Arkema to double organic peroxide production capacity in China

Arkema has announced the construction of a new organic peroxide plant on its Changshu site in China, a move that will double the site’s production capacity. With this move, Arkema, which claims to be the world’s second leading producer of organic peroxides, will continue to support the strong growth in the organic peroxide market in Asia, a region in which the Group is also a producer in India, South Korea and Japan.
 
The new Changshu plant is due to come on stream in early 2016.
 
“These new capacities reinforce our leadership position in the organic peroxide Asian market for the initiation of polymerisation reactions. Our customer service, together with an optimum industrial and logistics model as well these new capacities will enable us to support our customers’ strong growth in China, particularly in the growing plastics markets for the construction, packaging and automotive sectors,” stated Manny Katz, Global President, Organic Peroxides, Arkema.
 
Complementing investments made earlier in particular the announcement of the construction of a new plant in Saudi Arabia, the doubling of capacities at the Changshu organic peroxide site illustrates the development strategy pursued by Arkema’s High Performance Materials segment, while further boosting the Group’s presence in high growth countries where Arkema looks to achieve 30% of its sales by 2016.
 
Organic peroxides are widely used as polymerisation initiators in commodity thermoplastics. Arkema operates 11 organic peroxide plants in three continents.