Solutia to Expand Acrylonitrile Capacity with Three Partners

Solutia Inc. (St. Louis) plans to expand its acrylonitrile (AN) capacity with the construction of a new, world-scale acrylonitrile facility at its Chocolate Bayou Plant in Alvin, Texas. Solutia has agreements with customers who will participate in this project, including Bayer Corp. (Pittsburgh, Pa.), St. Louis-based Novus International Inc., and a leading Japanese chemical company.

"It takes a world-scale plant with annual capacity in excess of 500 million pounds plus full utilization of the plant's by-products to yield attractive economics for this particular product," said Graham Wildsmith, general manager of Solutia's Intermediates business. "We are pleased to have these three companies participate with us in this project, which will provide them an assured, long-term supply of key materials," he said.

Solutia will use this expansion of its current AN capacity to meet its internal acrylonitrile requirements. The company uses AN, a key raw material for five of its ten businesses, to make acrylic and nylon fiber and a number of nylon plastic and intermediate products.

Bayer will use this AN to secure its product supply and support its position in ABS. Novus, the world's leading producer of methionine for animal feed, will receive additional quantities of one of the by-products from this AN facility. Novus currently is expanding its Alimet plant at Solutia's Alvin, Texas, site to a three-train operation. The Japanese chemical company is partnering in this project to obtain access to U.S.-based AN capacity. Solutia has a letter of intent with this company and will release its name after a contract is signed.

Solutia expects to start construction on this plant by mid 1998, with completion scheduled for the first half of the year 2000.