Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany;) has signed an agreement to scale up and produce custom catalyst for Röhm GmbH’s (Darmstadt, Germany) new methyl methacrylate (MMA) production plant in Bay City, Texas, which is due to be opened in 2024.
“This agreement once again, underscores our commitment and capability in custom Catalysts arena. We’re delighted to be able to work with the Röhm team to enable commercial scale production of MMA,” says Sanjeev Taneja, head of Evonik Catalysts.
“These catalysts play a key role in Röhm’s newly developed LiMA (Leading in Methacrylates) technology to produce MMA with efficient resource use and reduced environmental impact. In many ways, LiMA sets new standards and is the most efficient MMA production technology to have been developed.”
Compared to other MMA processes, the LiMA technology has clear sustainability advantages, as it enables a high yield with low energy consumption and reduced wastewater volumes (for more details about LiMA, see Chem. Eng., November 2017, p. 7).
Methacrylate monomers and their derivatives are important precursors used in the automotive, electronic, medical and construction industries, including the production of Plexiglas and specialty applications such as contact lenses and adhesives.