Celanese Expands, Enters New Market

Celanese is expanding its core acetic acid derivatives business and adding a new material to its polymers lineup. Improvement projects at its Clear Lake, Texas, site will expand its acetic acid capacity by 150,000 metric tons per year, bringing total capacity at the plant to 1.5 million metric tons next year. The company is also boosting capacity for the acetic acid derivative vinyl acetate by 150,000 metric tons, expanding capacity at the site by 50% when the project is completed in 2018. Separately, Celanese is entering the market for the high-performance polymer polyether ether ketone (PEEK) next year.