For compounding, the new lines and expansions will add 50,000-60,000 tonnes/year of compounding capacity, the company said. Debottlenecking existing plants will add another 10,000-15,000 tonnes/year of capacity.
For Celstran long-fiber thermoplastics (LFT), a new line and debottlenecking will add 9,000 tonnes/year of capacity.
For GUR ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE), the new line will add 15,000 tonnes/year of capacity.
The table below lists the new projects.
| Product |
Site |
Project type |
| Compounding |
Nanjing, China |
2 lines |
| Compounding |
Suzhou, China |
1 line |
| Compounding |
Florence, Kentucky |
2 lines |
| Compounding |
Bishop, Texas |
expansion |
| Compounding |
Forli, Italy |
1 line |
| Celstran LFT |
Winona, Minnesota |
1 line |
| Celstran LFT |
Winona, Minnesota |
debottleneck |
| GUR UHMW-PE |
Nanjing, China |
1 line |
Celanese expects to complete the projects in 2018-2019, it said. The company did not say how much the projects would cost.
Celanese is building the plants to meet growing demand for specialty materials from the medical, automotive, consumer-goods and electronics industry, said Scott Richardson, senior vice president, Celanese engineered materials business.