DuPont investing $550M to increased kevlar production

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (DuPont) (Wilmington, Delaware) plans to spend an estimated $550 million at two of its plant sites on the United States' East Coast to increase Kevlar fiber production. The expansion projects are expected to significantly increase the global capacity of Kevlar fiber production by more than 25 percent.

Construction began in January 2008 for a $500 million Kevlar fiber unit addition at DuPont's Charleston Cooper River site in Moncks Corner, South Carolina. BE&K Engineering Company (Birmingham, Alabama) was selected as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) for the major expansion. After the project is complete in 2010, approximately 100 new jobs are expected to be created.

DuPont will also spend an additional $50 million to install a new Kevlar polymer production line at its Spruance site in Richmond, Virginia. BE& K has been awarded the contract to provide EPC services for this project, as well, and Fluor Daniel (San Jose, California) will also play a role in the project's construction as the resident contractor. Construction for the expansion project is expected to begin in April 2008 with commercial start-up planned for April 2009.

Kevlar is a light, strong para-aramid-brand synthetic fiber that made its introduction into the commercial industry in 1965 by DuPont and widely used in the automotive industry. Kevlar, with new technologies, is best known for its proven performance in ballistic and stab-resistant body armor that is used in the military, law enforcement, as well as automotive, aerospace, and oil and gas industries, among others.

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