Nylon 6/6 Producer Plans For Expansion of Plant in Virginia

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Nylstar, a joint-venture company owned by Rhodia and Snia S.p.A., is evaluating the potential of expanding its nylon 6/6 manufacturing operations located in Martinsville, Virginia. Nylstar currently operates twelve production lines at the Martinsville site of which four lines are of older technology using up to 40 spinning heads each. The remaining and newest lines in the plant were installed in March of last year.

If the current plans are approved as proposed, this expansion would mean the installation of at least four new production lines producing nylon 6/6 from polymer chips. Each production line will include a melt section, winders, spinnerets, extruders, rollers plus all supporting process equipment and utilities. Pending corporate approval, construction will likely not begin until early 2004.

Nylstar operates two production sites in Europe; both in Italy and the Martinsville site is its only U.S. production facility.