Glass fibre producer Owens Corning (Toledo, Ohio / USA; www.owenscorning.com) is now rebuilding the second of the two glass melters at its plant in Chambéry / France for around USD 50m (EUR 42m). The new melter will have 25% more capacity than its predecessor and is scheduled to come onstream in mid-2018. Owens Corning says the expansion is to meet the rising demand of chopped glass fibre strands for reinforced thermoplastics in Europe.

At the same time, Umberto Rigamonti, vice president and managing director of Glass Reinforcements Europe and Global Thermoplastic Products, reports that all production at the Chambéry location will be switched to boron-free "Advantex" glass.

At the end of 2016, Owens Corning finished rebuilding its first melter in Chambéry. According to earlier information, the predecessors of the two melters had a capacity of some 40,000 t/y glass each. In expanding the one melter by 25%, overall capacity at the site is being boosted to 90,000 t/y.

Owens Corning operates another glass fibre plant in France, in Laudun-l'Ardoise, north of Avignon. According to French media reports, the two melters there, which are presumably of a similar size to those in Chambéry, were replaced in 2013 and 2014 for a total of about EUR 50m.