To further the development of the industry in state, the Chemical Alliance Zone (CAZ) exists as a non-profit public/private partnership to promote new investment in shared facilities and to further the chemical industry in Cabell, Putnam, Wayne, and Kanawha Counties. The CAZ is centered in the eastern United States and perfect for expansion, with 18 major metropolitan areas within 500 miles of the Zone. The Zone also has available infrastructure, transportation networks and suppliers to support the chemical industry and reduce operating costs. This infrastructure, along with a trained workforce and accepting communities, makes the Chemical Alliance Zone an excellent place to do business.
Take a look at some of the industry’s leading firms that have chosen to locate in West Virginia:
BASF
BASF, a world-scale chemical company, has a plant in Huntington that produces organic colorants with 135 employees. These products are used in printing inks and coatings. The plant, one of the largest producers of Ultramarine Blue in the world, was founded in 1912 by Standard Ultramarine and Color Company.
Bayer
Bayer Polymers LLC produces polyols for polyurethanes, which are widely used in the automotive and construction markets. The Bayer Polymers LLC site in New Martinsville produces more than 1.2 billion pounds of chemical intermediates, polyurethane materials, food grade hydrochloric acid, and iron oxide pigments each year and infuses more than $130 million into the region's economy. New Martinsville also received the President's Award for Environmental Excellence in 1998, based on environmental performance parameters such as waste reduction, program improvements, spill reduction, and compliance with regulations and permits.
Bayer CropScience LLC is a leading producer of carbamate-based pesticides for crop protection. The CropScience site located at Institute is 460 acres large, with 90 acres still available for future development, and employs approximately 1,000 employees.
Dow Chemicals
Dow, a leading science and technology company with annual sales of $28 billion,has three sites in West Virginia, all of which follow the Kanawha River, a busy waterway emptying into the Ohio River on West Virginia's western edge.
The Dow South Charleston Plant is a manufacturing facility that produces more than 500 different chemicals and plastics, and serves as a redistribution facility for chemicals manufactured at other locations.
At the South Charleston Technical Center, leading expertise in catalysis has resulted in improved surfactants for detergents and significant improvement in many established processes. Leading urethane additive technologies such as GEOLITE and SERT have been developed to allow "environmentally friendly" flexible foams to be produced for the automotive, housing and construction industries.
The Dow Institute Plant produces about 500 million pounds of specialty chemical products annually. A variety of these products are used in consumer products including shampoo, contact lens products, paint, pharmaceuticals, liquid detergent, all purpose cleaners, sinus tablets, antifreeze, hair spray and nail polish remover.
DuPont
DuPont, the second largest U.S. based chemical company, has a 500-employee plant on the Kanawha River in Belle. The plant produces pesticides, herbicides, acrylics and specialty chemicals. These chemicals find applications in crop protection, wastewater treatment, textiles, pharmaceuticals and detergents. The plant dates back to 1926 and has always been owned by DuPont.