Oxea European capacity expansion for plasticizer DOTP to 50,000 tpa by Q4 2015

25-Mar-14

Global petrochemicals producer Oxea is to raise its European production capacity of dioctyl terephthalate (DOTP), a general-purpose plasticizer, by 50,000 tpa by Q4-2015, as per Platts. Oxea has signed a memorandum of understanding with an unidentified third party for the joint production of DOTP, citing rising demand for environmentally friendly plasticizers such as DOTP and diisononyl phthalate (DINP). "The European market for phthalate-free plasticizers is growing rapidly. As a replacement mainly for DOP and DINP, DOTP is benefiting particularly from this development and our capacities need to be planned correspondingly," said Christian Boehmer, Oxea's project leader. The move also reflected a structural move away from traditional plasticizers like dioctyl phthalate which is likely to be phased out by February 2015 under the EU Reach program. DOTP is a general-purpose plasticizer used in a range of applications such as automotive, construction and flooring, and uses the same raw material as rival product DOP, 2-ethylhexanol.