Cabot, Dow launch fumed-silica plant project

Carrollton, Kentucky – Cabot Corp. and DowDuPont launched the construction of a Cabot fumed silica plant located adjacent to Dow’s Carrollton site in western Kentucky.

The groundbreaking, on 29 Sept, coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Dow site in Carrollton which has a strong track record in the field of silicones chemistry.

Announced in May 2017, the new fumed silica manufacturing facility is scheduled to be operational by 2020, according to a Cabot press statement.

The plant, said Cabot, “will have a “fence-line relationship with Dow, creating a closed-loop system that reduces transportation risks, increases manufacturing efficiencies and reduces waste.”

Announced in May 2017, the new manufacturing facility is scheduled to be operational by 2020, and will extend Cabot’s long-term relationship with Dow while furthering Cabot’s position as a leading producer of fumed silica.

Dow and Cabot have collaborated as supplier and customer to each other over the last 30 years, with current neighbouring operations in Midland, Michigan, and Barry, Wales, UK.

Silicone products made at the Dow site are used by Cabot as a building block for producing fumed silica, an ultra-fine, high-purity particle used as a performance additive in a broad range of applications.

Dow, in turn, uses Cabot’s fumed silica in its silicone products as well as by-product from Cabot’s process in its operations.