Petrochemicals and plastics producer Westlake Chemicals will expand VCM and PVC capacities at three of its plants located in Germany and the US.  The projects will add approximately 340,000 t/y of PVC and around 90,000 t/y of VCM.

Production of specialty PVC will be expanded at Burghausen, Germany, while suspension PVC will be expanded at Geismar, Lousiana, USA. Capacity for VCM will be increased both in Geismar and Gendorf, Germany. Chlor-alkali capacity will also rise at Gendorf, with chlorine output growing by about 25,000 t/y and caustic soda by 27,000 t/y.

The projects in Burghausen and Geismar are expected to be finished in 2019, while the Gendorf expansions should be completed in 2020 and 2021.

Westlake subsidiary Vinnolit announced last October that it would expand chlorine and VCM capacities at Gendorf. Membrane technology from Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Uhde is being implemented at the chlorine plant.

Westlake’s president and CEO, Albert Chao, said the expansions in Germany will be the first since it completed its takeover of Vinnolit in 2014. “These PVC and VCM expansions support our integrated vinyl products chain and demonstrate Westlake’s commitment to provide our global customers with additional production to meet their growing needs,” he said.

The US group paid €490 million for Vinnolit, which gave Westlake five production facilities in Germany and one in the UK.

According to WiseGuy Research Consultants, the global PVC market will expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.2% in the period 2017-2022, reaching $85 billion. Key factors driving the market’s growth include increasing spending in emerging markets on construction and infrastructure, as well as huge growth in the automotive industry. Asia-Pacific is the world’s biggest market, with China the region’s major consumer.