June 19, 2012
Evonik invests in L-lysine in Brazil and Russia
Press release
Evonik plans to invest a？？350 million (US$441 million) on new facilities to expand production capacity of Biolys？？ feed additive (source of L-lysine) to approximately 300,000 tonnes/year in the growth markets of South America and Eastern Europe, and expand production facility at the Blair site in the US, with completion expected by Q3 of this year.
Evonik plans to create new capacities for Biolys？？ of nearly 200,000 tonnes per year in Brazil and Russia. While Evonik will produce some 100,000 tonnes of Biolys？？ a year as part of the Russian joint venture with DonBioTech in Volgodonsk in the Rostov region from 2014, the company is also building a plant at the Castro site owned by the US company Cargill in the Brazilian state of Paran？？, which is also expected to become operational by 2014.
The advantage of both sites lies in the excellent availability of raw materials. The Russian plant will rely on wheat from the Rostov region and the source material to be used in Brazil will be corn.
Dr. Klaus Engel, chairman of the Executive Board of Evonik Industries says the new facilities "are intended to significantly expand our market position and competitive standing for the feed amino acid L-lysine."
Both new facilities are in line with the mega trends health and nutrition. As the world''s population grows, so does the demand for meat, fish, dairy, and eggs. As a consequence, feed production is increasingly relying on amino acids to supplement feed.
Evonik is the only company worldwide to produce and market all four essential amino acids for modern animal nutrition, including Biolys？？ (source of L-lysine), MetAMINO？？ (DL-methionine), ThreAMINO？？ (L-threonine) and TrypAMINO？？ (L-tryptophan). The Group provides innovative services and products in over 100 countries.
Amino acids for animal feed, and particularly MetAMINO？？ (DL-methionine) are part of the core business of Evonik, which is currently being expanded. The new methionine plant currently under construction in Singapore, which marks the largest chemicals investment of Evonik to date, is intended to secure a leading market position for this amino acid for the Group. At the same time, capacity expansions have been implemented in Europe for TrypAMINO？？ (L-tryptophan) and it was recently decided to expand the ThreAMINO？？ site Agroferm (L-threonine).
Biolys？？, a biotechnology product made from renewable resources, is globally known as a highly effective source of L-lysine for animal feed, which helps to sustainably reduce cost in feed production and animal breeding. It also benefits the environment: In a life-cycle analysis certified by T？？V Rhineland, Evonik has documented that protein supply in animal feed that is supplemented by Biolys？？ is a particularly environmentally sound concept for the adequate, healthy nutrition of animals.