Solvay has commenced production at two of its new alkoxylation facilities in Moerdijk, the Netherlands, and Singapore.

The facilities are located in integrated petrochemical complexes and will supply ethylene oxide through pipelines.

Ethylene oxide is a key raw material that is used to produce various specialty surfactants by Solvay's Novecare business.

Alkoxylates are said to be a chemical building block for surfactants, which are mainly used to produce shampoos, detergents, paints, lubricants and plant-protection products.

Solvay Novecare Global Business Unit president Emmanuel Butstraen said: "In the Netherlands, our teams were able to start production well ahead of schedule to meet the evolving regional supply needs of our customers.

"Both facilities in Moerdijk and in Singapore are platforms for providing highly competitive and innovative intermediates to further penetrate key markets in Europe and Asia Pacific for our agrochemicals, coatings, home and personal care, industrial and oil and gas markets."

The company has recently acquired the Moerdijk facility, which is situated between the regional transport and logistics hubs of Rotterdam and Antwerp.

Solvay is working to ramp up production capacity at the facility by the third quarter of this year.

The Singapore plant is planned to be officially inaugurated in July. Solvay has completed trial batch production at this plant in May and is ramping up full-scale production.

Solvay Novecare is one of the largest specialty surfactant manufacturers in Asia. It operates ten production facilities, and research and innovation centres in Singapore and Shanghai, China, and Tokyo, Japan.