Evonik Industries announced Nov. 4 that its new methionine complex in Singapore officially came on stream after two years of construction.

This plant has an annual capacity of 150,000 metric tons, bringing Evonik's worldwide methionine capacity up to 580,000 mt.

"With this new facility — the most modern of its kind and the first world-scale methionine plant in Asia — we are continuing to expand our market and technology lead in DL-methionine," said Klaus Engel, chairman of the executive board of Evonik Industries.

Evonik markets DL-methionine under the MetAMINO brand name.

The company has spent more than 500 million euros on the complex, the most it has ever invested in a single chemical project.

"Methionine is one of our core businesses and Asia is the fastest-growing methionine market in the world. This is why we decided to build here," Engel explained. He used the presence of high-ranking leaders from the worlds of politics and business to thank all sides for their outstanding support.

Evonik said it will produce MetAMINO and all strategically important precursors at the new complex.

In addition, Evonik is investing in amino acid specialties with high growth rates. New production plants for methionine formulations that are tailored to the biology of other animal species are currently under construction: Mobile, Ala., for instance, will have a new plant for the production of Mepron, used in the feeding of dairy cattle. Mepron has a special coating that protects the amino acid from undesired degradation in the rumen. For shrimp and other crustaceans in aquacultures, Evonik has developed AQUAVI Met-Met, a dipeptide made up of two methionine molecules. The first production plant for this is being built in Antwerp, Belgium.