Arkema Inaugurates Its Next-Generation Acrylic Acid Purification Unit in Carling

PARIS LA DÉFENSE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

Arkema (Paris:AKE) has inaugurated a new acrylic acid purification unit featuring an innovative process at its Carling site in France. This facility positions the Group among the most competitive players in Europe and contributes to the decarbonization of the European chemical industry. It is part of Arkema’s decarbonization investment program and supports the implementation of its ambitious climate plan.

The inauguration ceremony for the new unit was held in the presence of Thierry Le Hénaff, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Arkema and Stéphane Séjourné, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy. The ceremony took place on the same day as the Critical Chemicals Alliance General Assembly, which brought together European industrial leaders and policy-makers to discuss the key challenges of sovereignty, competitiveness, and decarbonization.

“With an investment of nearly €150 million, this new unit represents one of Arkema’s largest industrial projects in France. It will contribute to the Group’s ambitious climate plan, underpinned by a dedicated investment program supporting Arkema’s decarbonization, with a cumulative amount that could reach €400 million over the 2022-2030 period,” stated Thierry Le Hénaff, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Arkema.

“Europe must keep its chemical industry. There can be neither industrial sovereignty nor strategic autonomy if we allow the essential building blocks of our economy to leave. Carling is showing the way forward: nearly €150 million invested to produce in Europe, using less energy and generating less carbon, while building on decades of industrial know-how. This is exactly the model we want to promote: decarbonizing without deindustrializing, investing in our regions, and making our industrial hubs the driving forces of our future,” commented Stéphane Séjourné, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy.

The Carling site is one of the leading acrylic production facilities in Europe. It produces acrylic monomers used in performance coatings, adhesives, water treatment and other advanced materials. The new unit improves the energy efficiency of the purification process by 25% and reduces the carbon intensity of the site’s operations by 20%. The innovative technology deployed also helps optimize resource and waste management while significantly reducing solvent consumption. Thanks to this investment, the Carling plant is positioning itself among the reference sites in the industry, aligned with the highest operational and environmental standards. It also strengthens Arkema’s leadership in the low-carbon acrylic materials market.

This project has been decided in 2023 and has been partly funded by the French State as part of the France 2030 program, operated by ADEME, and funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.

Building on its unique set of expertise in materials science, Arkema offers a portfolio of first-class technologies to address ever-growing demand for new and more sustainable materials. With the ambition to become a world leader in Specialty Materials, the Group is structured into three complementary, resilient and highly innovative segments dedicated to Specialty Materials - Adhesive Solutions, Advanced Materials, and Coating Solutions - accounting for some 85% of Group sales in 2025, and a Primary Materials segment regrouping well-positioned large scale industrials activities. Arkema offers cutting-edge technological solutions to meet the challenges of, among other things, new energies, access to water, recycling, urbanization and mobility, and fosters a permanent dialogue with all its stakeholders. The Group reported sales of around €9.1 billion in 2025 and operates in some 55 countries with 20,700 employees worldwide. 

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