Ticona to Add LCP Unit at Nanjing      

Ticona, the engineering polymers business of Celanese Corporation, plans to build a new world scale liquid crystal polymer (LCP) production facility at the Celanese integrated chemical complex in Nanjing, eastern China. Construction is slated to begin in the first half of 2009, and the facility is projected to be operational in 2010.
   With an annual capacity of 7 000 tons, this state-of-the art LCP facility will produce highly crystalline, thermotropic (melt-orienting) thermoplastics that can deliver exceptionally precise and stable dimensions, high temperature performance and chemical resistance in very thin-walled applications found in the electrical & electronics market.
    The new facility will be Ticona's fourth at the Nanjing complex, and is part of Ticona's Asia growth strategy to directly serve its customers in this region of impressive growth. The new units at Nanjing, combined with its established presence in Europe and North America, will support its customers' need to shift to non-halogenated materials and give Ticona a global foot print to provide the same brand experience to customers throughout the world.
   The LCP production facility is part of a planned multi-year investment by Ticona in China and throughout Asia. This will provide technical and commercial resources and facilities focused on customer application development, along with regional world-scale monomer, polymer and compounding production facilities. In addition to the LCP facility, Ticona has other manufacturing units in China that are already online or are scheduled to produce advanced engineered polymers and compounds for customers throughout Asia, including long fiber reinforced thermoplastic (LFRT), ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE), GUR R production facility, compounding unit and POM production facility.