AkzoNobel aims for better service and sustainability with new China plant

Chemicals company AkzoNobel is targeting the China market and looking to better serve its personal care customers there with a new alkoxylation facility in Ningbo bringing the company’s total investment in the strategic multi-site to more than €400 million (£447 million).

Alkoxylated alcohols, amines, phenols, cellulose, and polyglycols are used in surfactants, dispersants, foaming agents, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals, and the Dutch multinational says it will help to better serve the personal care market, as well as the agrochemical and oilfield sectors.

The new facility also creates a more sustainable footprint in the region.

Service and sustainability

"Our investment in this new plant is further proof of our ongoing commitment to China, which is one of our most strategically important markets,” says Werner Fuhrmann, Executive Committee member responsible for Specialty Chemicals.

“The new facility also gives added momentum to our organic growth ambitions, as well as enabling us to continue expanding our manufacturing footprint in Asia.”

Graeme Armstrong, Managing Director of AkzoNobel Surface Chemistry adds that the new alkoxylation facility in Ningbo will allow the company to better serve its customers in the region, which is one of its top priorities.

“It also provides us with the opportunity to meet the increasing demands of the market while operating production locally, which will result in less need for transportation, shorter turnaround times and a lower carbon footprint,” he says.

 New site

The Ningbo multi-site covers around 50 hectares and accommodates production for chelates, ethylene amines, ethylene oxide, organic peroxides and Bermocoll cellulose derivatives.

Surface Chemistry’s latest investment will increase annual capacity by nearly 18,000 tons, mainly catering for domestic demand in China.

“Ningbo is one of the company’s most important production locations and this new investment means we can offer additional employment opportunities to the local market, while continuing to focus on organic growth, operational excellence and achieving leading performance,” says LIN Liangqi, President of AkzoNobel China.

The added alkoxylation capacity (the process of reacting a fatty amine with ethylene oxide to make ethoxylated amines) will enable the company to better serve its customers in the agrochemical, oilfield and personal care markets.