Eastman Chemical breaks ground on choline chloride plant

Eastman Chemical Company has broken ground on a choline chloride facility at its site in St. Gabriel, Louisiana.
The site was part of Eastman’s acquisition of Taminco Corporation in December 2014. Taminco and Balchem Corporation previously announced a joint venture agreement to build and operate the facility and to jointly manufacture and separately market choline chloride. Eastman expects the manufacturing facility to be operational in late 2015.
“We are excited about this world-scale production unit. We expect it to help us to serve North American hydraulic fracturing and animal nutrition application end markets for choline chloride, both of which we believe will continue to grow in coming years,” said Sabine Ketsman, vice president and general manager of the specialty amines business unit of the additives and functional products segment.
Choline chloride is a quaternary compound functioning as a clay stabilizer in oil and gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing applications. The safe and benign profile of choline chloride contributes to reducing the environmental footprint for oil and gas development projects. Choline chloride is also used globally as a feed ingredient in the animal nutrition industry for pets and animal agriculture. Choline plays an essential role in fat metabolism, energy balance and reproduction, with proven effects in enhanced and accelerated growth during times of rapid development.