Leading specialty chemical company Clariant today announced it will build an ethoxylation plant in Dayabay, situated south of Guangzhou. The plant will be operational in early 2011 and will enable Clariant to meet increasing demand from the Chinese and wider Asian markets. The new plant will primarily serve domestic customers for a broad range of applications which are including crop protection, construction, industrial & home care, metal working, textile and paper. The plant will also supply important export markets across Asia. The 80’000 square meter plant will have a capacity close to 50,000 tones per annum. It will be staffed by locally hired highly skilled teams, which will include senior technical roles. The state-of-the-art plant will use the very latest automation and environmental management technology. Clariant is among the largest producers of ethoxylates globally and has a leadership position in specialty applications. Ethoxylation is a key technology for Clariant, which the company has developed over the past 50 years. With production sites in Europe, North America and Latin America, Dayabay will be Clariant’s first ethoxylation plant in Asia. The construction of this new facility is part of a USD 100 million investment program in China, which Clariant has been committed to over the last 18 months. This program includes a plant in Hangzhou for Quinacridone specialty organic pigments, a state-of-the-art phosphorus pentoxide plant in Kunming, as well as a new Masterbatches plant and Archroma Center for textiles in Guangzhou. Clariants new surfactants production facility which will be inaugurated in Zhenjiang, Eastern China this week, is another milestone in the program. “Dayabay is a key element of our China growth strategy. It will enable us to further expand our footprint in China and consolidate our position as a leading exthoxylates producer. It will be built to the highest environmental and production standards and is another sign of our commitment to the Chinese market. We are also very pleased to announce that we have signed a long term supply contract for ethylene oxide with CSPC (CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Company Ltd),” said Siegfried Fischer, Executive Committee Member of Clariant, speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony. Clariant has a long history in China and has more than 1,300 people working in laboratories and facilities in over 13 cities. (Clariant International Ltd) -From www.paper-world.com