Belgian chemical producer Solvay plans to increase its European capacity for hydroquinone by 20%, with the new capability to be in place by the second quarter of this year.

Solvay said the upgrade taking place at its Saint-Fons, France, production site, is designed to enhance the security of supply on three continents and meet increasing demand for diphenol inhibitors used as additives by the monomers industry.

The expansion in France, to be achieved through debottlenecking an existing production facility, follows a recent capacity increase at the group’s Zhenjian, China, site.

Saint-Fons is home to one of the three plants that comprise Solvay’s global inhibitor production network across Europe, North America and Asia. Along with pure hydroquinone, it can produce monomethyl ether of hydroquinone (MEHQ), tertiary butyl-catechol (TBC) and phenothiazine (PTZ).

Hydroquinone is key to process safety, transport and storage for monomer inhibition but also as a monomer itself in polymer and coatings applications, Solvay said.

Peter Browning, president of the chemical group’s Aroma Performance global business unit, said the European capacity increase will allow Solvay to continue to reliably supply its full range of monomer inhibitors to meet long-term needs for hydroquinone in all major regions.