SALT LAKE CITY — Huntsman Tioxide said it plans to carry out a feasibility study for the construction of a 50,000-metric-ton (mt) per-year chloride-process titanium dioxide (TiO₂) production facility at Caojing, China, near Shanghai. The company estimated the cost of the project at $150 million, and said additional 50,000/mt/year TiO₂ units could be added later. The plant would come onstream in 2004 or 2005, on a similar timetable as a 160,000 mt/year MDI plant being planned by Huntsman Polyurethanes, BASF and the companies’ Chinese partners at Caojing.

Huntsman Tioxide said TiO₂ demand in China, which totaled 150,000 mt in 1999, is growing faster than anywhere else in Asia. Huntsman Tioxide operates manufacturing facilities in seven countries with a total production capacity of 570,000 mt/year.