German PMMA specialist Röhm (Darmstadt; www.roehm.com) is investing a double-digit million-euro sum to expand capacity for moulding compounds at its Worms / Germany plant, up to 2023. The company said the upgrade is the start of a number of “growth projects” it plans for the compounds branded worldwide as “Plexiglas”, except in the Americas, where they are sold under the “Acrylite” trademark. Additional projects are said to be in planning.

“With the capacity expansion, we are reacting to the growing demand for our products and we will strengthen our supply security for our customers long-term,” said chief operating officer Hans-Peter Hauck. Röhm did not quantify the size of the increase. According to Plasteurope.com’s Polyglobe database (www.polyglobe.net), the company currently can produce 20,000 t/y of the transparent compounding material at Worms.

Worldwide, the German player operates 15 production sites with altogether 3,500 employees. On the US Gulf Coast, it is currently building a new facility for PMMA precursor, MMA. The plant taking shape at Bay City, Texas, will be the first of its kind to implement Röhm’s newly developed “LiMA” technology on a large industrial scale.

With the upgrades on two continents, Siamak Djafarian, SVP of the Moulding Compounds business unit, said the PMMA producer intends to extend its market leadership and support automotive customers in particular to stay ahead of trends such as electro-mobility and self-driving cars.

In addition to the capacity expansion, the production process at Worms will be optimised toward energy efficiency, as part of the company’s sustainability strategy. “With our green compounding technology, we are lowering our eco-footprint,” Hauck said.

Separately, Röhm said the supply situation for MMA in Europe has improved over the course of 2021. On 21 October, it ended all of the “sales control” measures for its “Meracryl” brand, imposed at the beginning of January (see Plasteurope.com of 11.06.2021). Also, from mid-October, US subsidiary Roehm America lifted its force majeure for PMMA for deliveries within the Americas. The FM declared in January was blamed on a supply bottleneck for an important starting material. The FM declared for methacrylic acid (“Meracryl” GMMA) remains in place for the same region.