Bluestar Silicones (Lyon, France) is in early 2010,” de Clermont-Tonnerre says. embarking on a major investment Bluestar Silicones is also investing in push aimed at doubling sales and a 6,000-m.t./year fumed silica plant at positioning itself among the top players in Tianjin, which will come onstream at the the global silicone market, CW h as learned. same time as the siloxanes unit. The prod- “We will be spending tens of mil- uct is used in elastomers and other lions of euros to build several applications. The company is also downstream silicone plants at investing in five downstream sili-our Tianjin, China complex by cone units, which will produce the second half of 2009,” Olivier silicone gums, silicone oils, heat de Clermont-Tonnerre CEO cured rubber, silicone polymers, of Bluestar Silicones tells CW. and silicone sealants from the sec-Bluestar Silicones’ parent National ond half of 2009.
Bluestar Corp., a ChemChina Bluestar Silicones has a (Beijing) subsidiary, bought de Clermont-Tonnerre: 100,000-m.t./year siloxanes plant Rhodia’s silicone business last Getting bigger. at Roussillon, France and another year and combined it with existing silicone same size unit at XingHuo, China. The lat-operations to form Bluestar Silicones. ter unit, which was debottlenecked in 2006,
Bluestar Silicones expects to double sales is based on Chinese technology. Bluestar from the current €600 million ($900 mil- Silicones will have 300,000 m.t./year of silox-lion)/year, when its investment program is anes capacity by early 2010. The company completed and move into the top league of sili- is investing € 5 million-€ 10 million/year at cone players, currently led by Dow Corning, Roussillon to improve the technology as well Momentive Performance Materials (Wilton, as competitiveness by optimizing its energy CT), Wacker Chemie, and Shin-Etsu. Bluestar consumption there. A related downstream Silicones is building a €250-million, 100,000- silicone site is based at Saint-Fons, close to m.t./year siloxanes plant at Tianjin, which is Roussillon. “This is a very specialized facil-due to begin startup by the end of 2009. “It ity, which produces resins used in air bags will be a gradual loading because it is a huge and special coatings.”
plant, which means that we will be onstream The Tianjin-based fumed silica plant will be
Bluestar Silicones’ first such production facility. Its parent Bluestar, in a joint venture with Cabot, makes the product at XingHuo. Evonik makes fumed silica for Bluestar Silicones on a 6,000-m.t./year plant at Roussillon.
The silicone market is growing at above GDP rates in the mature regions of Europe and North America. However, it is growing much faster in Asia, particularly in China, where it is rising 15%-20%/year.
Bluestar Silicones is currently the fifth-larg-est silicone player globally but is among the top three in Europe, de Clermont-Tonnerre says. However, Bluestar Silicones is a “ distant player in North America.” The company will keep its strong position in Europe and reinforce its share of the Asian market from China, he says. It will strengthen the segments it is in in North America, including paper and textile coatings, he adds.
Separately, a previously announced deal under which Blackstone Group (New York) will acquire a 20% share in China National Bluestar for up to $600 million is expected to close shortly, de Clermont-Tonnerre says (CW, Sept. 19, 2007, p. 9). That will help Bluestar’s transformation into a more international company, he says. —natasha alperowicz
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