Evonik Industries starts up new high-purity isobutene facility at Antwerp

05-Apr-11

Evonik Industries, Essen (Germany) has started up a new facility to produce high-purity isobutene at its site in Antwerp (Belgium). The new plant, which involved investment of tens of millions euros, can produce up to 110,000 metric tons isobutene p.a. and forms part of the site's integrated C4 production platform. The investment has tripled Evonik's production capacity for isobutene, which is used, for example, for butyl rubber for applications such as inner liners with low air permeability in automotive tires. "The new production plant strengthens our position as one of Europe's leading suppliers of isobutene," said Thomas Haeberle of Evonik's Executive Board. Isobutene from Antwerp enables the Group to reliably meet rising demand from customers.