Ingevity to boost carbon activation capacity in Covington, Va., U.S.A.

Ingevity Corporation said it will expand its carbon activation capacity at its Covington, Va., facility to meet growing global demand for pelletized carbon products primarily for use in gasoline vapor emission control systems in cars, trucks, motorcycles and boats.

The expansion will feature new processing, activation, purification and finishing equipment. Once completed, the facility’s total activation capacity will increase by approximately 20%.

Representing an investment of USD 35-40 million, the project is expected to be operational by the fall of 2019.

“We continue to invest in our Performance Materials segment’s production and technical capabilities to meet our customers’ requirements,” said Michael Wilson, Ingevity’s president and CEO. “This project is within our previously disclosed investment and cash flow guidance and the organic growth opportunity in automotive applications continues to be our highest capital allocation priority. This capital-efficient expansion of our Covington plant is one of the key elements of our strategy and multi-year capital investment plan for this segment, which we began implementing in 2014 with the construction of a greenfield carbon activation plant in Zhuhai, China.”

He added that the company is also currently constructing an activated carbon extrusion facility in Changshu, China, which is expected to be operational by this fall. In addition to the two carbon activation plants in Covington and China, Ingevity has an activation facility in Wickliffe, Ky., U.S.A., a “honeycomb” scrubber joint venture plant in Waynesboro, Ga., U.S.A., and extrusion facilities in Covington, Va., U.S.A. and Wujiang, China.

“We are anticipating a substantial increase in global demand for our world-leading activated carbon products and technologies driven by the introduction of more stringent regulations for automotive gasoline vapor emissions control in China, Europe and potentially other countries,” said Ed Woodcock, executive vice president and president, Performance Materials. “More stringent emission standards require more advanced technology, which continues to increase the content of our activated carbon products on a per vehicle basis.”

Ingevity has produced and sold activated carbon for more than a century, including more than 40 years in the automotive market. With more than 900 million units installed globally, Ingevity is the global leader in the automotive application.