The vinyl chlorine monomer (VCM) manufactured in the Vila-seca plant, is used to create a series of PVC resins in two forms - suspension and emulsion - at the Vila-seca and Monzón industrial facilities. With a capacity of over 200,000 tons per annum, Ercros is one of the leading Spanish manufacturers of this polymer. PVC composites are also produced at the Monzón factory (PVC formulations and additives) with a production capacity of some 20,000 tons per annum.

PVC resins and composites are marketed under the brand name etinox®, and cover a wide range of products and applications. Etinox 600 series includes suspension resins for tubing, accessories, hoses, films, cables, profiles, etc; Etinox 400 series offers emulsion resins for spin-moulding, flooring, facings, paints, putties, etc; and Etinox composites come in the form of pellets and dry blend for bottles, pellets and dry blend for rigid applications (film, fittings, etc.) and pellets for plasticised applications (cables, extrusions, injection moulding, etc.)

In 1970, with the setting up of a plant to produce 1,2 dichloroethane from chlorine and ethylene at the Vila-seca plant, vinyl chlorine monomer (VCM) synthesis started to move over to the petrochemical system, slowly abandoning the carbon chemical system which had previously been used at the Monzón plant. Later in 1976, this was supplemented with the installation of a plant for the production of VCM using the oxychlorination process.

The VCM plant, located at the Tarragona Industrial Complex, is now able to produce 200,000 tons per annum of VCM, consuming close to 120,000 tons of chlorine, mostly supplied by the neighbouring chlorine and sodium electrolysis plant.

The resultant VCM is principally used for internal purposes by the facilities in the Plastics Division - Vila-seca and Monzón - to produce polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins.

Technical characteristics

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Plastics