Nouryon has announced plans to double production capacity for solvent-based organic peroxides at its Los Reyes site in Mexico. The company said the project is in support of the strong growth in North America’s polyolefin and PVC markets.

“Fueled by large investments in the petrochemical and polymer industry, the organic peroxides market is expanding rapidly in North America,” said Johan Landfors, Nouryon’s managing director polymer chemistry. “We are scaling up quickly and building a regional production network that is flexible and resilient, enabling continuous security of supply to our North American customers.”

The expansion, which is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2020, is the latest in a series of investments that Nouryon has undertaken. The company completed a capacity expansion for emulsion-based organic peroxides at Los Reyes in February 2019 and expects to complete another organic peroxides expansion at the site by May this year.  In addition, Nouryon started production last month of Butanox-branded methyl ethylene ketone (MEK) peroxides at Pasadena, Texas.

In separate news, Nouryon has completed a €4 million expansion of colloidal silica capacity at Bohus, Sweden. The project primarily added capacity for its Levasil CC-branded product line, which the company said supports its paints and coatings customers in switching from solvent-based to water-based products.

Patrick Wilhelm, director Levasil Colloidal Silica at Nouryon, said the expansion will help the company to meet growing demand and anticipated future growth as it continues to research and develop new applications.