OBERHAUSEN, Germany – In order to meet growing customer demand, Oxea is planning to increase its European capacity for Oxsoft GPO (dioctyl terephthalate - DOTP) by 50,000 metric tons by the fourth quarter of 2015. To this end, Oxea has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a third party to establish a joint production of DOTP. Dioctyl terephthalate is a general-purpose plasticizer used in a wide range of applications such as construction, automotive and flooring.

“The European market for phthalate-free plasticizers is growing rapidly. As a replacement mainly for dioctyl phthalate and diisononyl phthalate, DOTP is benefiting particularly from this development and our capacities need to be planned correspondingly,” said Oxea’s project leader, Christian Boehmer.

Jacco de Haas, Global Marketing Manager for Specialty Esters at Oxea, emphasized, “Oxea is integrated into key raw materials for DOTP. For example, Oxea is the largest European producer of 2-ethylhexanol, which is the main raw material for the production of DOTP. This backward integration allows us to reliably meet the high level of demand and accommodate the needs of our customers,” he added.