Ingevity Corporation, based in North Charleston, S.C., U.S.A., announced that it will open a new automotive applications testing facility in Zhuhai, China. The new testing center will provide state-of-the-art application testing capabilities to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers who use Ingevity’s automotive activated carbon products in gasoline vapor emission control system components.

“We are making a significant investment in technical capabilities for our Performance Materials segment to support increased demand driven by the new China 6 regulation,” said Michael Wilson, Ingevity’s president and CEO. “The new automotive testing center will help ensure our customers’ success in designing new canister systems that perform effectively and in accordance with the new regulatory standards.”

The USD 2.5 million facility will be co-located with Ingevity’s existing manufacturing plant in Zhuhai city, Guangdong province, and is expected to be operational in late 2017. The equipment housed at the new center will provide best-in-class testing capabilities, similar to those at Ingevity’s North Charleston, S.C.-based Innovation Center, which mostly services U.S. and European customers. Plans to expand the automotive testing center in Zhuhai at a future date are already underway to support the anticipated growth.

“This technical center will enable us to better collaborate with our customers in China, the world’s largest vehicle market,” said Ed Woodcock, executive vice president and president, Performance Materials.

Woodcock added that, as previously announced, Ingevity is also constructing a new extrusion plant in Changshu, China, to be able to respond quickly when demand for automotive activated carbon increases. It is expected to be operational by the fall of 2018.

Ingevity has produced and sold activated carbon for more than a century, including more than 30 years in the automotive market. With more than 750 million units installed globally, the company is the global leader in the automotive gasoline vapor emission control application. 

Ingevity, which produces specialty chemicals and high-performance carbon materials and technologies, operates from 25 locations around the world and employs approximately 1,500 people. These products are used in a variety of demanding applications, including asphalt paving, oil exploration and production, agrochemicals, adhesives, lubricants, printing inks and automotive components that reduce gasoline vapor emissions.