Arkema plans to invest US$110 mln over 3 years in its Acrylics sites in Clear Lake and Bayport, Texas. This plan will target acrylic acid and its esters, and will focus on growth opportunities seen for applications in water treatment, super absorbent polymers and enhanced oil & gas recovery. This investment program is a step toward the company’s ambition as the number 3 global supplier of Acrylics to grow its core strategic business while boosting its competitiveness.
The first project will focus on moving the Clear Lake site toward a best-in-class facility by improving the reliability and competitiveness of its Acrylic Acid assets. The combination of Arkema's industrial expertise and know-how in Acrylics, along with the latest advances in technology, will aggressively advance this project to start-up in early 2013, bringing the new rated nameplate capacity to 270,000 tons. The second project for Clear Lake will be the construction of a 45,000 tons unit for the production of Methyl Acrylate, which will support growth opportunities in water treatment, elastomers and technical polymers. This unit is planned for startup in Q2-2013. The investment program also includes the conversion of the Butyl Acrylate plant at Bayport, TX to a 40,000 ton 2-Ethyl Hexyl Acrylate (2EHA) plant, planned to come on-stream in early 2012. All Butyl Acrylate production will be relocated to the Clear Lake facility.
Marie-Pierre Chevallier, Global President of Acrylics at Arkema, "With two key strategic and balanced production platforms in Europe (Carling, France) and the Americas (Clear Lake and Bayport, TX), we can truly deliver our Acrylic offering in the United States, and generally for all our customers around the world.”
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