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Company News
Dow to increase liquid epoxy capacity in Germany
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US-based Dow Epoxy, a business unit of Dow Chemical, plans to expand its production of liquid epoxy resin (LER) at its Stade site in Germany by 30,000 tonnes in 2012. The increase will add on 10% more to its global LER capacity.The new capacity will be used to keep pace with expected market growth in speciality applications such as wind energy, composites, electronic materials and coatings, while also supporting geographic growth throughout Europe, the Middle East, China and India.
The company says its back integration into key epoxy components and raw materials will help ensure reliable supply of the LER. Bisphenol A (BPA) and epichorohydrine, components used to manufacture LER, are produced at the Stade site and Dow plans to re-start operations of the idle 100,000 tonnes epichlorohydrine site in Texas, US.
The company's epoxy supply is bolstered by its back integration into cumene, a raw material used to produce phenol and acetone, key components in BPA. Further supporting the LER expansion is the recent investment in chlorine through a 50:50 manufacturing joint venture with Mitsui of Japan to construct, own and operate a new membrane chlor-alkali facility located at Dow's integrated manufacturing complex in Texas.