Rhodia Acetow, which is based in Freiburg in Germany, has agreed a 15-year licence to produce and sell Accoya within the Council of Europe, except for existing licensed regions, such as the UK, Ireland and Benelux. The company will build multiple production plants, the first of which will have a capacity for 63,000m3 of finished Accoya.
Accsys described the deal as "the next step" in the commercialisation of Accoya, having previously announced it was talking to a potential partner.
Rhodia Acetow, part of the Solvay-Rhodia group, is a global player in the manufacturing of cellulose acetate fibre, mainly used for the production of cigarette filters. It has access to production facilities in Brazil, France and Russia.
The two companies said Solvay would be introduced to existing distributors and customers, and that relationship would drive greater market penetration by guaranteeing larger-scale production and availability and competitiveness.
Accsys CEO Paul Clegg said: "As one of the world’s leading producers of cellulose acetate, a material which shares certain processing components with our technology, Solvay has a set of technical capabilities which should further contribute to the success of this licence."
Solvay said the deal fitted with its strategy of diversification and ambition toward sustainable materials.
