Chemical manufacturer Oxea announced that it is expanding its portfolio of higher alcohols with 3-methylbutanol (isoamyl alcohol), a versatile intermediate product for the chemical industry. Among others, it is an ingredient in the production of flavors and fragrances, cosmetics, fuel and lubricant additives and is used as a special solvent in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as in the paints and coatings industry. Oxea will manufacture 3‑methylbutanol in Oberhausen, Germany. The product is already available in commercial quantities.

"Oxea's launch of n-heptanol last year was met with an excellent market response. The production of 3-methylbutanol is the next step in our strategy of complementing our alcohol portfolio in a customer-focused way. We are experiencing encouraging demand in this segment, and our customers are achieving excellent value added with products that are derived from raw materials out of the Oxea portfolio," said Dr. Christoph Balzarek, Global Marketing Manager Amines, Higher Aldehydes and Specialty Derivatives at Oxea. "We will keep expanding our product range of higher alcohols to be able to also cover the future demand of our customers worldwide," Balzarek added.

"Oxea is in a perfect position to leverage the potential of its value chain because we already today produce a whole range of precursors. This backward integration ensures that our raw material supply is highly reliable. We achieve high product efficiency and are able to react very flexibly to our customers' demands," said Miguel Mantas, Executive Board member for Marketing and Sales. "We will continue to invest in the expansion of our product capacities for oxo derivatives. They are an important part of our successful strategy to expand into profitable growth markets," Mantas emphasized.