SNF Australia completes $18 million factory upgrade

Water treatment chemicals business SNF Australia has shared news of a completed $18 million upgrade to its factory at Lara, Victoria, which the company says lifts it a step up the value chain.

In an interview with the Geelong Manufacturing Council – which SNF Australia is a member of – CEO Phil McColl said the investment in its acrylamide plant allows the company to “basically manage our own feed stocks”.

The monomer acrylamide is a key ingredient in SNF’s polymer products including powders, emulsions, liquids and dispersants.

Polyacrylamide is made by polymerising acrylamide, and according to a Research and Markets report published last year is used in a wide variety of applications but mainly in the separation of solids and liquids in industrial and municipal wastewater settings.  

“We’ve invested significantly in our acrylamide plant, which is a key raw material that we used to have to import,” Mr McColl told the Geelong Manufacturing Council in an interview published on Thursday.

“Now we are able to basically manage our own feed stocks which insulates us if there was another pandemic, and gives us more stability and resilience in terms of our production footprint and the materials that go into the products we produce here.”

(The interview can be read here.)

SNF is a privately-owned company based in France, with 21 polyacrylamide  factories globally, representing the world’s largest supply.

The company’s focus is water-soluble polymers for treating and recycling water and wastewater, with Geelong’s Barwon Water among its local customers.

It has been manufacturing in Geelong since 2003.

Picture: credit www.gmckay.com.au