January 19, Boston Globe - Cabot Corp., the Boston company that specializes in making performance materials such as rubber carbon black and fumed silica, said it has signed an agreement to significantly expand the fumed silica capacity at a plant in Jiangxi Province, China.

Fumed silicas are versatile products that can be used in a variety of applications ranging from silicone rubber to electronic polishing slurries to spark plug coatings, inks, drugs, and cake mixes.

In a press release today, Cabot and China National Bluestar Co. Ltd. announced that Cabot (China) Ltd., a subsidiary of Cabot Corp. and Bluestar New Chemical Materials Co. Ltd., have signed an agreement to up expansion at the companies' joint venture plant in Jiangxi Province.

The Jiangxi site will have the near-term potential to produce up to produce up to 20,000 metric tons of fumed silica, the joint venture said in its press release. The expansion will in its first stage increase the Jiangxi fumed silica capacity from 5,000 metric tons per year to more than 15,000 metric tons by the end of calendar year 2011.

"This expansion will be in lieu of a previously announced facility in Tianjin, China," the release added.