MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, has announced plans to expand the capacity of its global compounding assets and certain product-specific manufacturing production sites to support the significant growth in its engineered materials business, as per the company's press release.
"As the global demand for specialty materials increases in key industries such as medical, automotive, consumer goods and electronics, Celanese is partnering with our customers to deliver the innovative materials found in products that consumers around the world use every day," said Scott Richardson, senior vice president, Celanese engineered materials business. "These planned capacity expansions at selected Celanese facilities - along with our recent acquisitions - will enable us to continue to support a growing and diverse customer base and respond to the increasing need for compounded specialty materials, long-fiber thermoplastics and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene."
Expansions are planned within the global Celanese manufacturing network as follows:
1. Compounding Capacity Expansions:
- In the Asia region, Celanese will add two production lines at its Nanjing, China, facility and one production line at its recently acquired Suzhou, China, facility.
- In the Americas region, Celanese will add two production lines at its Florence, Kentucky, facility, as well as expand compounding production capacity at its Bishop, Texas, facility.
- In the European region, Celanese will add one new production line at its recently acquired Forli, Italy, facility.
Celanese expects these new production lines and expansions will add approximately 50-60kt per year in compounding capacity. The company also expects through the debottlenecking of existing global production lines to see an additional 10-15kt per year capacity of compounded material production capability.
2.Celstran LFT Capacity Expansions:
- In the Americas region, Celanese is in the process of adding one new Celstran® long-fiber thermoplastics (LFT) production line at its Winona, Minnesota, facility as well as debottlenecking existing production lines at this facility.
The company expects through this expansion and the debottlenecking of existing global LFT production lines to see an additional 9kt per year of capacity.
3. GUR UHMW-PE Capacity Expansions:
- In the Asia region, Celanese is in the planning stages of one new GUR® ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE) production line at its Nanjing, China, facility.
The company expects this new production line to add approximately 15kt per year of new GUR® UHMW-PE product capacity.
These announced projects are expected to be completed in the 2018-2019 timeframe and financial details are not being disclosed at this time.
As MRC wrote before, Celanese Corporation will increase list and off-list selling prices for ethylene-vinyl-acetate (EVA) in the Americas. The price increase below will be effective as of 1 November 2017, or as contracts otherwise allow, and is incremental to the previously announced increases. Thus, the company's EVA prices will go up by USD0,05/lb for the mentioned above regions.
Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,300 employees worldwide and had 2016 net sales of USD5.4 billion.
MRC