ESSEN, GERMANY (Aug. 26, 1:35 p.m. ET) — Evonik Industries AG will add more than 100 million pounds of capacity worldwide for methyl methacrylate, a feedstock used to make acrylic resin.
The expansions will total about 110 million pounds and will take place at Evonik's four MMA production sites: Fortier, La.; Worms and Wesseling, Germany; and Shanghai. Work is expected to take place this year and in 2012, officials with Essen-based Evonik said in an Aug. 25 news release.
“We are reacting to support the growth of our customers,” Thomas Muller, acrylic monomers senior vice president and general manager, said in the release. In addition to acrylic resins, MMA is used in surface coatings.
Evonik employs more than 34,000 worldwide and posted sales of 13.3 billion euros ($17.3 billion) in 2010. In the U.S., Evonik is part owner of Parsippany, N.J.-based acrylic sheet maker Evonik Cyro LLC. Evonik Cyro ranked No. 55 in Plastics News' most recent ranking of North American film and sheet makers, with sales of more than $100 million.
