New Plants: Dow Epoxy

Dow Epoxy, a business group of the Dow Chemical Co. and a global supplier of epoxy resins and related feedstock products, has chosen Shanghai Chemical Industry Park as the site for its world-scale 150,000-MTPA glycerine-to-epichlorohydrin plant and 100,000-MTPA liquid epoxy resins plant. Both plants are slated to start up in the 2009-2010 timeframe. This announcement underscores Dows growth strategy and marks another step forward in the companys quest for sustainable chemistries. The 150,000-MTPA facility will be the first to use Dows proprietary glycerine-to-epichlorohydrin technology, which uses a renewable resource — glycerine from bio-diesel — to produce epichlorohydrin. Dow Epoxy is one of the largest producers of epoxy resins and intermediates. Three of the companys 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.