French chemicals manufacturer Arkema has announced a 50% increase in fluorinated polymer production capacity at its Changshu site in eastern China, to meet “strong demand” for lithium-ion batteries.
“Arkema is revising upwards the increase in its fluorinated polymers capacity at its Changshu site and is now targeting 50% against the 35% previously announced, with no change to the start-up date scheduled for the end of 2022,” it says.
With this capacity increase for PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride), Arkema is “accelerating its development in China to meet strong demand from its partner customers in the lithium-ion battery market, as well as sustained growth in the water filtration, specialty coatings and semiconductor sectors”.
Describing itself as the “world leader in PVDF production”, it recently announced a 50% increase in its PVDF activities at the Pierre-Bénite site in France (south of Lyon), scheduled for commissioning in the first quarter of 2023″.
The chemicals group will achieve sales of around €8 billion in 2020, and is present in almost 55 countries with 20,600 employees.
