Wacker Chemie’s one of the priorities of investing activities last year remained the completion of the new polysilicon site at Charleston, Tennessee (US). Some €100 million ($107.51 million) – or about a quarter of total capital spending in 2016 – went toward this project. Wacker finished commissioning the production facilities there on schedule in the third quarter of 2016.

A further investment priority in 2016 was expanding capacities for manufacturing downstream products. For example, Wacker increased production capacity for cyclodextrins by 30 per cent at its site in Eddyville, Iowa (US). At its Burghausen site in Munich, it expanded production of functional silicone fluids in several stages. Capital spending for this amounted to some €25 million. Siltronic’s Freiberg site invested in new pulling facilities for manufacturing silicon monocrystals.

In 2016, Wacker began additional investment projects. These include new facilities for silicone products at sites in Jincheon (South Korea) and Jandira (Brazil). In Burghausen, Wacker is building a new reactor for polymeric dispersions and is expanding a plant for hydrophobic specialty grades of silica.

The plant’s capacity is expected to rise by 40 per cent as a result, with capital expenditures on the project amounting to €1.4 million. Work began early this year, and project completion is expected in the third quarter of 2017.

 Recently, the Munich-based chemical group announced that it is expanding the capacity of its silicon metal site at Holla in Norway by constructing an additional plant, with world-scale annual capacity. The group will invest around €85 million for the capacity increase and for expanding local infrastructure, the company said in a statement. Completion of the plant is expected during the first half of 2019.