Nouryon plans to expand its production capacity for monochloroacetic acid (MCA) in Delfzijl, the Netherlands by the end of 2020. MCA is essential in home and personal care products and is also an important building block used by the food and pharmaceutical industries.
Investment to Help Satisfy Market Growth
Nouryon is investing in technology and efficiency improvements to increase current MCA production in Netherlands. The investment will help satisfy market growth as well as Nouryon’s own increased consumption of MCA to produce carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), following its recent acquisition of J.M. Huber’s CMC business. Nouryon has also initiated a study to free up more capacity for chlorine, the key raw material for MCA.
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MCA serves several high-growth sectors, including crop protection products in the Americas and pharmaceutical production in India and other emerging markets,” said Rob Vancko, head of MCA and strategy, Industrial Chemicals at Nouryon.
MCA Capacity to be Increased by 20%
The expansion project in Delfzijl combined with the opening of a new joint venture plant in India later this year will increase Nouryon’s overall MCA production capacity by more than 20 percent to help capture demand growth.
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These projects will allow us to fully benefit from our technology leadership in MCA and the growth of Nouryon’s CMC business. It reflects our focus on making targeted investments in attractive end markets that support customer growth,” said Knut Schwalenberg, president Industrial Chemicals at Nouryon.
Source: Nouryon