German oxo-chemicals company Oxea is studying the feasibility of building a world-scale plant to produce carboxylic acids, which are used to make synthetic lubricants and as building blocks for the animal feed industry.

The company announced last July that it planned to significantly expand its supply of carboxylic acids in the short-to-medium term in response to surging demand. Ina Werxhausen, Oxea’s global commercial business director, acids & esters value chain, said at the time that global demand for synthetic lubricants had increased rapidly because of strict environmental protocols and regulatory requirements.

The new plant, which will be Oxea’s sixth for carboxylic acid, is expected to start up in 2021 with basic engineering work due to commence in the first half of 2019. The company has yet to select a location, stating that it will consider Oman and China as possibilities in addition to its existing sites.

Oxea currently manufactures at five sites around the globe, notably in Germany at Marl and Oberhausen; in the US at Bay City and Bishop, both in Texas; and in Nanjing, China.

In addition, Oxea plans to double its capacity of isononanoic acid during 2019 as well as continue to improve and debottleneck its five carboxylic acid plants in 2020.

“In the short term, we will continue to leverage our diverse production platforms, technical advantage and the extensive knowledge of our experienced teams to take steps to increase our existing production capabilities,” said Kyle Hendrix, global commercial director for carboxylic acids and derivatives. “Our focus is to improve our supply position to support the growth of our customers.”

The Monheim-based group is currently expanding capacity for neopentyl glycol in Oberhausen. It expects the additional output to be available by early 2020.