DuPont Prepares for Major Expansion of Polymers Plant in Virginia

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE: DD) (Wilmington, Delaware) (DuPont) is planning for a major expansion of base polymers at its site in Richmond, Virginia (Plant 1017093; PEC 27001469). This expansion will support DuPont's Zytel HTN polyamide resins and is expected to increase the plant's production capacity by 30 million pounds per year.

Engineering for this estimated $30 million project is being performed by DuPont's corporate engineering group in Wilmington. Some long-lead equipment has already been procured and the first construction bid packages are expected to be released for solicitation in January of 2004, with civil and site construction beginning in the first quarter. Construction of the new unit is expected to last for approximately 12 months.

DuPont introduced Zytel HTN to the market in 1994 as a high performance polyamide resin with tremendous cost and productivity improvements for applications such as connectors in wire harnesses, structural automotive components and components for automotive engine-cooling, air-intake and fuel-handling systems. Some of its properties include tremendous stiffness and toughness at ambient and moderate temperatures, impact resistance, high retention of physical properties and dimensions in extreme temperatures and chemical environments.