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 TiO2units 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.