AkzoNobel doubles DME production

AkzoNobel Industrial Chemicals is to increase dimethylether (DME) production capacity at its Rotterdam/Europoort plant to 45,000 tons a year. The additional capacity will be used to grow with AkzoNobel 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 materializing in 2012.
 

DME
Dimethylether was introduced in the 1980s as an environmentally-friendly propellant for aerosols. The DME plant in Rotterdam/Europoort, which is capable of producing 20,000 tons a year, opened in the 1990s. The recently announced expansion in capacity will become available in Q4 2012 and is based on existing technology. The most important aerosol market segments are paints, polyurethane (PU) foams and cosmetics.

AkzoNobel Industrial Chemicals
Besides DME, AkzoNobel Industrial Chemicals produces and sells salt, energy, chlor-alkali products and derivates such as monochloroacetic acid (MCA) and metal salts. All products that are essential to daily life which are used in a host of areas including the production of vehicle parts, food, glass, plastic, medicines, degreasing agents and textiles.