INEOS opens France hand sanitizer facility, plans another

LONDON (ICIS)–INEOS has opened its third European hand sanitizer production facility in Lavera, France, and is planning a fourth in the north of the country, the producer said on Wednesday.

The company opened a sanitizer production facility at its Lavera complex within 10 days of announcing plans to develop capacity in the country, and is now working on a unit in Etain to supply healthcare facilities and pharmacies in Paris and northeastern France.

With a planned capacity of 1m bottles/month, the Lavera unit is INEOS’ third hand sanitizer production unit to be constructed since the European coronavirus outbreak hit crisis levels, utilising ethanol raw materials produced at the site, with Etain to be the fourth.

The company has also developed a facility at Herne, Germany, complex and in Newton Aycliffe, UK, drawing on stocks from its Grangemouth complex in the country, both of which were built within 10 days and utilise ethanol.

The company did not specify where feedstocks for the Etain facility would be drawn from.

Earlier this week, Moody’s downgraded its credit rating for INEOS Group Holdings as a result of the pandemic.

(Clarification: recasts raw materials in fourth paragraph)