Perstorp Increases Carboxylic Acid Production
Perstorp, a leading specialty chemicals company, plans to bring an additional 70,000 tonnes/year of carboxylic acid production capacity online in 2024.
Perstorp will be able to significantly increase output and strengthen its position as a provider of sustainable solutions as a result of the investment. Increased capacity will meet rising demand for non-phthalate plasticizers for PVC, engineered fluids for applications such as refrigeration lubricants, and various propionates used in food preservation, as well as carboxylic acids used in animal feed gut health and preservation products. Most of the output will be used in downstream production operated by Perstorp itself.
Perstorp will construct a new plant in Stenungsund, Sweden, on the site of its existing carboxylic acid production facility. It will be capable of producing acids from C3 to C9 chemistry, just like the original unit, significantly enhancing the company's portfolio. Perstorp's Oxo production platform will fully integrate both plants.
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Perstorp’s production site in Stenungsund, Sweden.[/caption]
The decision to go ahead with the capacity expansion comes during a period of high growth for Perstorp, which has maintained a strong position in its key markets despite disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. “The expansion fits with our strategy for growth and an increased emphasis on specialty products, and will reinforce our pioneering position in sustainable solutions for our key focus segments,” says Betty Lu, Vice President for Oxo chemicals at Perstorp.
“I am glad that our acid capacity expansion is now back on track, after a temporary delay due to COVID. This capacity investment will remove our last bottleneck and enable us to grow our unique non-phthalate plasticizer Pevalen™ and Pevalen™ Pro unconstrained in the coming years.”
Perstorp is the only plasticizer manufacturer to offer Pevalen
TM, a high-performance polyolester plasticizer that is ideal for sensitive close-to-consumer applications like coated fabric, films, and sheets. Pevalen
TM meets the growing demand for new-generation plasticizers and has efficiency and UV stability advantages over some of the most commonly used plasticizer solutions.
Perstorp also uses carboxylic acids for its in-house production of various grades of food preservative (Profina™ CP) and animal feed preservative (ProSid™ MI 208). It is the only company in the world making these products with upstream integration.
Valmira Özten, Vice President Business Manager for Formates & Propionates at Perstorp, says the company is witnessing strong growth in demand for both Profina™ and ProSid™. As a result, the company is planning to significantly increase production capacity for calcium propionate, which is currently located in Castellanza, near Milan, Italy. New capacity could be onstream in early 2024. Various sites are under consideration. Perstorp markets its calcium propionates in numerous countries around the world.
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