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September 26, 2005
Expansion of formate portfolio
New investment will give Perstorp a leading position on the potassium formate market.
Perstorp will invest SEK 60 million in the conversion of two existing manufacturing facilities to make potassium formate manufacturing possible at the Group’s production units in Perstorp, Sweden, and Ghent, Belgium. The investment will allow 55,000 tonnes of potassium formate to be manufactured annually.
”The conversion is based on Perstorp’s own technology, which generates formate as a co-product during our polyol production. The schedule for the conversion is tight; we will start producing potassium formate in Ghent in Q1 next year, closely followed by the Perstorp plant where start-up is planned in summer 2006,” says Lennart Hagelqvist, Executive Vice President, Operations.
Perstorp is the global leader in formates, with sodium and calcium formate in its current portfolio. The investment will also give Perstorp a leading position on the potassium formate market, which has seen sharp growth in recent years. This growth is expected to continue in the coming years, particularly in products for oil drilling.
”The investment will bring a strategic expansion of our current formate portfolio. We are seeing strong growth powered by both environmental and financial advantages in application areas such as oil drilling and de-icers. Our leading position as a polyol manufacturer gives our formates a competitive advantage,” says Inge Pettersson, Executive Vice President, Marketing & Sales Performance Chemicals.
The expansion will take place in stages, and the converted facilities are planned to start operation in 2006.
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