Berkely Country will see the opening of a US$20 million manufacturing plant.The plant is expected to start producing a compound that’s vital to South Carolina’s fast-growing tyre industry.
The Upstate-based owner of the Charleston International Manufacturing Center announced Wednesday that the liquid sodium silicate plant will be finished this summer, creating 11 jobs and helping to support hundreds more.
The chemical maker Evonik, which supplies tyre manufacturers with a silicate derivative that makes their products more fuel efficient, will be among the first companies to benefit from the investment. The German firm is nearing completion of a US$120 million plant at the industrial park that will help support the Palmetto State’s booming tyre industry — the nation’s largest, with daily production of more than 100,000 tyres.
Sodium silicate — an acid salt that combines sodium, oxygen and silicon — is also used in a range of other industries, including food, health care, pulp and paper, paint and coatings, and textiles.
That’s why the owner of the industrial park thinks it will have an opportunity to grow beyond Evonik — and why it’s adding extra capacity, said Nathan Wingate, who will oversee the new facility.
Some of the other companies that use sodium silicate include BASF, W.R. Grace and PPG Industries. A report released this month by Global Market Insights predicts demand will increase 30 % and surpass US$10 billion by 2024, with the North American market accounting for more than 10 % of the total.
“While liquid sodium silicate may not be a familiar product, it is used in many of the items that are part of our daily lives,” said Marc Fetten, CEO of Charleston International Manufacturing Center. “Our production of it will open the door to attracting new world-class companies to the region.”
Berkeley County supervisor Bill Peagler said the new industrial amenity “will draw in additional investment” to the area. Will Helmly, chairman of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, called the facility “another tool in the toolbox the Charleston metro offers businesses to succeed.”
The process that will take place at the new facility involves dissolving sodium silicate with high pressure and removing impurities. The site will house tanks where the finished liquid product will be stored for future use.
Berkeley County economic development director Barry Jurs said the facility would churn through 60,000 tons of sodium silicate a year that will be brought up the Cooper River by barge.