Evonik Industries Expands Hydrogen Peroxide Production in South Africa

Evonik Industries is significantly expanding the capacity of the hydrogen peroxide plant at its Umbogintwini site in South Africa. “In the first half of 2009, we expect a 50 percent capacity increase to 15,000 metric tons,” announced Thomas Rieche, head of Evonik's Active Oxygens Business Line. The expansion is intended to secure market leadership in South Africa and meet the steadily increasing demand for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Evonik is investing about €3 million in the expansion of the production facilities.

Evonik Industries has been active in South Africa for over thirty years, and producing H 2O 2 during the last eight years for the African market in Umbogintwini, near Durban. The pulp and paper industry in particular, which is the company's largest customer in South Africa, has announced that its requirements are increasing. Hydrogen peroxide is used here as an eco-friendly bleaching agent for pulp. Other customers include the chemical companies and the textile industry.

With an annual capacity exceeding 600,000 metric tons, Evonik's Industrial Chemicals Business Unit is the world's second-largest producer of the eco-friendly bleaching and oxidizing agent hydrogen peroxide. This is used mainly in paper and pulp bleaching, and some producers have recently begun using it in the synthesis of propylene oxide. Evonik produces H 2O 2 in Germany, Belgium, Italy, Austria, the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Korea, New Zealand, and South Africa.