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Consistent with Strategy to Optimize Business Portfolio and Enhance Free Cash Flow
PITTSBURGH, Dec. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Koppers Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP), today announced that the company will discontinue phthalic anhydride production at its facility in Stickney, Illinois, in 2025.
The decision, affecting approximately 25 employees, was driven by significant near-term capital spending requirements that could not be economically justified by end-market projections. An ancillary benefit is an improvement in the site's environmental footprint as annual emissions of certain regulated air contaminants are expected to be reduced by 50 to 70 percent.
Koppers has targeted mid-2025 for the shutdown and expects to ramp down production of phthalic anhydride over the next six months as the company builds inventory to supply existing contracts through 2025, as necessary. The closure of the phthalic anhydride plant will not impact Stickney's coal tar distillation operations, which manufacture products including creosote, carbon pitch and pavement sealer base.
The phthalic anhydride plant at Stickney was constructed to consume naphthalene, a byproduct of the coal tar distillation process, as a feedstock to produce the chemical intermediate used to manufacture plasticizers, polyester resins, and alkyd paints. As availability of coal tar has declined, phthalic anhydride has become less profitable as lower naphthalene production resulted in a need to supplement production with a greater proportion of higher-cost third-party feedstock.
Posted In: KOP
