Ingevity Corp. (North Charleston, S.C.; www.ingevity.com) has begun production at its newly constructed, state-of-the-art activated carbon extrusion plant in Changshu, China. The addition of this facility allows the company to better meet the significant growth in global demand for pelletized carbon products, which are primarily used in gasoline vapor emission control systems in cars, trucks, motorcycles and boats.
The new $20-million facility currently houses one new extrusion line and employs approximately 80 people. The company has also relocated its extrusion line from its Wujiang, China, facility to Changshu, and that line is expected to begin production by late second quarter of 2019. Once both lines are operational, the facility will employ about 120 people.
“As our Performance Materials segment continues to experience unprecedented demand for its activated carbon pellet products for automotive applications, we continue to invest in our production and technical capabilities to meet our customers’ requirements,” said Michael Wilson, Ingevity’s president and CEO at a grand opening held yesterday at Changshu. “We are pleased that our newest extrusion facility has been completed on schedule and is producing high quality material.”
The Changshu facility complements existing activated carbon plants in Zhuhai, China, Wickliffe, Kentucky, and Covington, Virginia, as well as the “honeycomb” scrubber plant in Waynesboro, Georgia. In addition, and as announced previously, the Covington facility is currently undergoing a series of upgrades that include the addition of a new pellet extrusion line that will use the same technology employed at the Changshu facility.
“We pulled forward the installation of an additional extrusion line at the Changshu facility based on accelerating implementation of automotive gasoline vapor emissions regulations around the globe,” said Ed Woodcock, executive vice president and president, Performance Materials.