BRUSSELS (Sept. 18, 8:30 a.m. ET) — Solvay Advanced Polymers LLC is increasing capacity by 70 percent as its Panoli, India, plant for its Spire polyetheretherketone materials. The project, which is already underway, will be completed by mid 2013.
“Solvay is delighted with the growth of its line of polyketone materials and we are very excited to be adding capacity for this business that we launched just a few years ago,” said Augusto Di Donfrancesco, Solvay’s global general manager for specialty polymers.
Demand for the materials is coming from a range of sectors including aeronautic, automotive, healthcare, electronics and oil and gas exploration.
“Our focus from the start was to deliver products with consistently high quality and performance and we believe this has been a key driver in the rapid market acceptance of our KetaSpire PEEK resins,” added Chris Wilson, vice-president of Solvay’s Spire polymers business.
“With AvaSpire PAEK, we are impressed with how innovative design engineers are capitalizing on the entirely new performance dimensions offered by these materials
Solvay has also announced that it is acquiring a controlling stake in Sunshield Chemicals, an Indian company specializing in surfactants.
