Clariant Brings Its Laboratories Closer to the Customer in China
6 October 2026
Chemistry travels well, but innovation is better done close to home. That is the thinking behind Clariant’s decision to open two new research and development laboratories for its Additives business in China, announced on 18 August.
The first sits at Daya Bay in Huizhou, beside the company’s flame retardants plant. That plant was inaugurated in 2023 and gained a second production line last November, taking total investment in the site to CHF 100 million. The new laboratory will develop the next generation of flame retardants and is designed to welcome collaboration with Chinese universities and innovation partners.
The second is in Shanghai, within the additives technology centre at the One Clariant Campus. Its field is performance additives – antioxidants, light stabilisers and waxes – and its facilities run from synthesis and analytics through to pilot-scale production.
Taken together, the two represent a change of kind. Clariant already developed applications locally; it can now create new additives in China from first research to pilot scale. The materials in question serve some of the fastest-moving industries anywhere, among them e-mobility, electronics, artificial intelligence and packaging – sectors in which a few months gained in development can decide who leads.
The laboratories also complete a picture that has been taking shape for some time. Last November Clariant announced a joint venture with Fuhua on phosphorus-based flame retardants, and opened a second line at its Cangzhou plant, run jointly with Beijing Tiangang, to serve China’s nylon industry. Research, manufacturing and partnership now sit side by side in the same market. The company calls the approach “In China, For China”, and for its customers the result is practical: shorter lead times, quicker technical support and products designed around their own requirements.
Manuel Mueller, Head of Strategy and Innovation for the Adsorbents & Additives business unit, put the ambition plainly: to strengthen Clariant’s standing as the “partner of choice for innovative and sustainable additive solutions”.
It is a phrase that will ring true to anyone who works with the company. Gapuma’s own partnership with Clariant lies in a different field – Well Service Additives, across Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire – but the qualities on show in Huizhou and Shanghai are the ones we have come to know: patience, investment and a readiness to stand close to the customer. We congratulate our partner on a significant milestone.