Solvay Advanced Polymers, makers of more plastics with more performance, announced today that it has commissioned its new commercial PEEK (polyetheretherketone) facility at its site in Panoli, India. The new facility is now in its start-up phase and is running initial commercial production. The plant is capable of producing 500 metric tons annually, and is scalable in design to double capacity to meet demand for Solvay Advanced Polymers’ KetaSpire® PEEK and AvaSpire® modified PEEK products.

“We’re very pleased to arrive at this significant milestone with our new PEEK unit,” commented George Corbin, President & CEO of Solvay Advanced Polymers. “Even more importantly, I take a great deal of personal pride in the team that has successfully brought us to this point – on time, under budget and with no injuries or loss-time incidents. It’s testament to a tremendous amount of hours and effort from a lot of people from around the world, and especially the entire team at our Panoli site.”

Since launching its Spire® line in late 2006, Solvay Advanced Polymers has been supplying KetaSpire PEEK and AvaSpire modified PEEK from its semi-commercial unit located in Alpharetta, Georgia. With today’s announcement, the company has completed a significant step in its strategic entrance into the PEEK market. In the past 18 months, Solvay Advanced Polymers has been seeding and specifying its KetaSpire PEEK and AvaSpire modified PEEK into a range of markets and applications from its semi-commercial facility.
The new commercial facility in Panoli will now support and expand upon those opportunities.

“When we announced our intention to enter into the PEEK market it was part of a comprehensive strategy built upon an entire family of ultra-performance products,” explained Vincenzo Morici, Solvay Group’s Specialty Polymers Business General Manager.
“Today’s announcement continues that strategic vision of supplying our customers with more polymeric options to solve their top design challenges.”

KetaSpire PEEK and AvaSpire modified PEEK are highly-prized ultra polymers that offer design engineers best-in-class chemical resistance and mechanical properties, including strength, stiffness and ease of processing. This combination of performance attributes makes PEEK an ideal polymer for applications in aerospace, automotive, friction and wear components, healthcare, oil exploration and production, and semi-conductors, among others. KetaSpire PEEK is also available in film form for specialized applications.

About Solvay Advanced Polymers
Solvay Advanced Polymers produces more plastics with more performance than any other company in the world. This gives design engineers worldwide more ways to solve top design challenges in automotive, medical, electronics, aerospace and other demanding industries. Learn more at www.solvayadvancedpolymers.com.

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 19,000 people in 50 countries. In 2009, its consolidated sales amounted to EUR 8.5 billion. Solvay is listed on the NYSE Euronext stock exchange in Brussels (NYSE Euronext: SOLB.BE - Bloomberg: SOLB.BB - Reuters: SOLBt.BR). Details are available at www.solvay.com.

CONTACT:
Solvay Advanced Polymers
Mark Wheeler
(770) 772-8849
mark.wheeler@solvay.com