Ashland Specialty Ingredients, a commercial unit of Ashland Inc., plans to expand production capacity of its Klucel hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC) product line in Hopewell, Virginia. The expansion is expected to begin production in the second half of calendar 2016. Klucel HPC is a tablet binder and coating ingredient used in pharmaceutical applications and dietary supplements.

Over the past two year, the company has made several investments in the pharmaceutical market. Those investments include the opening of Ashland’s pharmaceutical center of excellence in Hyderabad, India, earlier this year; the pending expansion of Ashland’s technical capabilities in Wilmington, Delaware; and an expansion of Polyplasdone crospovidone capacity at the company’s facility in Texas City, Texas.

Source: Ashland Specialty Ingredients