Evonik opens new production facility for P84 fibers

06-21-2010: After a construction phase of little more than a year, the Austrian company Evonik Fibres, a subsidiary of the German Evonik Industries Group, will open its new production facility in Schörfling in a ceremony held on June 17, 2010. According to the General Manager, Dr. Herbert Griesser, the partial relocation of the polyimide fiber P84® production to the state-of-the-art facility with a production hall and warehouse, two-level technical service annex, and separate administrative building became necessary because the previous site in Lenzing could no longer accommodate the optimal production flow for fiber manufacturing.

"The new facility allows Evonik Fibres to meet the continuously growing demand for P84® products worldwide, and especially in Asia," says Griesser. Approximately half of the 66 employees currently working in Lenzing will transfer to the 8,000 m² facility in Schörfling over the next two years in multiple phases.

Evonik Fibres is the only manufacturer of P84® polyimide fibers worldwide. The product is used in filter media for separating dust from hot flue gases in waste incineration plants, cement factories, and coal-fueled power plants as well as in sealing materials, flame retardant clothing, and thermal insulation materials. Polyimide is also sold as a powder under the brand name P84 NT™. Compression-molded parts made from the material are used in a wide range of applications that call for low weight and low friction coefficient without the use of lubricants.