November 13, 2018 – The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) today announced the opening of a new world-class polyol plant for rigid polyurethane foam in Rayong, Thailand. The facility increases the Company’s capacity to offer high-quality insulation materials and solutions with reliable, energy-efficient performance that customers and the society can benefit from.

“This announcement demonstrates Dow’s commitment to our ongoing investment in Polyurethanes in order to bring to our customers a reliable supply of innovative solutions aligned to global trends such as population growth and energy efficiency,” said Jane Palmieri, business president, Dow Polyurethanes. “The Rayong facility is an important addition to Dow’s global polyurethanes manufacturing network, further enabling us to deliver industry-leading products that help customers minimize their environmental footprint, while creating lasting social, environmental and economic benefits throughout the entire product life cycle.”
From keeping food fresher more efficiently to preventing home energy loss, polyol is a key raw material for rigid polyurethane foam solutions to improve energy efficiency in a wide variety of construction, professional cold chain and appliance applications. Dow’s high-performing polyols enable novel energy efficiency solutions, which help customers to meet stringent, country-specific regulations and embrace global sustainability trends.

 “We are living in an era when innovative and effective solutions are needed to address imperative sustainability challenges, including energy consumption and climate change,” said Christina Yu, commercial director Asia Pacific, Dow Polyurethanes. “This is particularly important in Asia Pacific where significant population growth and increasing energy consumption is translating to higher demand for energy efficiency solutions, which Dow is best positioned to deliver as the world’s leading material science company.” 

Approximately 150 guests from customers and partners joined Dow leaders to attend a dedication ceremony on November 8. This new polyol plant strengthens Dow’s upstream plant integration in Thailand and further expands Dow’s presence in Asia Pacific, following the recent opening of new polyurethane systems houses in Lote Parshuram, India and Zhangjiagang, China. 

“This new plant further solidifies Dow’s key manufacturing base in Thailand and is an important milestone in our expansion in Asia Pacific, demonstrating our long-term commitment to the country and the region,” said Chatchai Luanpolcharoenchai, president of Dow Thailand. “With this boost in capacity and our advanced technologies, we are better positioned to meet increasingly sophisticated customer demands.”

The new polyol plant has a designed annual capacity of 79,000 tons and is located at the Asia Industrial Estate (AIE) site in Rayong province. Home to six Dow manufacturing plants, the AIE site covers 515 hectares and adheres to the most advanced environmental, health and safety standards in its operations and management, utilizing bleeding-edge technologies to minimize its overall environmental footprint.