Clariant announced an additional investment in a new flame retardant manufacturing facility in China

Clariant will construct a second production line at its Exolit® OP halogen-free flame retardant plant in Daya Bay, China. The high-tech plant, which cost 60 million Swiss francs, is now fully under construction. The additional SFr40 million investment will further expand innovative, sustainable flame retardant solutions and related expertise to support the significant growth in the use of engineered plastics in electric vehicles and the electrical and electronic sectors.

Jochen Ahrens, Clariant's Flame retardant Business Director, said: "As we have seen from the rapidly growing demand for Exolit® OP flame retardants in China and other Asian markets, brands and equipment manufacturers are increasingly turning to the use of halogen-free flame retardants to meet the growing demand for electrification and sustainability requirements.

We provide local production and technical experts support in daya bay, clariant integration technology center in Shanghai at the same time the research and development capabilities, will be able to quickly respond to local, regional and global supply demand, cooperate more closely with customers, satisfy the electric car, 5 g communications, transportation and other fields increasingly improve safety regulations and technical performance requirements."

The improved flame retardant plant in Daya Bay will additionally complement Clariant's capacity in addition to its two Exolit® OP plants in Knapsack, Germany, benefiting its global customer base. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and logistical and supply chain challenges, Clariant aims to stick to its original schedule to start production at Daya Bay around mid-2023, with the second line operational by 2024.

Clariant will manufacture its patented organophosphate flame retardant worldwide at the plant. The Shanghai Clariant Integrated Park team will support customers in the joint development and application testing of flame retardant solutions.

Bringing Clariant closer to component manufacturers is one of Clariant's key commitments in China, enabling us to strengthen our value chain collaboration, enhance product innovation and aggressively address sustainability challenges. Some of our Exolit® OP products have excellent reliability and will also firmly support the development of plastic circular economy.

The two new retardant production lines will share infrastructure and construction capacity at the Clariant Daya Bay facility. The Daya Bay plant takes full advantage of local resources and attaches great importance to safety. Since construction began, we have successfully achieved 500,000 working hours of safety without incident.