Dow to expand cellulosics capacity, make process improvements.

The Dow Chemical Company, Midland, MI, has announced that its Water Soluble Polymers business unit will increase the production capacity of Cellosize[TM] hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC) at the company's plant in Institute, WV. The increase will result in an additional five million pounds being produced each year. The company also plans to make numerous process improvements at the plant, which are expected to lead to an energy cost savings that will equal more than $3 million per year.

"This expansion is an important initiative for growing our performance business and marks the third major investment in our manufacturing assets within the last two years," says Peter Davies, business vice president at Dow.

The capacity expansion will primarily support additional production of more new Cellosize products for use in paint and oilfield applications, such as hydrophobically modified hydroxyethylcellulose (IIMHEC), a performance additive for latex paint formulations that was introduced in November 2005. The multi-phase expansion and process improvement project is expected to be fully completed by the first half of 2009.