Mexico. AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals revealed that it is investing more than 12 million euros to expand production capacity and improve its organic peroxide facilities in the town of Los Reyes.
The project involves the construction of a new facility to produce Perkadox CH-50 organic peroxides, which are mainly sold in the thermoset resin market. One of the key growth segments for this market is the room temperature curing of acrylic resins, which are used in road marking, resurfacing and roofing applications.
The investment is the latest in a series of recent investments at the Los Reyes site by the company's Polymer Chemistry business. In January 2017, it completed an expansion of 22 million organic peroxides, followed in May by the completion of a project that increased total peroxiester capacity in North America by 40%. The latest expansion project is expected to be completed by May 2019.
"We have a growing client base, so continued investment to increase production capacity at Los Reyes is critical to ensuring we continue to meet demand while positioning ourselves for sustainable growth," explains Johan Landfors, Member of the Executive Committee responsible for Polymer Chemistry. "Mexico is an important market for us. Expanding our operations in Los Reyes also means we will need to hire more people, which is good news for the local economy."
Over the past three years, the Polymer Chemistry business has invested more than €100 million to better serve its customers in the polymer industry, upgrade technologies, increase capacity and reposition its global manufacturing footprint.
"The investments have reinforced our leading position in the global market for chemicals for the polymer industry," says Werner Fuhrmann, CEO of AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals. "We are committed to investing in production capabilities across all of our businesses in order to support the growth of our customers in key markets around the world."
