Cabot expanding Welsh plant

LSRUNQI

Cabot expanding Welsh plant

Thursday, July 28, 2011
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Boston, MA - Cabot will expand production capacity by 25 percent at its fumed silica facility in Barry, Wales. The expansion is expected to be completed in 2012 and is part of a three-year plan to increase Cabot’s global fumed metal oxide capacity by 35-40 percent. The project is an extension of Cabot’s long-term partnership with Dow Corning, and will help meet rising global demand for silicones, which is expected to continue to grow at 5-10 percent per year over the coming decade. Cabot and Dow Corning have worked closely together in Barry since 1991, when Cabot built its fumed silica facility adjacent to Dow Corning’s silicone monomer plant. As part of a highly interdependent and collaborative “fence-line” relationship, Dow Corning provides Cabot with silanes, which are converted to fumed silica for Dow Corning’s compounded silicones applications. Cabot and Dow Corning have a similar “fence-line” relationship in Midland, MI. Cabot currently has six fumed silica manufacturing facilities globally, including two in the United States (Tuscola, IL, and Midland, MI), two in Europe (Barry, Wales, and Rheinfelden, Germany), and two in Asia (Jiangxi Province, China, and Mettur, India).