$65 Million Fortron® Pps Plant Expansion in Wilmington N.C. Passes Initial Milestones
Preliminary and Process Design Completed, Purchasing
of Long-Lead Items Begun and Design Engineer Selected
Florence, Ky, November 3, 2005 - The $65 million expansion of the Fortron® polyphenylene sulfide plant in Wilmington, N.C., has passed a series of initial milestones. These include the completion of preliminary engineering and process design and putting the purchasing process in place for long-lead items. In addition, Jacobs Engineering Group has been chosen to do detailed engineering and procurement for the project.
The expansion, which is being done by Fortron Industries, a joint venture of Ticona Technical Polymers and Kureha Corporation, will double the capacity of the existing Fortron PPS plant to 15,000 metric tons per year. When completed in the first half of 2007, the expansion will create the world's largest PPS plant. The current plant came on stream in 1993.
"We're increasing the capacity of our Wilmington plant so significantly in order to retain our industry leadership position," says Fred Daniell, President of Fortron Industries. "In addition, the step up in output will help us meet the soaring global demand for PPS in the electrical, electronics, automotive, aerospace, industrial, consumer and other markets.
The expansion will incorporate Kureha's advanced and environmentally friendly 'one unit' production process, which will make it highly efficient.
The expansion was sited in Wilmington after a global search. This location was chosen for its business environment, world-class port and other transportation facilities, and skilled worker base, among other reasons.
PPS is a high-performance material used in demanding applications. It offers excel-lent chemical and thermal resistance, high hardness, rigidity and dimensional stability, and low creep and moisture absorption. It is often used instead of metals and thermosets in such applications as: auto pumps, valves, fuel rails and power trains; electronic connectors, plugs, switches and circuit boards; structural and non-structural aircraft components; and heater grills, impellers, conveyors, power tools, microwave elements and other industrial uses.
About Kureha
Kureha Corporation is a major diversified manufacturer of chemical products listed on the Tokyo and Osaka Stock exchanges (TSE code 4023). It manufactures chemicals and plastics in Japan, China, The Netherlands, and through the Fortron Industries joint venture in the United States. Established in 1944, it now employs about 3,800 people and had sales of 130 billion yen in fiscal 2004. For more information, see: www.kureha.co.jp.
About Ticona and Celanese
Ticona Technical Polymers is one of the businesses of Celanese Corporation. Ticona produces and markets a broad range of engineering polymers and achieved sales of $863 million in 2004. Ticona has approximately 2,000 employees at production, compounding and research facilities in the USA, Germany and Brazil. For further information, visit www.ticona.com.
Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) is an integrated global producer of value-added industrial chemicals with 2004 sales of $ 5 billion. Based in Dallas, Texas, the company holds #1 or #2 market positions in products comprising the majority of its sales and has four major businesses: Chemicals Products, Technical Polymers Ticona, Acetate Products and Performance Products. Celanese has 29 production plants, with major operations in North America, Europe and Asia. For further information, visit www.celanese.com.
