United States.
Wacker Chemie announced that it will build a new pyrogenic silica production plant at its headquarters in Charleston, Tennessee.
The new facility, with an annual capacity of around 13,000 metric tons, is expected to involve an investment of about US$150 million. Construction work will begin in the second quarter of next year, with completion scheduled for the first half of 2019. This is expected to create about 50 new jobs at the Charleston headquarters.
"The additional capabilities strengthen our market position as a leading global producer of pyrogenic silica and help us meet the growing demand from our customers," said Dr. Rudolf Staudigl, CEO of Wacker. "The new plant is the next logical step to expand Charleston into a fully integrated silicon headquarters in the world's second largest chemical market," he explained, underscoring the strategic importance of the investment.
The new facility is a key addition to the Charleston headquarters' supply chain. The main by-product of polysilicon manufacturing is tetrachlorosilane, which either has to be converted and reintroduced into the production circuit or can be used to create added value by subsequently being transformed into HDK. By integrating the polysilicon and HDK production systems, as has already been operated at its headquarters in Burghausen and Nünchritz in Germany, Wacker achieves maximum flexibility in tetrachlorosilane reprocessing, avoids waste disposal and improves the efficiency of the integrated production system as a whole.
