The Feed
additives Business Unit of
Degussa AG is continuing its substantial L-Threonine expansion program, which commenced three years ago.
The company is currently debottlenecking the existing production capacity of L-Threonine at its wholly owned subsidiary Fermas spol. s.r.o., Slovakia, to meet the growing global demand and respond quickly to changes in customers' requirements. The facility is scheduled to start-up in the second quarter of 2005 and will have a total production capacity of 20,000 metric tons p.a. The plant will implement an advanced down-streaming process, whilst reducing cycle times and energy input.
In a second step, Degussa announced that "Agroferm", Hungaria, which was recently acquired from Kyowa Hakko, will be integrated into the current production setup as a large L-Threonine production facility. The Hungarian site has been chosen as the location of the new 30,000 tons plant due to its proximity to locally available raw material sources and the excellent
fermentation infrastructure. The construction will be completed in 2007, increasing Degussa's total L-Threonine capacity to 50,000 tpa.
Degussa will continue to cover the future lysine demand of current 'Agroferm' customers through its existing supply channels in Europe.