Wacker to build silica plant in Tenn.

CHARLESTON, Tenn.—Wacker Chemie A.G. will build a production plant for its HDK brand of pyrogenic silica at its U.S. site in Charleston.

Wacker said it is making a $150 million investment in the new facility, which will have an annual capacity of about 13,000 metric tons. Construction work will start in the second quarter of next year, with completion planned for the first half of 2019.

The project will create around 50 jobs at the Charleston site, the company said.

Wacker already produces hyperpure polysilicon for the solar and semiconductor sectors in Charleston, with around 650 employees there.

"The additional capacities strengthen our market position as a leading global producer of pyrogenic silica and help us to meet our customers' growing demand," Wacker CEO Rudolf Staudigl said in a statement. "The new plant is the next logical step toward expanding Charleston into a fully integrated silicon site in the world's second-largest chemical market."

Wacker called the facility a key addition to the Charleston site's supply chain. The main byproduct of polysilicon manufacturing is tetrachlorosilane, which either has to be converted and fed back into the production loop or can be used to create added value by being further processed into HDK. The company said that by integrating the polysilicon and HDK production systems, as it does at its Burghausen and Nuenchritz sites in Germany, it can achieve maximum flexibility in the reprocessing of tetrachlorosilane, avoids the need to dispose of waste products, resulting in the enhanced efficiency of the integrated production system as a whole.

Wacker produces HDK pyrogenic silica at Burghausen and Nuenchritz in Germany and Zhangjiagang in China. The Munich-based chemical company said it is the world's third largest manufacturer in this sector.

Ultrapure amorphous silicon dioxide powder is used as a filler in silicone elastomers and as a rheology-control additive in paints, adhesives, unsaturated polyester resins and plastisols. It also serves as a flow aid in the cosmetics, pharmaceutical and food-processing industries.