AkzoNobel doubles DME production
Aerosol propellant production will total 45,000 tons a year
AkzoNobel Industrial Chemicals is to increase dimethylether (DME) production capacity at its Rotterdam/Europoort plant in the Netherlands to 45,000 tons per year. DME is used as an environmentally-friendly propellant for aerosols and AkzoNobel’s DME Rotterdam/Europoort plant currently produces 20,000 tons a year. But the recently announced expansion, which will come into effect in Q4 2012 and is based on existing technology, will more than double this.
The company says the decision to expand capacity in this way will sustain its high health, safety and environmental standards.
“Our investment demonstrates our strong commitment to AkzoNobel’s sustainable growth strategy and will reinforce our leading position in the European DME market,” commented Ton Pichel, business manager, AkzoNobel DME. “The additional capacity will be used to grow with our customers both in and outside Europe and to secure sufficient availability of DME in the market. The capacity extension is also part of AkzoNobel’s ambition to be the first sustainable green DME producer and supplier, which is targeted to start materialising in 2012.”
