Evonik Industries (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) is building a new production plant for specialty copolyesters at its Witten site in Germany. As binders for paints, specialty copolyesters are used in coil coatings and, increasingly, in food can coatings. The company is investing a mid-double-digit million euro sum in the plant, which will have annual production capacity of several thousand metric tons. It is scheduled to be completed in 2018. The investment will create around ten new jobs in Witten, where the group currently has around 250 employees.
Dr. Ralph Sven Kaufmann, a member of Evonik’s Executive Board and its Chief Operating Officer, said, “We continue to expand our polyester platform strengthening our position as an innovative supplier of materials for high-quality metal coatings in an attractive growth market.” One driver in this market is the trend towards epoxy resin-free can coatings that do not contain bisphenol A.
Dr. Dietmar Wewers, head of the Coating & Adhesive Resins Business Line at Evonik, said, “As the solutions partner of the coatings and packaging industry, we are committed to supporting our customers’ growth. We offer sustainable products to meet customer requirements.” Specialty copolyesters are the main building block for coatings that have the right balance between flexibility and hardness. In food can coatings they provide good sterilization resistance, adequate rigidity and protection.