Key Products, Services and Business Processes
Overall, the range of products and services at each of our divisions remained unchanged in 2023. In several application areas, however, we expanded our product portfolio.
WACKER SILICONES is the business division with the broadest range of products. Two raw materials – silicon metal and methanol – are the basis for making over 2,800 silicone products in seven product groups: silanes, siloxanes, silicone fluids, silicone emulsions, silicone elastomers, silicone resins and pyrogenic silica. Silicones have numerous chemical, mechanical and tactile properties that can be precisely adjusted and newly combined time and again. Silicones are extremely durable, stress-resistant, water-repellent and UV-resistant. They are just as indispensable in everyday applications as they are in developing innovative, new technologies.
WACKER POLYMERS makes state-of-the-art binders and polymeric additives (such as dispersible polymer powders and dispersions). They are used in diverse industrial applications or as basic chemicals. The main customer for polymer binders is the construction industry. Other customers include the paint, coating, paper and adhesive industries.
WACKER BIOSOLUTIONS supplies customized biotech and catalog products for fine chemicals. Products include pharmaceutical proteins, vaccines, cyclodextrins, cysteine, polyvinyl acetate solid resins (for gumbase) and acetylacetone. The division focuses on customer-specific solutions for growth areas, such as pharmaceutical actives, food additives and agrochemicals.
WACKER POLYSILICON produces hyperpure polysilicon for the semiconductor and solar sectors.
Integrated Production System – WACKER’s Greatest Strength
A key competitive advantage for WACKER is the highly integrated material loops at its major production sites in Burghausen, Nünchritz and Charleston. The basic principle of integrated production is to use the byproducts from one stage as starting materials for making other products. The auxiliary materials required for this, such as silanes, are recycled in a closed loop. Similarly, waste heat from one process is utilized in other chemical processes. As such, integrated production cuts energy and resource consumption, lastingly improves raw-material use and makes environmental protection an intrinsic part of the production process.
