Special materials giant expands production!

On March 28, Arkema held a grand celebration at its Changshu production base to mark the 20th anniversary of its organic peroxide plant and the commissioning of new production capacity, signifying the official completion and operation of another key growth project. This expansion increased the organic peroxide capacity at the Changshu base to 2.5 times its original level, greatly enhancing Arkema's ability to serve customers in multiple high-growth markets across Asia, particularly in strategic industries such as renewable energy.

Arkema's Luperox® organic peroxides, as a niche additive, are important reaction initiators for various polymers and have a wide range of applications in energy, construction, packaging, pharmaceuticals, sports equipment, and other fields. They are an important part of Arkema's advanced materials business. In the context of the global green energy transition and the increasing demand for lightweight materials, Luperox® organic peroxides play a key role in the manufacturing processes of products such as photovoltaic solar panels and wind turbine blade composites.

Over the past 20 years, Arkema's organic peroxide plant in Changshu has doubled its production capacity. In the future, Arkema will continue to deepen its presence in China, leveraging China's innovation ecosystem and industrial advantages to provide more sustainable specialty material solutions for the global market.

Arkema Group was established in October 2004, following the restructuring of the chemical business of its former parent company, Total Group, and was listed in 2006. Headquartered in Paris, France, it is a global leader in the production of specialty chemicals. The group has two main business segments: specialty materials and intermediates. The specialty materials segment comprises three business departments: adhesive solutions, advanced materials, and coating solutions. Through ongoing acquisition and divestment initiatives, Arkema has focused its business on specialty materials, with revenue from specialty materials reaching 91.56% by 2024.

In 2024, Arkema's overall sales reached €9.544 billion, remaining stable compared to 2023 (€9.514 billion), thanks to the growth of the specialty materials business in Asia, with a volume increase of 2.4%. The earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to €1.532 billion, an increase of 2.07% year-on-year. The revenue from intermediates was €768 million, with an EBITDA of €198 million. Arkema's intermediates business mainly focuses on fluorochemicals, and Arkema is a global leader in the production of fluorochemical products. The Forane® series includes refrigerants, foaming agents, solvents, aerosol propellants, lithium battery electrolyte salts, and additives, making it the world's largest supplier of fluorinated blowing agents for rigid foam.

In 2024, Arkema's specialty materials revenue reached 8.739 billion euros, with EBITDA of 1.42 billion euros.

In 2024, advanced materials accounted for 37.32% of total revenue, making it the largest source of revenue. In 2024, the revenue from the advanced materials sector reached €3.562 billion, with a sales growth of 1.2%, driven by positive trends in the Asian market, although a significant decline in the European market partially offset this growth. The sales of high-performance polymers grew well, particularly supported by the battery, sports, energy, and medical markets; however, the slowdown in the automotive market in the second half of the year, especially in Europe, had a certain impact. The department's sales also benefited from a positive scope effect of 4.7%, thanks to the contribution of PIAM (acquired in 2023, a leader in polyimide films for flexible printed circuit boards and graphite sheets for markets such as mobile devices and electric vehicles). In 2024, the EBITDA for advanced materials was €707 million, a year-on-year increase of 6.16%, driven by the growth of high-performance polymers, a strong presence in Asia, contributions from the development of new application areas (such as the sports field), the integration of PIAM, and the development of low-emission fluorinated products.

In 2024, the Adhesive Solutions division achieved sales of €2.722 billion, with a volume growth of 2.4%, primarily driven by industrial adhesives. EBITDA saw a significant year-on-year increase of 8.4%, and the EBITDA margin improved significantly to a record 15.1% (up from 14.0% in 2023). Arkema has successively acquired companies such as AEC Polymers, Bostik, Den Braven, XL Brands, Ashland, Shanghai Zhiguan High Polymer Materials Polytec PT, and Dow Chemical's flexible packaging adhesive business, continuously enhancing its strength and market share in the adhesive segment.

In 2024, the sales of the coatings solutions division increased by 2.2%, reaching 2.455 billion euros, with approximately 30% coming from acrylic monomers. Sales volume grew by 6.8%, driven by the industrial coatings and electronics markets, as well as the commissioning of capacity expansion projects for UV-curable resins in China. Sales of upstream acrylic products in Europe also saw an increase, mainly supported by the hygiene and water treatment markets. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to 301 million euros (compared to 327 million euros in 2023).

North America, Europe, and Asia are the main sales regions for Arkema, with the revenue share from Asia and other regions of the world increasing from 18% in 2005 to 32% in 2024.

By market segment, the revenue share from the housing and construction, as well as the general industrial sectors, is the highest.

Arkema Advanced Materials mainly includes PEKK (polyetherketoneketone), amine products, electroactive polymers, fluoropolymers, glass coatings, hydrazine, hydrogen peroxide, molecular sieves, organic peroxides, oxygen-containing solvents, specialty acrylics and crosslinkers, specialty fatty chemicals, specialty polyamide resins, surfactants, fluid technologies, sulfur chemicals, etc. Coating solutions mainly include acrylics, coating resins, plastic additives, rheology modifiers, and UV-curable resins.

Arkema's flagship product, the bio-based Rilsan® polyamide 11 series, has been world-renowned for over 70 years. As a complement to this series, Arkema also offers Rilsamid® PA12 resin, Orgalloy® polyolefin/polyamide alloys, Platamid® copolyamide hot melt adhesives, Orgasol® precision particle-sized polyamide powders, and the Pebax® thermoplastic elastomer series, among other products.

In the 1960s, PEKK was invented as part of the Apollo space program. Arkema officially entered the PEKK field by acquiring the American company Oxford Performance Materials (OPM), which brought them the production technology and related patents for PEKK, laying the foundation for subsequent commercial production. In collaboration with the chemical company PCAS, Arkema established Europe's first PEKK industrial production plant in France. After years of research and development investment, the production process has been commercialized, and a larger-scale production plant is currently being constructed in the United States.

PEKK has a very high melting point (300℃-360℃) and offers excellent chemical resistance and corrosion resistance. Arkema's Kepstan® PEKK combined with carbon fiber can serve as a high-performance alternative to certain metal components, while weighing only half as much, making it suitable for applications in aerospace, offshore oil and gas extraction, and additive manufacturing processes (3D printing).

Arkema is a global leader in the production of PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) resins, with Kynar® PVDF established in 1965. In 2010, Arkema acquired Piezotech, which is part of Arkema's industrial incubator. This company has developed a range of high-value electroactive fluoropolymers derived from PVDF (thermoplastic fluoropolymers), which are next-generation materials with high performance suitable for various fields such as robotics, aerospace, medical, automotive, and electronics.

Arkema's subsidiary Sartomer is a global supplier of光固化树脂 (light-curing resins), monomers, acrylates, and methacrylate copolymers. Its product range includes high-performance products such as acrylate monomers, epoxy acrylates, polyurethane acrylates, polyester acrylates, and acrylate methacrylate monomers.

By acquiring a controlling stake in PI Advanced Materials, Arkema has expanded its product range to include polyimide films.

Source: Arkema official website, annual report, chemical new materials, Baidu, etc.