WACKER, a Munich-based chemical group, officially opened its fumed silica production plant today at its production facility in Charleston, Tennessee. Many guests from the political and economic circles attended the celebration. The fumed silica production plant has an annual capacity of 13,000 tons. The products produced are not only for export, but also for WACKER's own silicone production. Highly dispersed fumed silica is an important formulation component for the production of silicone rubber. The total investment in the new production plant is approximately US $ 150 million and 50 new jobs have been created at the Charleston production base.
To date, WACKER has produced highly dispersed fumed silica at the Burghausen and Nontritz production sites in Germany and the Zhangjiagang production site in China. The commissioning of the fumed silica production plant at the Charleston production site allows the WACKER Group to now supply HDK®-branded fumed silica products directly to customers in the Americas. WACKER President and CEO Dr. Shi Tuozhi said: "The additional capacity will further strengthen our market position as the world's leading fumed silica producer and help WACKER better meet growing customer demand . "
The completion of the new production plant also enables the recycling of materials at the Charleston production base and further improves the value chain. WACKER has been producing polysilicon for the solar industry at its Charleston production site since 2016. The most important by-product of polysilicon production is silicon tetrachloride. After conversion, this material can be recycled in production or further processed into more value-added HDK® fumed silica.
The commissioning of the new production plant has now enabled integrated production at the Charleston production site, just as WACKER has successfully operated integrated production systems at the Burghausen and Nünchritz production sites in Germany. This comprehensive production system can greatly improve the processing flexibility of silicon tetrachloride, and there is no need to treat waste products as by-products, which can improve the economic benefits of the entire integrated production system. "The construction of this production plant is an inevitable move taken by WACKER to build the Charleston production base into a comprehensive silicon production base in the United States, the world's second largest chemical market." Stressed.
In addition to highly modern canning and packaging equipment, the new production facility also has test and development laboratories and training classrooms for WACKER ACADEMY. Here, customers can learn about the application diversity of highly dispersed fumed silica through seminars, training, and practical exercises. "We can develop and test formulations and applications for customers in the Americas in our new laboratory. Our goal is to enable customers to continuously improve their own products by using our fumed silica products." WACKER CHEMICAL (USA) The company's president, David Wilhoit, said at the celebration.