French chemicals and plastics producer Arkema (Colombes; www.arkema.com) has announced Singapore’s Jurong Island as the location for its new integrated plant to produce 100% bio-sourced “Rilsan” PA 11 and feedstock 11-aminoundecanoic acid – see Plasteurope.com of 14.07.2017. With the new EUR 300m facility, due to be completed in late 2021, the company said it is increasing its global capacity for the high-performance polyamide by 50% in response to strong demand from Asian customers for high-performance bio-sourced solutions, addressing in particular lightweighting. Capacity figures have not been disclosed.

BASF, ExxonMobil and Shell also have petrochemical plants on Jurong Island. Arkema operates a sales office there too, and noted that the petrochemicals-heavy artificial island off the Singapore mainland offers “many advantages” in terms of infrastructure, logistics, industrial integration and operational excellence as well as a chance to optimise the environmental footprint of its production. The PA 11 project is part of a five-year EUR 500m capital spending programme scheduled to run until to 2021.

The French chemical producer said the investment in Singapore will boost its presence in the Asian market for bio-sourced materials. The company added that PA 11 is the only 100% bio-based polyamide approved as a substitute for metal in demanding applications, in particular in the electronics, 3D printing, automotive and oil and gas extraction sectors.

Singapore will be Arkema’s second plant for 11-aminoundecanoic acid, complementing an existing unit at Marseille / France. The company gained its Asian base for the bio-sourced PA in 2013 with the acquisition of a 25% stake in Ihsedu Agrochem, a subsidiary of its long-term castor oil supplier Jayant Agro-Organics (Mumbai, Maharashtra / India; www.jayantagro.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 16.04.2013.