Arkema has chosen the location of Jurong Island in Singapore to build its new world-scale plant dedicated to the manufacture of the amino 11 monomer and its flagship Rilsan polyamide 11 resins. With this 50% increase in its global capacities announced in July 2017, the Group supports strong demand from its customers in Asia for high-performance bio-sourced solutions addressing the major opportunity of material lightweighting in particular.

According to Erwoan Pezron, Global Group President for Arkema’s Technical Polymers business line, “This location offers many advantages in terms of infrastructure, logistics, industrial integration and operational excellence, as well as optimization of the activity’s carbon footprint. This major investment bolsters our global presence in bio-sourced materials while bringing us significantly closer to our customers in Asia. Singapore’s industrial and innovation-friendly environment is, we believe, a key asset for our project. "

Rilsan polyamide 11 is derived from castor oil and as such is the only 100% bio-sourced polyamide approved for many of the most demanding applications, in particular in the electronics, 3D printing, oil and gas extraction, and automotive markets, as a substitute to metal.

This project is part of the Group’s investments totaling some €500 million ($559 million) earmarked for the 2018-2021 period essentially. Construction is scheduled to be completed by late 2021.