Arkema & Sumitomo Seika JV starts new superabsorbent plant

This major investment, made in partnership with Arkema, will enable Sumitomo Seika to meet increasing demand for superabsorbents in Europe.

Announced jointly by Sumitomo Seika and Arkema in the spring of 2011, the investment will raise the overall superabsorbent production capacity of the Carling facility to 47,000 ton/year.

The construction of this new plant boasts the latest technological advances of Sumitomo Seika in the field of superabsorbents. Production effectively came on stream in the summer, and the plant, inaugurated, is now fully operational.

SAPs, or superabsorbents, are manufactured from acrylic acid and are mostly used in high-growth market segments such as babies diapers, adult incontinence articles, and female sanitary products.

The operational launch of this new production plant on the Carling platform further consolidates Arkema’s position on the site, which now ranks among the world’s leading production facilities for acrylic monomers.

Since 2008, when it took over Arkema’s superabsorbent business, Sumitomo Seika has been marketing, from the Carling site, an extensive range of superabsorbents under the tradename AQUAKEEP.

A global chemical company and France’s leading chemicals producer, Arkema is building the future of the chemical industry every day.

Deploying a responsible, innovation-based approach, we produce state-of-the-art specialty chemicals that provide customers with practical solutions to such challenges as climate change, access to drinking water, the future of energy, fossil fuel preservation and the need for lighter materials.

Arkema