Swiss specialty chemicals firm Clariant and Beijing Tiangang Auxiliary Co, Ltd (Tiangang), have conducted a groundbreaking ceremony in Cangzhou, China
The ceremony marked the start of the construction of a world-class production facility for stabilisers for plastics and textiles that will form the heart of the joint venture between both parties.
The joint venture between Clariant and Tiangang was established in September 2017, and combines the technology and production knowledge of both companies to provide an even better process and light stabilisers for various growing industries in China, including automotive and textiles.
As China is a major market for Clariant high-end process and light stabilisers, which include the state-of-the-art Nylostab® S-EED® chemistry, invented by the company, a unique multifunctional hindered amine light stabiliser, or HALS.
Tiangang, which was founded in 1991, is already an important manufacturer of light stabilisers and UV absorbers, with two plants in China backward integrated with the production of important intermediates.
During the ceremony, Clariant Global Business Unit Head of Additives, Stephan Lynen, said, “This new facility enables the successful implementation of our joint venture, and we are excited about the improved proximity to customers and raw material suppliers.”
Gang Liu, deputy general manager of Tiangang, announced, “We look forward to the facility coming on-stream in the first half of 2019 and start serving the growing demand for high-end additives solutions in Asia even faster. The Cangzhou National Coastal-Port Economy & Technology Development Zone is an ideal production base for additives, with very good access to necessary raw materials and other support.”
The ground-breaking took place just one day after Clariant officially opened wholly-owned plants for Ceridust® micronised waxes and AddWorks® synergistic additive solutions in Zhenjiang, 1250km further south.
Lynen added, “Clariant is committed to sustainable growth in China and therefore continues to invest across the country to increase its local production capability and competitiveness. I am proud to announce these two instances of the Business Unit Additives making progress on this expansion strategy in such short succession and look forward to leveraging this new capacity towards achieving sales growth supported by new and sustainable developments.”