Jul 14 2006
Symyx Technologies, Inc., today announced that, beginning in April, 2006, Celanese deployed a new catalyst intended to reduce the manufacturing cost of vinyl acetate. This catalyst lead was discovered by Symyx working under a research collaboration with Celanese. Celanese is using the catalyst in one plant initially, with plans for roll out to additional plants dependent upon commercial results.
Symyx will earn milestone payments based on this initial commercialization, and will receive royalties from vinyl acetate production commencing with deployment in a second plant.
Celanese is a leading producer of vinyl acetate, an intermediate chemical used as a monomer to produce a range of polymers used in the adhesives, coatings and textiles industries as well as in packaging, footwear and floor tile applications. The collaborative program leveraged Symyx’s high-throughput research technologies to identify catalyst families for more efficient production of vinyl acetate.