Cabot Corporation and China National Bluestar Co. Ltd. have announced that Cabot (China) Ltd., a subsidiary of Cabot and Bluestar New Chemical Materials, have signed an agreement to expand the fumed silica capacity at the companies’ joint venture plant in Jiangxi Province, China. The Jiangxi site will have the near-term potential to produce up to 20,000 metric tons of fumed silica and will manufacture a wide range of products for multiple applications. 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 2011. Commissioning will be staged, with incremental capacities coming on stream during 2010. The project will produce fumed silica using Cabot’s world-class manufacturing technology and utilizing the methyltrichlorosilane byproduct from Bluestar’s silicones monomer production. Bluestar’s Xinhuo plant will then recycle the hydrogen chloride byproduct from the production of fumed silica as the raw material in the manufacturing of methyl chloride for their silicones monomer production.