Rhodia to Enter Silica JV in China

French chemical company Rhodia has announced it is entering into a joint venture agreement with the Qingdao Haiwan Group and Qingdao Dongyue Sodium Silicate Company to build a sodium silicate plant in Qingdao, China. The facility will boast a capacity of 220,000 tonnes and is scheduled to come on-stream during the first quarter of 2008.

Sodium silicate is a key intermediate for precipitated silica manufacturing. The new facility will supply Rhodia’s Asian silica manufacturing plants in Qingdao, China and Incheon, South Korea, which specialise in producing high performance silica predominantly used in the manufacture of tyres – most notably, according to Rhodia, low rolling resistance tyres.

“This new facility will give Rhodia a source of competitive raw material to support the growing needs of its silica business in Asia,” commented Eric Noyrez, President of Rhodia Silcea. “As the global leader in high performance silica, we benefit from a rapid increase in demand of the tyre, nutraceutics and silicone markets”.