Shanghai, China - March 26, 2007
Dow Epoxy, a business group of The Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”) and a leading global supplier of epoxy resins and related feedstock products, today announced Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP) as the selected site for its world-scale 150,000-MTPA glycerine-to-epichlorohydrin (GTE) plant and 100,000-MTPA liquid epoxy resins (LER) plant. Both plants are slated to start up in the 2009-2010 timeframe.
Today’s announcement follows the signing of a Letter of Intent (LOI) by Dow Epoxy with SCIP, and an additional LOI with Shanghai Chlor-Alkali Chemical Co., Ltd. (SCAC) and its subsidiary Shanghai Tianyuan Group Huasheng Chemical Co., Ltd. (TYHSC) for the supply of critical raw materials for both the GTE and LER plants. SCIP is located in Caojing on the north coast of Hangzhou Bay, approximately 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Shanghai city, China.
“The selection of site and raw material partnerships marks a key milestone toward starting up our GTE and LER plants in China by 2009-2010. The new plants will provide the in-market capabilities required to accelerate our growth and the growth of our customers,” says Patrick Ho, business group president, Dow Epoxy & Specialty Chemicals. “SCIP is a well-established industry park with world-class management and integration capability and SCAC/TYHSC are strong and reputable companies. We are very pleased to have SCIP and SCAC/TYHSC as our new partners.”
The announcement directly underscores Dow’s growth strategy, and marks another major step forward in the Company’s quest for sustainable chemistries. The world-scale GTE facility will be the first to use Dow’s innovative and proprietary GTE technology, which uses a renewable resource – glycerine from bio-diesel – to produce epichlorohydrin. At the cutting edge of innovation, this breakthrough technology provides significant cost and environmental advantages versus the conventional process technologies. In 2006 Dow launched a stand alone, full-process GTE demonstration unit at its Stade site in Germany.
Dow Epoxy will be able to realize significant economic and environmental benefits by locating at SCIP. “It will also enhance the sustainability of our operations by more effectively using and recycling valuable raw materials and resources in the product value chain of SCIP,” says Martin Sonntag, business director for Liquid Resins and Intermediates, Dow Epoxy.
Dow Epoxy first announced its plan to build the GTE and LER plants as part of its investment plan to support rapid growth in China and the broader Asia Pacific region in August 2006.
About Dow Epoxy
Dow Epoxy is one of the world’s largest producers of epoxy resins and intermediates, with strong positions in a number of major applications, including coatings, electrical laminates and civil engineering. Three of the company’s nine epoxy plants are in the Asia Pacific region, including a 41,000-MTPA facility in Zhangjiagang, China; a 40,000-MTPA facility in Kinu Ura, Japan; and a 30,000-MTPA facility in Gumi, South Korea. Dow Epoxy is also the global market leader in epichlorohydrin, with more than one-third of global capacity share and manufacturing facilities in all major regions. More information about Dow Epoxy is available at www.dowepoxy.com and www.epoxyavenue.com.
About The Dow Chemical Company
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Joyce Tzang
The Dow Chemical Company
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