Dec 15 2005
Celanese Corporation, announced that it will build a 300,000 metric ton, world-scale vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) plant at the company’s Nanjing, China chemical complex. The plant is expected to be operational in late 2007 or early 2008.
“As the world’s leading producer of VAM and other acetyl-based products, we believe it is important to have a manufacturing presence in the world’s fastest growing region to supply our customers with a reliable, locally produced product,” said David Weidman, president and chief executive officer. “This investment is consistent with our strategy to maintain our number one position in the VAM market.”
The VAM plant will receive acetic acid, a key raw material, from Celanese’s 600,000 metric ton acetic acid plant in Nanjing, which will begin commercial sales in early 2007. The company currently operates seven plants around the world to produce VAM, which is used to make such products as paints, coatings, adhesives and fibers.
The company also announced today that in 2006 it will begin implementation of its next generation of VAM technology called VAntage PlusTM. The new technology will further improve production efficiency and lower operating costs as it is phased into Celanese’s VAM units over the next several years. In 2005, Celanese completed implementation of its VAntageTM technology in the last of its six ethylene-based VAM units. VAntageTM not only enhanced production efficiency, but also increased Celanese’s overall VAM production capacity by 265,000 metric tons, equivalent to a world-scale unit, at 10 to 15% of the cost of building a grass-roots unit.
http://www.celanese.com
15th December 2005