Wacker and Dow Corning start raw material production at China?s largest integrated silicone site
Wacker Chemie AG and Dow Corning Corporation officially started production in the first stage of their new pyrogenic silica and siloxane plants in Zhangjiagang (China). The new plants are key facilities of an integrated silicone manufacturing site developed by both companies to produce materials used in industries including construction, beauty and personal care, power and automotives.
Total investment from both companies for the site is estimated at approximately 1.2 billion U.S. dollars. Covering an area of 1 million square meters, the site located in the Jiangsu Yangtze River Chemical Industrial Park, Zhangjiagang City, Jiangsu Province, is China’s largest facility of this kind and among the world’s largest and most advanced integrated production complexes for silicones, according to the company.
The combined capacity for siloxane and pyrogenic silica is planned to be approximately 200,000 metric tons per year. It is expected that full operational capacity will be phased in by the end of 2010. Through their Zhangjiagang production complex, WACKER and Dow Corning intend to serve growing customer demand for silicone materials in China and throughout the Asian region.
The first phase of siloxane and pyrogenic silica production facilities, which now has been successfully completed, is an important step toward integrated production loops at the Zhangjiagang site. The siloxane plant will supply chlorosilane for the production of pyrogenic silica as raw material, while the pyrogenic silica plant will send back its by-product hydrogen chloride (HCL) for the production of siloxane.
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