75 DuPont, LaPorte, Tex.
Commercial production is from vinyl acetate, usually in a continuous process.
An estimated 70 percent of merchant PVA sales is fully hydrolyzed grades, but partially hydrolyzed grades, custom blends and copolymers are also produced. DuPont started a series of upgrades at its LaPorte plant last August that are designed to raise capacity by about 20 percent. First phases are scheduled to be in operation in early 1998, with completion of the total project in 2000. While Air Products has no plans to expand capacity at this time, the company has several cost-effective debottlenecking options available at its US plants. The largest of these is at Pasadena, which was designed with the chassis to accommodate a third saponification line.