Evonik advances on multiple fronts

Evonik announced a raft of investments across different business units at the end of May. These notably included an expansion of its fermentation capacity in Slovakia, the opening of a speciality amine facility in China, completing construction of a hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) plant, also in China, and commissioning a high-voltage substation at Antwerp.

The company is spending about €80 million to expand the capabilities of its the Health Care business line’s Fermas site in Slovenská Ľupča, Slovakia. It will add advanced downstream fermentation technology to support the contract manufacturing services of its drug substance business in response to growing demand for complex pharmaceutical ingredients. Around 50 new jobs will be created.

This follows from the opening of an industrial-scale rhamnolipid biosurfactants plant at the site in 2022, which continues to expand its capacity for biofermentation scale-up and downstream processing. Originally an amino acids facility, Slovenská Ľupča is now one of Evonik’s main biotechnology centres, making fermentation-based products for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, personal care and animal feed.

The speciality amine facility within the Nanjing Jiangbei New Material Technology Park in Nanjing was described as a “double digit million euro investment”.  It will be fully powered by green electricity.

The plant will supply amine based additives for polyurethanes used in automotive, construction, furnishings and consumer goods and curing agents in epoxy systems for applications like protective coatings and adhesives in China and the wider Asian markets. Evonik noted that growing demand here is “driven by ongoing consumption upgrades and a shift toward more sustainable solutions across diverse applications”.

The plant Evonik has built in partnership with its long-term partner Fuhua Tongda Chemicals at Leshan in Sichuan province will produce 20,000 tonnes/year of speciality-grade H2O2 using technology licensed from the Active Oxygens business line. 

It will enter trial production soon, with full operations expected within Q2. Key target markets include solar cells, semiconductors, food packaging, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. 

Finally, the 150 kilovolt high-voltage sub-station at Antwerp replaces a former 36 kilovolt connection and significantly increases the available electrical capacity. The project was implemented in cooperation with the Belgian transmission system operator Elia. The facility comprises two 150-tonne transformers and six cable connections, each about 1 km long.

Evonik described this as a “key component in the ongoing electrification of industrial processes” and supportive of climate change targets. It is also part multi-year programme aimed at comprehensively modernizing power distribution at the site.