Solvay Announces Project to Build Large-scale Alkoxylation Facility in Singapore

Solvay announces recently that it will build a large-scale alkoxylation facility in Singapore connected to Shell’s new High Purity Ethylene Oxide (HPEO) unit located in the world-class, integrated petrochemical hub of Jurong Island.

“This project is aligned with our aggressive growth strategy in Asia and solidifies our specialty surfactant production,” explained Emmanuel Butstraen, President of Solvay Novecare. “In addition to greatly expanding our alkoxylation footprint in Asia, the facility also demonstrates Novecare’s ambition to be the world leader in delivering innovative surfactant solutions to our customers on a global basis.”

Already Asia’s largest specialty surfactant manufacturer with 11 production sites and two R&D centers in Singapore and Shanghai, the new Solvay Novecare alkoxylation plant is projected to start operations by 2015. It will produce specialty alkoxylate surfactants which deliver targeted cleansing, dispersing, defoaming and emulsifying performance attributes in formulations developed for the fast-growing Asian market including home & personal care.

“Our new facility will enable us to develop our specialty surfactant offer in Asia and use Singapore as a hub to provide highly competitive and innovative intermediates to other Novecare sites in Asia, as well as penetrating further into key Southeast Asia markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand,” said Pierre-Franck Valentin, Vice-President & General Manager of Solvay Novecare in Asia- Pacific.

The “on pipe” facility will be supplied by an ethylene oxide (EO) pipeline from Shell to feed the alkoxylation activities, highlighting both Solvay Novecare’s long-term commitment to sustainable production and the growing demand from its end markets.

Solvay Novecare is a worldwide leader in specialty surfactants and a major player in polymers, amines, guar, and phosphorus derivatives. Solvay Novecare engineers and develops formulations that provide consumer products and state-of-the-art industrial applications with specific functional qualities designed to modify fluid behavior and deliver cleansing, dispersal, gelling, moisturizing, penetrating, softening or texturizing properties. These formulations are used in shampoos, detergents, paints and lubricants as well as in crop protection, mining and energy production and stimulation. 

Novecare, which boasts a worldwide network of 25 manufacturing sites and seven R&D centers, has become the preferred partner of its customers in rapidly growing economies and leverages an innovation platform based on sustainable solutions. 

As an international chemical group, SOLVAY assists industry in finding and implementing ever more responsible and value-creating solutions. The Group is firmly committed to sustainable development and focused on innovation and operational excellence. Solvay serves diversified markets, generating 90% of its turnover in activities where it is one of the top three worldwide. The group is headquartered in Brussels, employs about 29,000 people in 55 countries and generated 12.4 billion euros in net sales in 2012. Solvay SA SOLB.BE) is listed on Nyse Euronext in Brussels and Paris (Bloomberg: SOLB.BB - Reuters: SOLBt.BR).