AkzoNobel doubles dimethylether production
AkzoNobel Industrial Chemicals is to increase dimethylether (DME) production capacity at its Rotterdam/Europoort plant in the Netherlands to 45,000 tons a year.
“Our investment demonstrates our strong commitment to AkzoNobel’s sustainable growth strategy and will reinforce our leading position in the European DME market,” said Ton Pichel, business manager of AkzoNobel DME. “The additional capacity will be used to grow with our customers both in and outside Europe and to secure sufficient availability of DME in the market. The capacity extension is also part of AkzoNobel’s ambition to be the first sustainable green DME producer and supplier, which is targeted to start materializing in 2012."
Dimethylether was introduced in the 1980s as an environmentally-friendly propellant for
aerosols. The DME plant in Rotterdam/Europoort, which is capable of producing 20,000 tons a year, opened in the 1990s. The recently announced expansion in capacity will become available in Q4 2012 and is based on existing technology. The decision to expand capacity in this way will sustain AkzoNobel´s high health, safety and environmental (HSE) standards.
The most important aerosol market segments are paints, polyurethane (PU) foams and
cosmetics. AkzoNobel works in partnership with the major global players in these areas.
DME is also used in AkzoNobel’s patented DeMythe®LDD technology for the processing of animal skins.
Other news from the department manufacturing
