German acrylics and performance polymers producer Evonik is targeting a 5 percent compound annual growth rate in sales from its polymers business over the next five years, it revealed in a press conference at K 2010.
The polymers business, 60 percent of which comprises plastics and 40 percent additives, earned 2 billion euros in sales in 2009, and Evonik s goal is to increase that figure to 2.7 billion euros by 2015.
To support its growth target, Evonik is planning 1.7 billion euros in investments up to 2015. This is an increase from the 1.1 billion worth of investments in the five years from 2004 to 2009.
Gregor Hertzke, head of performance polymers at Evonik, said the investments will mainly be made adding production capacity at existing sites for MMA, PMMA and PA12. Some of the spending will also go to new compounding capacity and its regional R&D and technical centers.
Questions from journalists focused largely on Evonik s plans for bio-sourced materials, not just polyamide based on castor oil, but potentially ground breaking work it is doing in MMA, a precursor to PMMA.
Evonik is developing a technology it has called Aveneer for a new MMA process based on ACH and methanol. Hertzke said raw material for the process would be sugar cane or a sugar derivative, but it will be some time before it decides on the raw material, due to the need to be sure about availability and reliability of supply.
Benefits of using renewable materials, according to Evonik, also include lower process related carbon dioxide emissions.
It is still early in the project, and no decision has been made on whether an Aveneer plant would be added to an existing site or would be built at a Greenfield location.
The polymers business, 60 percent of which comprises plastics and 40 percent additives, earned 2 billion euros in sales in 2009, and Evonik s goal is to increase that figure to 2.7 billion euros by 2015.
To support its growth target, Evonik is planning 1.7 billion euros in investments up to 2015. This is an increase from the 1.1 billion worth of investments in the five years from 2004 to 2009.
Gregor Hertzke, head of performance polymers at Evonik, said the investments will mainly be made adding production capacity at existing sites for MMA, PMMA and PA12. Some of the spending will also go to new compounding capacity and its regional R&D and technical centers.
Questions from journalists focused largely on Evonik s plans for bio-sourced materials, not just polyamide based on castor oil, but potentially ground breaking work it is doing in MMA, a precursor to PMMA.
Evonik is developing a technology it has called Aveneer for a new MMA process based on ACH and methanol. Hertzke said raw material for the process would be sugar cane or a sugar derivative, but it will be some time before it decides on the raw material, due to the need to be sure about availability and reliability of supply.
Benefits of using renewable materials, according to Evonik, also include lower process related carbon dioxide emissions.
It is still early in the project, and no decision has been made on whether an Aveneer plant would be added to an existing site or would be built at a Greenfield location.
