Wacker Chemie AG is expanding its existing vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer (VAE) dispersions production facilities in the United States. The Munich-based chemical company will add a new reactor with an annual capacity of 85,000 metric tons at its Calvert City site, investing an amount of around €50 million in the site’s capacity and infrastructure. This makes the complex the largest of its kind in the Americas. The new reactor is scheduled to come on stream by mid-2015.

“Capacity expansion is essential if we are to meet our customers’ demand for our dispersions over the coming years,” said Rudolf Staudigl, CEO of Wacker Chemie AG, the reason for the investment. “After extending our dispersions capacities at our sites in South Korea and China in the course of the last two years, we have now pushed ahead with expanding our production in the US, too. Thus, we will be able to keep pace with future market growth and strengthen our leading position in VAE dispersions,” Staudigl added.

Wacker has further added an ethylene pipeline to the Calvert City facility for increasing the long-term reliability of raw  aterial supply at the site. “This investment in our continuous r w-material supply is an important step: it not only makes a key contribution to supply security in the years to come, but also to the cost-efficient production of our dispersions,” said John Fotheringham, vice president of Dispersions at Wacker Polymers.