PASADENDA, Texas—Sometimes plans change.
And, for now, Zeon Chemicals L.P.'s battery binder expansion plan is paused. The Louisville-based supplier of specialty elastomers, polymers and chemicals planned to bring battery binder production to the U.S. starting as early as 2026.
Citing a "changing business environment and market trends," Zeon said the expansion would be on hold for two years.
Zeon Chemicals detailed the battery binder expansion in 2023, telling Rubber News at the time that time that, once the expansion was online, Zeon would be the only U.S.-based producer of the material.
"We looked at that electric vehicle market, and working with our parent company in Japan, we are making a large investment in the first battery binder facility in the U.S.," Zeon Chemicals CEO Mike Recchio said in 2023. "No one is making battery binders for lithium-ion batteries in the U.S."
Globally, Zeon has been producing materials for battery binders in Japan since 1995. The company expanded its portfolio of products in the 2000s, adding anode and cathode binders as well as functional layer materials.
As it worked to expand the Pasadena site for battery binder production, Zeon Chemicals also was adding capacity for HNBR at the same facility. That is not impacted by the pause on the battery binder expansion.
The HNBR expansion is set to come on stream this year.
