Ashland expanding Texas City plant

TEXAS CITY – Ashland Specialty Chemical is investing more than $30 million over the next two years to expand its plant and increase production of its most marketable products.

In December 2012 Ashland began construction on a $24 million sister-facility to be built next door to a facility expanded in 2005, which included the construction of a $35 million, six-story, 200,000-sf polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (PVPP) manufacturing plant. The facility should go online in 2014.

The company is preparing for a $6 million expansion of its production of vinylpyrrolidone — called VP — the monomer used to make PVPP as well as other products manufactured at the plant.

The new VP unit includes updated technology that should enhance the plant’s ability to produce even more of its key chemical. That unit is set to come online in January 2014.

The new projects mean new jobs. In addition to the 100 construction jobs over the nine-month build out, the plant will hire five new workers to operate the two new units.