Innovative green chemistry technology to serve strong demand for Epichlorohydrin.
Solvay has decided to build a world-class plant in Map Ta Phut (Thailand) for the production of Epichlorohydrin on the basis of the Epicerol® process, its proprietary technology with enhanced environmental performance. Pending relevant regulatory approval, the startup of this plant is foreseen end of 2011, with an annual production capacity of 100kT/year, enabling Solvay to provide a fast response to the rapidly growing demand for Epichlorohydrin in Asia.
Epicerol® is a novel process developed by Solvay, based on the transformation of glycerine, which is a renewable by-product of the biodiesel industry. After a successful start-up in April 2007, this process with greatly enhanced environmental performance is now fully optimized in Tavaux, France, in anindustrial plant fed with glycerine derived from rapeseed oil.