Sale, shutdown! Chemical giant announces large-scale restructuring of two business units

Evonik stated that it is restructuring the above two business lines to strengthen their growth prospects. Future investments in the Coatings & Adhesives Resins and Healthcare business lines will focus on and concentrate exclusively on their core businesses. Non-core businesses will be sold, merged into joint ventures, or shut down. The total sales of the affected businesses amount to approximately €350 million. The Healthcare business line will henceforth focus on its growth areas: lipids for mRNA and gene therapies, drug delivery systems, and cell culture components. In recent years, Evonik’s amino acid and keto acid businesses generated average annual sales of around €100 million. Evonik plans to cease production at its pharmaceutical keto acid manufacturing site in Hanau, Germany, by the end of 2025—impacting approximately 260 employees. Evonik noted that although its facilities in Ham, France, and Wuming, China, conduct identical operations, the significant growth potential of keto acid and pharmaceutical amino acid businesses in these two markets means these plants will not be closed; instead, strategic options—including joint ventures or divestitures—are currently under evaluation. The Coatings & Adhesives Resins business line will concentrate on two core growth areas: liquid polybutadiene, used as adhesives and sealants or tire additives, and specialty acrylic resins for the medical and packaging industries. Evonik plans to transfer the existing polyolefins business within this line (with annual sales of approximately €100 million) to its C4 business unit, where it will subsequently be sold as part of the C4 business.

Splashing billions! Over 15 chemical giants rush to enter the Chinese market!

On September 26, Invista’s Asia-Pacific R&D and Innovation Center was officially inaugurated at the Shanghai International Chemical New Materials Innovation Center (INNOGREEN) in the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park. Invista invested over RMB 95 million (approximately USD 15 million) to establish this center, equipping it with cutting-edge facilities and technologies to deepen local R&D efforts and accelerate customer responsiveness. As Invista’s first nylon 6,6 application development center in Asia, the Asia-Pacific R&D and Innovation Center will provide comprehensive services—including engineering plastic formulation design, application development, analytical testing, and CAD/CAE simulation—to support the rapid growth of the nylon 6,6 industry. On August 16, the Shanghai Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau publicly disclosed information regarding Invista’s Yinglong Production Base expansion project: First, debottlenecking upgrades to the HMD plant will increase its annual HMD production capacity from 215,000 tons to 316,000 tons—an increase of 101,000 tons, or 47%; second, debottlenecking upgrades to the four existing polymer production lines (CP1/CP2/CP3/BP1) will raise annual polymer production capacity from 151,900 tons to 189,600 tons—an increase of 37,700 tons, or 25%. On September 22, AkzoNobel announced the groundbreaking ceremony for its East China Decorative Coatings Logistics Base in Songjiang, Shanghai, scheduled to commence operations in June 2023. With an investment of approximately RMB 75 million, the logistics base is located adjacent to AkzoNobel’s Songjiang decorative coatings factory and is expected to become AkzoNobel’s largest logistics hub nationwide upon completion. On August 19, Covestro announced the commencement of construction of its first physical recycling (MCR) production line dedicated to compounding recycled polycarbonate materials at its integrated Shanghai site. With an investment exceeding €27 million, the line is scheduled to begin operations in 2023 and will produce over 25,000 tons annually of high-quality polycarbonate and alloys containing physically recycled content. On July 8, Covestro broke ground on two new facilities—waterborne polyurethane dispersion (PUD) and elastomer plants—at its integrated Shanghai site in Caojing. The new PUD plant and its supporting polyester resin production line are slated for completion in 2024, while the new elastomer plant is expected to start operations in 2023. On July 28, INEOS signed a series of agreements with Sinopec, China’s major petroleum and natural gas company. These agreements cover assets with a combined annual production capacity of 7 million tons and a total value nearing USD 7 billion—including the establishment of a 50:50 joint venture to produce acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) using INEOS’s proprietary ABS technology. Röhm Group expanded its PLEXIGLAS® molding compound plant in Shanghai in July; the upgraded facility is expected to be completed and operational in Q2 2023. In August 2021, Evonik announced the upgrade of its R&D base in Shanghai’s Xinzhuang Industrial Park, officially renaming it the “Evonik Shanghai Innovation Park.” Following the upgrade, the Shanghai Innovation Park will integrate fundamental research, product development, process development, pilot plants, application technology, testing and analytical services, and venture capital activities. LG Chem, a South Korean battery materials company, announced it has acquired shares in Jiujiang Defu Technology—the third-largest copper foil manufacturer in China—for KRW 40 billion (approximately RMB 200 million) to secure stable supply of critical battery materials.

Evonik Plans Revamp to Make R&D Go Faster

Jun 11, 2026

Evonik Industries is restructuring its R&D department to accelerate innovation in biotech and green energy by aligning researchers directly with business units. Two-thirds of staff will now work closer to customers and assume economic accountability.

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Evonik Plans Revamp to Make R&D Go Faster

Evonik Plans Revamp to Make R&D Go Faster

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