Europe has lost its last world-scale acetic acid production

Last week, INEOS announced it is mothballing its three acetyls plants in Hull (acetic acid, acetic anhydride and ethyl acetate) until further notice. These are the last world-scale acetyls units in Europe. All the others have already closed, and what remains is small scale. The reason given: gas prices 12x higher than in the US.

Why it matters:
Acetic acid is one of the molecules the European Commission put at the centre of its Critical Chemicals Alliance. It sits upstream of pharmaceuticals, packaging, electronics and even defence.

When the base molecule goes, whole value chains go with it.

One example: acetic anhydride is the key reagent for paracetamol and aspirin. Europe is reshoring paracetamol production right now. Without local anhydride supply, these new plants depend on imports from day one.

We are losing the very foundation of our industrial base. And the product will now come from the US or China, with a much higher carbon footprint (2x and 8x, according to INEOS).

At Radical Dot, our goal is to help build this back, from resources that are already available here in Europe.