November 25, 2013

Evonik expands ThreAMINO^® facility in Kaba, Hungary

On November 22, Evonik officiated the expansion of the Evonik Agroferm Zrt. plant in Kaba, Hungary, which will boost production capacity for ThreAMINO^® (L-Threonine)  to 30,000 tonnes.

The plant expansion officially came on stream on November 22 in the presence of representatives of the Hungarian government.

"The expansion of the plant in Kaba is a milestone for the growth strategy of Evonik in the area of feed amino acids," says Stefan Mack, Head of Product Management in the Bioproducts Business Line of Evonik. "We now have a world-scale plant for ThreAMINO^® with state-of-the-art technology."

The fermentation and processing capacity was also increased as part of the expansion. Thanks to state-of-the-art membrane filtration and crystallisation technologies, the yield achieved in the process has also increased. The additional quantities enable Evonik to meet the increasing demand for L-Threonine (feed grade 98.5%) and to contribute to efficient animal nutrition.

L-Threonine, which Evonik markets under the brand name ThreAMINO^®, is an essential amino acid that the body cannot produce itself. The animals therefore have to consume it with the feed. Optimal threonine content improves feed intake, weight gain, and the nutritional value of the feed. In contrast, nitrogen release is reduced because the crude protein content of the feed is balanced out according to the nutritional requirement of the animals.

Evonik is the only company in the world that produces and sells all four essential amino acids used in advanced animal nutrition: MetAMINO^® (DL-Methionine), Biolys^® (L-Lysine-Source), ThreAMINO^® (L-Threonine) and TrypAMINO^® (L-Tryptophan).

Evonik, the creative industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. It offers innovative products and services in more than 100 countries and thus makes a significant contribution to customer cost efficiency as well as to a healthy and environmentally friendly animal feed. The company's activities focus on the key megatrends health, nutrition, resource efficiency and globalisation.