WACKER recently announced its Nünchritz, Germany, plant has produced half a billion cartridges of adhesives and sealants since production at the site began in 1998. The chemical plant reportedly has a long tradition. “It was here that silicone chemistry came of age,” said Uwe Scheim, head of sealants Research & Development in Nünchritz. “After the Müller-Rochow synthesis was developed, the inventor Richard Müller, who was born in nearby Dresden, went on to scale up production of silicones from laboratory to industrial quantities.”

The first sealant to be made from silicone started rolling off the production line at the then VEB Chemiewerk Nünchritz in the mid-1960s and was marketed under the name CENUSIL®. The Nünchritz plant is reportedly one of the first fully integrated silicone sealants sites in the world. Here, adhesives and sealants are made from start to finish, from grinding the metallurgical-grade silicon through to packaging, and, if requested, delivery in labeled cartridges.