Evonik Picks Saudi Arabia For Superabsorbents

Evonik Industries has signed a letter of intent to build a superabsorbent polymers facility in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, in partnership with local firms National Industrialization Co. (Tasnee) and Sahara Petrochemicals. The German company plans an 80,000-metric-ton-per-year facility that will start up in the first quarter of 2013. Raw material acrylic acid will come from SAMCO, a joint venture involving Tasnee, Sahara, and Dow Chemical, which is building an acrylic acid plant in Jubail set to open next year. Rohm and Haas, now part of Dow, entered that joint venture in 2008 in order to make acrylic monomers and polymers. In turn, the propylene needed to make acrylic acid will come from a nearby olefins facility run by Tasnee, Sahara, and LyondellBasell Industries. Evonik is one of the world’s leading makers of superabsorbents, used in diapers and feminine hygiene products. It also has acrylic acid relationships with Dow in the U.S. and Germany.