Superabsorber

(now aligned with Care & Surface Specialties: Consumer Specialties)

Today’s diapers are almost akin to a conjuring trick. Enormous improvements in both comfort and diaper performance by extreme fluid retention are the outstanding properties that the insoluble and cross-linked polymers from the Superabsorber Business Unit make possible. The use of absorbent polymers has proved its worth handsomely not only for diapers, but also in the areas of female and adult hygiene. Evonik Degussa GmbH, as one of the world’s largest manufacturers of absorbent polymers, generated sales of € 492 million in this segment in fiscal 2005 and employs a staff of 500 at its sites in Krefeld/Germany, Greensboro/USA, Garyville/USA and Deer Park/USA.

FAVOR^® absorbent polymers form a gel when combined with aqueous fluids and can therefore absorb and store fluid amounting to many times their own weight. Even under pressure, they do not release the fluid.

The primary raw material in the absorbent polymers is acrylic acid, which is manufactured at the sites in Marl/Germany and Deer Park, Texas/USA as part of a joint venture with the U.S. firm Rohm and Haas Company.

Our primary concern is the permanent further development of our products for the benefit of our customers. We are working more intensively on constant new design variants of the FAVOR^® absorbent polymers: for incontinence products with even better odour control, for ever-thinner female hygiene articles and for optimized baby diapers with even greater efficiency. The reduction in the volume of hygiene articles do, for example, lead to an improvement in comfort for the wearer. All of this ensures that the success story represented by these highly effective fluid absorbents will continue over the coming years.

More details: www.superabsorber.com