Wacker Expands Silicone Fluids

Germany’s Wacker group has expanded production capacity for functional silicone fluids at its Burghausen site, near Munich. The new €26 million expansion stage, which came on stream at the beginning of the year, is designed to meet rising global demand for specialty fluids and silicone emulsions for which the fluids are important precursors.

The group said the expansion is of particular importance for its Wacker Silicones subsidiary, increasing the company’s undisclosed capacity by around 70%. At the subsidiary’s Burghausen plant, the precursor siloxane and other raw materials are used to manufacture the highly specialized functional silicone fluids used as key starting materials for antifoam, impregnating and release agents and for additives for the construction, coatings, paper, cosmetics and personal care industries.

After completing polysilicon production facilities in the US state of Tennessee, Wacker’s investment in full-scale plants for the manufacture of precursors is complete, and it is now focusing on plants for intermediates, sales products and specialty products, CEO Rudolf Staudigl said at the commissioning ceremony.

As part of the capacity expansion, production processes were optimized further, to allow silicone fluids to be produced more efficiently and with even higher purity, the German group – one of the world’s largest silicone manufacturers – said.