Celanese to Close VAE Plant in US

Celanese will close its vinyl acetate ethylene (VAE) emulsions plant in Meredosia, Illinois, USA, by Dec. 15. The company explained that it “favors integrated production sites that provide critical economies of scale, and the Meredosia facility does not provide sufficient economies of scale compared with other Celanese emulsion production facilities.”

Customers in North America will continue to be supplied from facilities in Enoree, South Carolina, and Boucherville, Quebec.

A total of 36 Celanese employees and 10 subcontractors will lose their jobs as a result of the closure.

Celanese is currently building a new 70,000 t/y VAE plant on Jurong Island, Singapore, which is scheduled to start production in mid-2016. The project is its third VAE investment in Asia, following two plants in Nanjing, China that started production in 2007 and 2011 respectively.