ESSEN, Germany/WITTEN, Germany - Evonik Industries is building a new production plant for specialty copolyesters at its Witten site in Germany. As binders for paints, specialty copolyesters are used in coil coatings and, increasingly, in food-can coatings. The company is investing a mid-double-digit million-euro sum in the plant, which will have annual production capacity of several thousand metric tons. Completion is scheduled for 2018. The investment will create around 10 new jobs in Witten, where the group currently has around 250 employees.

Dr. Ralph Sven Kaufmann, a member of Evonik’s Executive Board and its Chief Operating Officer, said, "We continue to expand our polyester platform strengthening our position as an innovative supplier of materials for high-quality metal coatings in an attractive growth market." One driver in this market is the trend towards epoxy, resin-free can coatings that do not contain bisphenol A.

Evonik is one of the world’s leading suppliers of polyesters for pre-coated metals and reactive hot melts. The company has production facilities at its sites in Marl, Witten and Shanghai. Polyesters from the DYNAPOL^® brand serve as binders for paints. In addition to coil coatings, they are also increasingly used for food can coatings as well as in flexible packaging. Polyesters from the DYNACOLL^® brand are used in reactive hot melts applications.