Crompton Corp. announced yesterday that it plans to invest in a new alkylated diphenylamine antioxidant unit at its factory in Geismar, La., the fourth time in two years that it has boosted output of this family of products.
The Middlebury, Conn., specialty chemical company said the new unit will use equipment that has been used to produce rubber chemical intermediates. Crompton said two months ago that it would scale back production of rubber chemicals intermediates made at Geismar by the end of 2004 and that it would look for other ways to utilize that line.
Officials said yesterday that demand for the companys alkylated diphenylamine antioxidants – sold under the Naugalube brand name – continues to grow, primarily due to changing antioxidancy requirements created by the newest passenger car motor oil upgrade, GF-4.
This brownfield investment is primarily an ongoing response to customers fast-changing requirements brought on by GF-4 automotive motor oil specifications for the North American market rolled out in July of this year, said Janet Mann, vice president of Crompton Petroleum Additives.
Crompton also makes its ADPA antioxidants at plants in Elmira, Ontario; Rio Claro, Brazil; Latina, Italy; and Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It expanded capacity at Elmira three times between 2002 and this year and at Latina in 2002.
The company declined to disclose the cost of the Geismar project or ADPA capacity there. The new unit is scheduled to begin operating in mid-2005.