Emerald Kalama Chemical, a business group of Emerald Performance Materials, announced that the company’s board of directors has approved the plan to add a second benzoic acid purification and finishing process at its facility in Rotterdam, Netherlands.  The new process will add an additional 100,000 metric tons per year capacity of high purity benzoic acid (Purox B) and also provide an increased production capability for benzaldehyde. The project is slated for completion in late 2016.

The company previously announced it had begun engineering the expansion in April, which would focus on high purity benzoic acid to support growing demand for the company’s Kalama and Purox brands of benzoic acid flakes, sodium benzoate granules and liquid benzoic acid, which it provides for food and beverage, personal care, pharmaceutical and a variety of industrial applications. The main products from the company’s reactor train — benzoic acid and benzaldehyde — are key intermediates used for the production of important downstream products, notably K-FLEX plasticizers and the Kalama aroma chemical line.

“Reassessing our long-term strategic plan for our key intermediates, our expectations for benzoic acid continue to show strong growth and track according to plan,”  said Hubert Degens, vice president of the Emerald Kalama Chemical Benzoates and Intermediates business. “In addition, our recent acquisition of Innospec Widnes Ltd.’s aroma chemical business — and growth plans for that platform — are in line with our increased production capacity for benzaldehyde.”

The company has been producing benzoic acid at its Rotterdam and U.S. operations for more than 50 years. Emerald Kalama Chemical’s portfolio of benzoic acid products is FDA-approved and GRAS-classified. The Rotterdam operation is also certified to meet or exceed a number of important quality standards, including ISO-9001, ISO-14001, HACCP, FamiQS and FSSC22000.