29 March 2007 – Dow Epoxy is to install a new, renewable sourced, technology plant to make epoxy intermediate epichlorhydrin in China. The company will use its new glycerine-to epichlorhydrin process in a 150,000 tonnes a year plant at Caojing, near Shanghai, in an investment that also includes a 100,000tpa epoxy resins plant.
The world scale plant will be the first to employ Dow’s proprietary GTE technology which uses a renewable resource – glycerine from biodiesel – to make the feedstock. The technology, which Dow describes as a breakthrough, is claimed to offer significant cost and environmental advantages against conventional process technologies. Last year, the US group opened a stand alone demonstration unit for the technology at its Stade plant in northern Germany.
Dow has signed a letter of intent with Shanghai Chlor-Alkali Chemical and its subsidiary Shanghai Tianyuan Group Huasheng Chemical for the supply of the critical raw materials.
“The selection of site and raw material partnerships marks a key milestone towards starting up our GTE and LER plants in china by 2009-2010,” says Patrick Ho, business group president Dow Epoxy and Specialty Chemicals.
