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The PA crisis has been tackled

June 14, 2013
It has been eight months since an explosion brought the production plant at Evonik Industries in Marl to a standstill. The consequences: The intermediate product Cyclododecatriene (CDT), and therefore the important Polyamide 12, could no longer be produced. The line at the chemical park has been repaired in the meantime, and production has resumed. However, it will take until the second quarter for the full production volumes of PA12 to be back in place.

In the meantime, the market has been under enormous pressure. After all, 40% of the world-wide CDT capacity was no longer available. PA12 is essential, especially in the automobile industry.
It is an indispensable component for brake and gasoline lines. In order to prevent bottlenecks, substitutes such as VESTAMID® Terra were proposed. When appropriately modified, these bio-based polymers have nearly the same material properties as PA12. Evonik was able to recommend a meaningful alternative.

The leading PA manufacturers were also engaged to urgently find other alternatives for PA12. The selected substitutes needed to be manufactured in a very tight timeframe. Of course, this depended on the granulate volumes still available in stock. The process for extrusion (tubes) and injection molding (quick connections) needed to be validated at all levels.

The technical specifications were subjected to intensive testing in the lab in Wipperfürth. Risk validation plans were created and discussed with OEMs. Because time was extremely tight, several external labs were also involved. Weekly telephone conferences and meetings with customers were held to constantly discuss the availability and potential alternatives. This coordination was
performed by a specially established crisis committee. Releases for new materials, which normally have a lead-time of many months, were now issued in highly compressed schedules
under these difficult circumstances.

But at the end of December, we fortunately received the first shipment of 2 tons of PA12. This avoided converting the connector product segment to a new material at the last minute. SCR lines were reverted in April.

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