Despite having completed basic engineering on the project, German chemical producer Evonik has pulled back from any further work on its planned US 120,000 t/y methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant at Mobile, Alabama.

The last start-up date for the plant –which would have been the first to use the company’s specially developed “Aveneer” process – was given as mid-2015. The facility initially had been due to go on stream in mid-2011 with a capacity of 150-200 000 t/y, but was postponed due to the economic slowdown.

Chief financial officer Ute Wolf told news agencies in late August the company would need to invest “billions” to achieve the necessary scale effects and be competitive in the acrylics business on a lasting basis. Talks about a deal are said to be at a preliminary stage.

Evonik predecessor Degussa was a major producer of MMA and gained additional strength in the downstream end in the 1990s with its acquisition of Röhm.