WACKER Breaks Ground on Production Plant in South Korea
MUNICH - Wacker Chemie AG is expanding its existing production plants for dispersions and dispersible polymer powders in South Korea. With the Mayor of Ulsan, South Korea, Gi-Hyeon Kim and numerous customers in attendance, WACKER Executive Board member Dr. Christian Hartel, head of WACKER POLYMERS Peter Summo and head of WACKER Korea Dal-Ho Cho celebrated the official start of construction on the major project during a symbolic ground-breaking ceremony. The group is building a new spray dryer for dispersible polymer powders at its Ulsan site, which will have a total capacity of 80,000 metric tons per year. The Munich-based chemicals company is also constructing an additional reactor for dispersions based on vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer (VAE), which are needed as the raw material for the spray dryer to produce dispersible polymer powders.
Ulsan's plant complex, which covers the entire production chain from VAE dispersions to dispersible polymer powders, will be one of the largest of its kind in the world. Investments will total around €60 million, and production is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2019.