Ineos plans vinyl acetate in Europe

Ineos plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build a 300,000-metric-ton–per-year vinyl acetate plant in Europe. The project marks Ineos’s return to vinyl acetate production in the bloc after the closure of a plant in Hull, England, in 2013. Vinyl acetate, known as VAM, is an intermediate for polymers used in coatings, films, and adhesives. The new plant will be located in Belgium, Germany, or the U.K., Ineos says. “The demand for VAM in Europe continues to grow briskly, and the market is uncomfortably reliant on imports from remote locations for sufficient supply,” says Graham Beesley, CEO of Ineos Oxide.