Moving to solidify its position in the growing Asia-Pacific market, Cognis Deutschland GmbH announced last week that it has started building a factory in China that will make polyol ester synthetic lubricants for refrigeration systems.
The new facility is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2006 and will be the second polyol ester project that the company has built inas manyyears, following this years opening of a facility in Brazil.
Cognis, which is based in Dusseldorf, Germany, did not disclose the size or cost of the plant, which will be located in Jinshan city near Shanghai.
Cognis already supplies polyol ester lubricants in the region through its exclusive marketing partner, Japan Sun Oil Co., the largest refrigeration lubricant marketer in the Far East. Cognis said the new plant will strengthen Japan Suns position in China by providing it a local source of product. The lubricants made at the facility will be marketed under Cognis ProEco brand name.
The new plant is an expansion to an existing Cognis facility that makes vegetable-based products for the coatings and paints industries. It will be Cognis second plant dedicated to production of refrigeration fluids, the other being a factory in Jacarei, Brazil, that opened in May. The company also makes refrigeration lubes ata numbernon-dedicated facilities, primarily in the United States, Germany and France.