Germany's Evonik Industries has started up an integrated production complex for isophorone and isophorone diamine at Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP) in China.

The plant with annual capacity of more than 50,000 t/y, built at a cost of more than €100 million, will supply the Asian paints and coatings, construction, adhesives, and composite industries.

With the new facility, Evonik now has fully back-integrated production facilities in the three major economic zones of Europe, NAFTA and Asia, said chief operating officer Patrik Wohlhauser.

Up to now, the company, which claims to be the only producer worldwide to cover the entire supply chain of isophorone and its derivatives, has manufactured products based on isophorone crosslinkers at Marl and Herne, Germany, and in Mobile, Alabama, USA.

In additition to the new plant, Evonik has built an application technology service center with state-of-the-art laboratories for custom-tailored isophorone solutions at its Xinzhuang site, also in Shanghai.

The global market for isophorone and derivatives is growing faster than

global GDP, with Asia showing above-average growth, according to Evonik, which said demand is driven in particular by the need for resource efficiency.