Compounder China XD Plastics Co. Ltd. has signed an agreement to build capacity for 300,000 metric tons of bioplastics as well as 3-D printing materials.
The signing ceremony took place on Dec. 12, according to reports by state-owned local media in Sichuan province, although Nasdaq-listed China XD has not yet made its own announcement.
The project will reportedly break ground in March 2017 and complete construction in October 2018.
The company plans to invest 2.2 billion yuan ($316 million) to build 50 production lines of bio-based compound materials, targeting food packaging, engineering, and light-weighting applications. Another 300 million yuan ($43 million) will be invested on four production lines of FDM (fused deposition modeling) filaments as well as one production line of SLS (selective laser sintering) powder.
The new project is expected to complement the 300,000-metric-ton compounding plant the company launched in July at the same site in Nanchong, Sichuan province.