Celanese expands capacity for UHMW-PE

Celanese Corporation announced the addition of a new GUR® ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE) production line at its Bishop, Texas manufacturing facility to support the significant growth in its high-value GUR® engineered materials portfolio.

Electric vehicle demand is expected to have a compounded annual growth rate of greater than 25% through 2025, resulting in strong demand for Celanese GUR® for lithium-ion battery separators, according to Tom Kelly, Celanese Senior Vice President, Engineered Materials. Mr. Kelly also said that customers rely on Celanese for a reliable supply of GUR® that meets very stringent quality standards, and the company’s capacity expansion at its Bishop integrated chemical complex will enable Celanese to continue to support a growing and diverse customer base and respond to the increasing need for specialty materials such as ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene.

This new production line at the Celanese Bishop manufacturing facility is expected to add approximately 15kt per year of GUR® product capacity by the start of 2022. Following the expansion of GUR® capacity completed in June of 2019 at the company’s Nanjing, China integrated chemical complex, Celanese continues to be the only truly global producer of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene in Asia, North America and Europe, giving Celanese the unique ability to work closely with its customers in all three regions.

“The explosive growth in electric vehicle sales around the world demonstrates that lithium-ion battery separator demand will experience significant growth in Asia and in Europe over the next five years. Celanese, as a reliable materials partner for our customers, is committed to investing further in local manufacturing capabilities to offer unmatched security of supply,” concluded Mr.  Kelly.