MIDLAND, Mich.—Dow Elastomers, a business unit of Dow Chemical Co., will break ground on its planned world-scale facility to produce metallocene EPDM elastomers in Plaquemine, La.
Dow will sell the material under the Nordel IP Hydrocarbon Rubber brand. The facility will use the company's new proprietary catalyst technology to enable products with high Mooney viscosity.
The facility will serve customers globally and is expected to open in 2016.
Kim Ann Mink, president of Dow Elastomers electrical and telecommunications, said the facility will position Dow as the only advanced post-metallocene producer globally and enable a broader range of EPDM solutions for customers.
The company said the facility is part of its comprehensive investment plan to serve its downstream business through increased ethylene and propylene production in the U.S. Golf Coast and connect the company's U.S. operations into feedstock opportunities from increasing supplies of shale gas.