Dow will boost China epoxies with glycerin-based process

Dow Chemical will spend about $200 million to build new epoxy facilities in China and expand existing ones. The projects include a new 100,000-metric-ton-per-year liquid epoxy resin plant at the company's site in Zhangjiagang, in the eastern province of Jiangsu. Dow says it will also build a 150,000-metric-ton plant for the epoxy feedstock epichlorohydrin at a yet-to-be-revealed site in China. Both facilities will come onstream in 2010 at the latest, Dow says. The epichlorohydrin facility will use glycerin, made as a by-product of biodiesel production, as its key raw material. Solvay earlier announced plans for a European epichlorohydrin plant based on glycerin, which is flooding markets around the world as biodiesel production ramps up (C&EN, Feb. 6, page 7). In addition, Dow will set up an epoxies technical center adjacent to an R&D center that the company is building in Shanghai. Finally, the chemical giant says it will add 34,000 metric tons of capacity to its 41,000-metric-ton converted epoxy resin plant in Zhangjiagang. Separately, Dow will buy out Asahi Kasei's stake in two polystyrene joint ventures in China. Following completion of the deal, Dow will be sole owner of a 120,000-metric-ton polystyrene plant that opened in 2002 in Zhangjiagang.