Carbon black supplier Orion Engineered Carbons S.A. shares that its acquisition of the remaining 64 per cent share in the Qingdao Evonik Chemical Co. Ltd. (QECC) carbon black business in Qingdao, China has now been completed.
Specialty chemical company Evonik Industries has inaugurated a new facility in North America, its Richmond Business and Innovation Center. Along with other company executives and local, regional and state dignitaries, Evonik Industries’ executive board chairman Dr. Klaus Engel cut the ribbon for the new US$15.4 million facility on 21 July. With the new facility, Evonik more than doubles its laboratory and commercial space in the Greater Richmond area, and is expected to add 50 jobs there over the next five years.
As of 1 July, specialty chemicals company Evonik Industries AG will have a new chief operating officer. Dr Ralph Sven Kaufmann will take the place of Patrick Wohlhauser, whose departure as COO and as a member of the company’s Executive Board was unanimously approved at a meeting of the Evonik Industries Supervisory Board on 25 June. Wohlhauser has served as COO since 1 January 2014 and been a member of the Executive Board since 1 April 2011.
An “upper double-digit” euro investment will help Evonik Industries supply growing demand within the North American tyre industry for precipitated silica. The company has announced plans to set up a precipitated silica production plant in the USA. The facility, which will be built in the southeast of the country, in “close proximity to major American tyre production sites,” is scheduled to be completed in late 2017. The overall project now awaits approval from relevant bodies.
Specialty chemicals producer and supplier of silica to the tyre industry, Evonik, intends to invest more than €4 billion in research and development over the coming decade. A three-point plan for investing in R&D was recently outlined by Evonik chief innovation officer Ulrich Küsthardt; “We must become more focused in our projects, more international in our research, and more open in our exchange of knowledge. The goal is to bring innovations to consumers with even greater speed and efficiency,” he stated.
A 20,000 tonne expansion to Evonik Corporation’s precipitated silica plant in Chester, Pennsylvania officially opened on 9 September, and has boosted the company’s global capacity for precipitated and fumed silica and matting agents to around 550,000 tonnes per annum.
Evonik Industries is building its first highly dispersible (precipitated) silica plant in South America. The company announced on 21 July that it will invest a “mid-double-digit million euro amount” in a facility located in Americana, within Brazil’s São Paulo state. No word has been given on the greenfield site’s anticipated output tonnage when it goes on stream in 2016 or when full capacity is reached. The silica produced will mainly be used in the production of low rolling resistance tyres, however Evonik says that by building the plant it will also cater for the needs of the growing regional business in attractive specialty segments in South America’s food, animal feed, and agricultural industries.
Following the withdrawal of Orion Engineered Carbons’ IPO, which was first launched in April, the carbon black specialist has launched a slightly restructured IPO on the NYSE. The entire US405 million float will now be based on the almost 90 per cent stake in the company owned by the Rhone Group and Triton Capital through Kinove Holdings. Kinove aims to sell 18 million shares at a price range of $21 to $24. Taking the midpoint of this price range, Orion Engineered Carbons would command a market value of $1.3 billion.
Some six weeks after inaugurating its new tyre applied technology research building, Evonik Industries has broken ground on a new research centre at its site in Rheinfelden, Germany. The company says it is investing a “double-digit million euro” figure in the new four-storey facility, which as of early 2016 will be used for research into silanes for tyre industry and other applications. Application engineering, analytics, and quality management functions will also be located in the new centre in future.
On May 15, Evonik Industries inaugurated a new building that will house its precipitated silica applied technology research for the tyre and rubber sectors. In doing so, the specialty chemicals company has combined the world’s largest precipitated silica production facility plus research and applied technology into a single site. The facility, located in Wesseling, near the German city of Cologne, was built with a “low tens of million euros” investment and was completed within 13 months. Although inaugurated today, 34 technicians have worked at the site since October 2013.
Evonik Industries says its prices for several products manufactured by its Inorganic Materials business unit will soon increase. As of 1 June, prices for a number of silica products, metal oxides and matting agents will rise by up to eight per cent. Evonik says this measure is “needed to secure sustainable supply.”
The project to expand Evonik Industries’ production of precipitated silica at its facility in Thailand is complete and officially opened on 14 March. The company says it invested a ‘lower double-digit’ figure in the expansion project, and while it hasn’t indicated the new capacity at the Maptaphut (Rayong Province) site, Evonik’s global capacity for precipitated silica, fumed silica, and matting agents now stands at around 500,000 tonnes. As well as supplying the tyre and automotive industries, Evonik will ship its precipitated silica to customers in the food, animal feed and paint and coatings sectors.
JK Tyre & Industries is one of three companies named as joining the International Rubber Study Group’s Panel of Associates. The Indian tyre maker’s membership, along with that of Evonik Industries and International Rubber Consortium, was announced on 15 August. The IRSG Panel of Associates now has 123 members.
China’s Longxing Chemical Industry, which supplies carbon black and electricity to “major tyre makers” in the people’s republic is reportedly planning to raise 400 million yuan by issuing a maximum of 45 million shares at 9.26 yuan per share in a private placement.
Evonik Industries reports successfully completing the divestment of its carbon black activities on July 29, 2011. The sale of the business to Rhône Capital and Triton Partners is valued at over 900 million euros, the company added.
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