Boosting CECA’s production capacity for specialty molecular sieves will enable us to support the growth of the market, of the order of 6 to 7%, especially in Asia and the Middle East, and in particular to serve our petrochemicals customers targeting end-markets such as synthetic textiles and PET bottles," explains Marc-Antoine Mallet, CECA Managing Director.
Investment in line with the growth momentum of Arkema’s High Performance Materials segment.
As MRC wrote previously, in 2014, Arkema announced the construction of a new organic peroxide plant on its Changshu site in China. This investment will help double the site’s production capacity. By doubling its production capacity in China, Arkema will continue to support the strong growth in the organic peroxide market in Asia, a region in which the Group is also a producer in India, South Korea and Japan. The new Changshu plant is due to come on stream in early 2016.
Arkema with annual revenue of EUR7.5 billion is a leading European supplier of chlorochemicals and PVC. Kynar and Kynar Flex are registered trademarks of Arkema Inc.
MRC