Southern Clay Products announced the start of production at the company’s new Specialty Products Unit in Gonzales.

Southern Clay Products Inc., Gonzales, TX, announced the start of production at the company’s new Specialty Products Unit in Gonzales, a facility designed to produce organoclays, nanoclays and other rheological additives. The company said it has completed three multimillion-dollar investments at the Gonzales site. Separately, the company said it was awarded damages of $20.9 million by a U.S. federal court jury in a patent-infringement case brought against Süd-Chemie Inc. Southern Clay Products said the jury found that Süd-Chemie had infringed two Southern Clay organoclay patents related to production processes. Southern Clay, a Laporte Inc. company, is a supplier of smectite-based additives for coatings and other products.