Lee & Man initiates new-materials park in Gaolan

Construction of the fluorine-containing new-materials plant of Zhuhai Lee & Man New Materials Co Ltd commenced at the Gaolan Port Economic Zone on Dec 7.

Hong Kong Lee & Man announced last October that it expects its fluorine-containing additive for lithium battery electrolytes project to eventually reap 800 million yuan ($121 million). Costing $54 million in all, $35 million will be spent on fixed assets. The first phase in the 3-sq-km new-materials industrial park will begin operations by the end of December 2018 with fixed-asset investment of $20 million.

The second phase is to come under construction before the end of December 2019. It will complete a fixed-asset investment of $15 million and begin operations by the end of November 2021. 

Gaonlan Port [Photo courtesy zhdz.gov.cn]

Zhuhai Lee & Man New Materials is a subsidiary of Lee & Man Holding Ltd. Founded in Hong Kong in 1976, Lee & Man built its first Chinese mainland plant in 1980, and is listed among the first batch of Hong Kong enterprises to invest in the mainland.

Over decades, the enterprise has grown into a large-scale multinational corporation with 12 subsidiaries and more than 10,000 employees. Its businesses cover handbags, papermaking, chemicals, and hotels.

Headed by academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the scientific research team consists of senior professors in the chemical industry, 10 returned post-doctoral scholars, and some 30 senior engineers and scientific researchers.

The team has conducted research and development on carbon tetrachloride-chloroform transformation, fluorine-containing clothing additives, and production of epoxy chloropropane by using glycerol.

Carbon tetrachloride-chloroform (CTC) transformation technology developed by the company is pioneering in terms of global development. It obtained a national patent and was awarded the third prize of Science & Technology Progress by the China Petroleum & Chemical Industry Federation in Oct 2009.