US DowDuPont to spend $100m expanding Sabine River Works site

HOUSTON (ICIS)–DowDuPont plans to spend $100m in the next two years expanding and updating the Sabine River Works complex in Orange county, Texas, according to a statement obtained on Wednesday.

The project will incrementally expand production capacity for specialty materials at the complex, specifically Surlyn, Nucrel, Fusabond and Vamac, DowDuPont said. The company is also reviewing longer term plans to build a new facility at the site.

The new capacity will come online during several phases, starting in 2020, DowDuPont said.

The project will support growth for the packaging and specialty plastics business of what will become Dow once DowDuPont spins off its materials-science division.

The project will also support growth for the transportation and advanced polymers business of what will become DuPont once DowDuPont spins off its specialty products division.

Surlyn, Nucrel and Fusabond fall under packaging and specialty plastics, and Vamac falls under transportation and advanced polymers.

Surlyn is an ionomer of ethylene-acid copolymer.

Nucrel is a family of ethylene-acid copolymers. They include ethylene-methacrylic acid (EMAA) based copolymers and ethylene-acrylic acid (EAA) based copolymers.

Fusabond is a family of functional polymers that have been modified to help bond together dissimilar polymers used in toughened, filled and blended compounds. These include modified ethylene acrylate carbon monoxide terpolymers, ethylene vinyl acetates (EVAs), polyethylenes (PE), metallocenepolyethylenes, ethylene propylene rubbers and polypropylenes (PP). The polymers are typically modified with maleic anhydride (MA).

Vamac is an ethylene acrylic elastomer.

All four products, as well as the Sabine River Works site, were part of DuPont prior to its merger with Dow Chemical.