Solvay announces today that it has decided to increase its SOLEF® production capacity by 50% to keep track of the continuously strong growing demand for this high added-value fluorinated specialty polymer. The capacity increase at Solvay's Tavaux plant, France, requires an investment of 26 million EUR and will become operational in the second half of 2012.
Solvay's
SOLEF® Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is among others used for
demanding applications in oil & gas extraction, as
binders and in separators in Lithium-ion batteries, in
photovoltaics, in
semiconductor manufacturing and in
water purification membranes. Global demand for PVDF has grown the last five years by over 10% every year. The SOLEF® PVDF production capacity in Tavaux was already expanded by some 30% in 2009.
The SOLEF® PVDF technology used in Tavaux has a strong competitive edge resulting from its product quality and consistency. It complements harmoniously
the HYLAR® PVDF technology developed in West Depford, USA, and provides Solvay with a strong position and flexibility in addressing all the specific needs of high demanding industries.
“SOLEF® PVDF is used in an increasing number of applications that fit well into the global megatrends. We are looking forward to provide our customers with additional supply,” says Augusto Di Donfrancesco, General Manager of the Global Business Unit Specialty Polymers.
“With our unique upstream integration into fluorspar and monomers, our customers can count on stability and quality of supply. They also benefit from our technology and experience in developing and producing more high added-value fluorinated materials with more performance,” he adds.
SOLVAY is an international industrial Group active in Chemistry. It offers a broad range of products and solutions that contribute to improving quality of life. The Group is headquartered in Brussels and employs about 16,800 people in 40 countries. In 2010, its consolidated sales amounted to EUR 7.1 billion. Solvay is listed on the NYSE Euronext stock exchange in Brussels, Belgium (NYSE Euronext:
SOLB.BE - Bloomberg:
SOLB.BB - Reuters:
SOLBt.BR). Details are available at
www.solvay.com.
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