Millennium Chemicals Builds Small-scale Plant to Produce Zirconia for the Fuel Cell Industry

25-Mar-2002

Red Bank, New Jersey and Hunt Valley, Maryland (March 22, 2002) – Millennium Chemicals announced today the completed construction of a small-scale zirconia manufacturing plant at its Rockingham, Australia facility. The zirconia products produced at this plant are being sold primarily to producers of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC).

Zirconia is a key raw material in solid oxide fuel cells which are used for emergency and remote power users, for auxiliary power for cars, trucks, boats and the military, and for combined heat and power units in homes and industries.

In addition to the new small-scale plant, Millennium's capability in Europe and Australia provides more that 1,000 tonnes of zirconia oxides and products for use in a variety of electronic, ceramic, and catalytic applications.

"The small-scale plant allows us to expedite development and production of new zirconia products to meet the increasing demands of the SOFC industry as well as the advanced ceramics industry," commented Jack VonOhlen, Vice President – Performance Chemicals, Millennium Chemicals. "Our existing facility at Rockingham will allow us to scale-up production as required. Millennium is well-positioned to support the international market for zirconia."

In addition to the Rockingham production facility, Millennium's Performance Chemicals business has committed research, logistics and management resources based in the U.S. and around the world to develop solutions for environmental and performance applications with products based in titanium oxide and chloride, silica and zirconia.

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/9628/millennium-chemicals-builds-small-scale-plant-to-produce-zirconia-for-the-fuel-cell-industry.html