“Eddyville’s expansion program is a further step toward strengthening our position as global market leader for cyclodextrins,” said Dr. Gerhard Schmid, president of WACKER FINE CHEMICALS, the Group’s biotechnology and fine chemicals division. He added that the investment aimed at ensuring sufficient future quantities of cyclodextrins for fast-growing application fields such as the food, food-supplement and agri sectors. “Thanks to the site’s expansion, we are now well positioned to not only reflect global market and demand trends, but also to meet growing customer needs.”

WACKER’s involvement in cyclodextrin-related R&D began in the early 1980s. WACKER is now a global market leader in cyclodextrins, which the Group has been producing at its Eddyville site since 1999. Aiming to boost capacity and streamline the production process, the investment program saw both the expansion of many existing parts of the facility, as well as the construction of entirely new buildings. A considerable part of WACKER’s investment was spent, for example, on the new byproduct-processing plant, which reduces the entire facility’s steam consumption by 35 percent.

Cyclodextrins are cyclic sugar molecules. The number of glucose units defines the size of the sugar ring – alpha-cyclodextrin has six, beta-cyclodextrin seven, and gamma-cyclodextrin eight glucose units. Cyclodextrins are natural degradation products of plant-based raw materials – for example, corn or potato starch. WACKER produces its cyclodextrins by bioengineering. They are able to enclose other substances in their interiors, much like a cone encloses a scoop of ice-cream. This enables cyclodextrins to bind ingredients, release active agents and stabilize sensitive substances such as vitamins and coenzymes. The ability to reversibly enclose other substances makes cyclodextrins invaluable in many products such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, textiles and food, not to mention in the household-care, personal-care and construction sectors. Cyclodextrins are non-toxic, non-allergenic and pose no known health risks based on today’s scientific findings.

WACKER FINE CHEMICALS – the Group’s biotechnology and fine chemicals division – uses advanced chemical and biotech processes to manufacture innovative, tailored biotech and catalog products in the fine chemicals sector. These products include pharmaceutical proteins, cyclodextrins, cysteine, organic intermediates and acetylacetone. The division focuses on developing customized solutions for growth sectors such as pharmaceutical actives, cosmetics and food additives.