Wacker eyes Green polymers production

摘要

Wacker Chemie is developing renewable bio-based technology to produce vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) precursors, and ultimately green poly- mers. The company is the leading producer of VAM-based dispersible polymer powders and a leading maker of EVA-based dispersions. Fridolin Stary, senior v.p./corporate R&D, said at a recent press briefing at Burghausen, Germany—Wacker's main manufacturing site—that Wacker has been operating a bioethanol-based pilot plant producing acetic acid at Burghausen since last year and is ready to scale up the process as soon as the economics prove viable. The size and timing of the scale up would depend on the price of bioethanol compared with the price of petrochemical feedstock, Stary says. The company is, meanwhile, preparing to produce bioethylene.