| Silicone giants Dow Corning and Wacker Chemie have started production at their jointly owned silicone intermediates plant at Zhangjiagang, in China, one of the largest such facilities in the world.
Costing $1.2bn, the plant will have an ultimate capacity of 200,000 tpa of siloxane and pyrogenic silica and will be fully on stream by the end of 2010.
While the silicone monomers plant is jointly owned, each of the partners will take the plant’s output and use it in their own facilities at the 1 million sq metre site.
Siloxane is a key stage in the manufacture of silicones widely used in polymer form as elastomers favoured for their property portfolio and inert nature. Pyrogenic silica is used as an active filler in silicone elastomers as well as in polyester resins and plastisols.
Speaking at the opening ceremony on 14 November, Wacker Chemie ceo Dr Rudolf Staudigl said the plant would drive silicone development in China and contribute to its “circular economy.”
His opposite number at Dow Corning, Dr Stephanie Burns, said that more and more manufacturers in Asia want to use silicones and that the investment will help spur growth in the region. |
