Swedish specialty chemical company Perstorp plans to build a new plant in India’s Gujarat state to produce Pentaerythritol (Penta). The world-scale, greenfield facility’s output will include the renewable grades of its branded Voxtar, claimed to provide up to a 60% reduced carbon footprint.

Construction began in October, with groundbreaking celebrated in early November. Commercial production is due to start in Q1 2022, and when fully operational the site will employ 120 people. 

Penta is an essential building block for coatings and is also is used by the synthetic lubricants and antioxidants industry.

Production capacity was not disclosed, but CEO Jan Secher said the new investment would “significantly expand” the company’s Penta production output to 40,000 t/y from 2022 onward.

Perstorp currently produces Penta in Germany, the US and Sweden. Secher pointed to India as a strategic market with a growing demand for coatings, where the company has been planning to deepen its footprint for several years. 

In February 2016, the Swedish producer, which regards itself as the global leader in Penta, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) to explore opportunities in India.

Secher said the Gujarat investment will reinforce Perstorp’s ability to meet in particular increasing demand from Asian markets as well allowing it to offer Penta derivatives such as Penta Mono, Di-Penta and Calcium Formate.