Nouryon to expand MCA capacity at chemical cluster Delfzijl, the Netherlands

Nouryon has announced plans to expand its production capacity for monochloroacetic acid (MCA) in Delfzijl, the Netherlands by the end of 2020. MCA is essential in the manufacture of many crop protection and home and personal care products and is also an important building block used by the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Nouryon is investing in technology and efficiency improvements to increase current MCA production in Delfzijl. This will help satisfy market growth as well as Nouryon’s own increased consumption of MCA to produce carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), following its recent acquisition of J.M. Huber’s CMC business. Nouryon has also initiated a study to free up more capacity for chlorine, the key raw material for MCA.

“MCA serves several high-growth sectors, including crop protection products in the Americas and pharmaceutical production in India and other emerging markets,” said Rob Vancko, Head of MCA and Strategy, Industrial Chemicals at Nouryon. “The expansion project in Delfzijl combined with the opening of a new joint venture plant in India later this year will increase our overall MCA production capacity by more than 20 percent to help us capture demand growth.”

Knut Schwalenberg, President Industrial Chemicals at Nouryon added: “These projects will allow us to fully benefit from our technology leadership in MCA and the growth of Nouryon’s CMC business. It reflects our focus on making targeted investments in attractive end markets that support customer growth.”

Nouryon is a global technology leader in MCA and the first manufacturer to use technologies such as advanced distillation for minimized steam consumption and nanofiltration for zero liquid discharge. It also applies state-of-the-art hydrogenation technology in its plants for a more efficient and sustainable conversion of raw materials into MCA.