Dow Epoxy has reached a significant milestone in its plans to build a 100,000 MTPA liquid epoxy resin (LER) plant and a 150,000 MTPA glycerine-to-epichlorohydrin (GTE) plant at Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP) by the end of 2010 - the approval of environmental impact assessments (EIA) by China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection.

“It was a thorough and robust process that we went through, and we’d applied the highest of Dow standards to our proposed plants at SCIP,” said Noelle Walsh, global business director, Liquid Resins & Intermediates, Dow Epoxy. “We are pleased to have reached this milestone, which brings us one step closer to actual construction. We can only execute our growth plans and be a sustainable business with environmental excellence as our foundation.”

EIA is a system adopted by China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection to assess the possible environmental impact - positive or negative - of a proposed project. The EIA allows the Ministry to propose countermeasures to prevent or mitigate adverse environmental impacts. All proposed chemical projects in China must obtain approvals for an EIA before construction.

The LER and GTE plants will further strengthen Dow Epoxy’s ability to meet growing customer needs in China, particularly in its core markets of coatings, electrical laminates, and civil engineering. They are on track to be completed in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

The LER plant will be the first worldwide that will recycle purified salt water byproduct as feedstock to the chlorine plant in the chemical complex instead of discharging into the sea.

“With our proprietary GTE technology, we will cut chlorine consumption in half and produce 10 times less waste water, while also improving process efficiency and product quality,” said Walsh. “This technology is a prime example of Dow’s commitment to significantly reduce and conserve energy as part of its 2015 Sustainability Goals.”

For more information, visitwww.dowepoxy.com.