Chemours Announces Joint Venture Agreement with BWT to Enable the Capacity and Innovation Required by the Transportation Fuel Cell Market
50-50 partnership focuses on filling the pipeline critical to advancing the hydrogen economy
WILMINGTON, Del.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–$CC–The Chemours Company (“Chemours”) (NYSE: CC), a global chemistry company leading in Titanium Technologies, Thermal & Specialized Solutions, and Advanced Performance Materials, announced plans to enter into a joint venture with BWT FUMATECH Mobility GmbH, an established player in multiple hydrogen markets, focused on membrane manufacturing in the field of fuel cell technology. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals. The joint venture—THE Mobility F.C. Membranes Company GmbH—is rooted in both companies’ understanding of the critical role heavy-duty fuel cell (HDFC) membranes play in driving the global hydrogen economy. Through this partnership, Chemours and BWT will integrate their complementary capabilities, resources, and technological expertise—as well as more than 85 years of combined experience in fuel cell membrane innovation—to expedite supply to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and to ensure growing demand is met in the near and long terms.
Chemours—inventor of Nafion™ ion exchange membranes and dispersions, which are inextricable to the hydrogen economy—possesses great expertise in the production of the building blocks of high-performance HDFC membranes. Located in Germany, THE Mobility F.C. Membranes Company will cooperate with FUMATECH—a subsidiary of the private Austrian-based BWT Group—and its existing production technology and line operations to convert Chemours Nafion™ ion exchange materials into industry-leading end-product membranes. The companies estimate that within 12 months of startup, the joint venture will be able to ramp up the capacity of manufacturing heavy-duty humidifier and fuel cell membranes for strategic long-term customers.
“The estimated size of the heavy-duty fuel cell membrane market is expected to grow to about $900M by 2030, which speaks volumes to how critical this technology is, and will continue to be, as the planet pursues robust goals for decarbonization,” said Denise Dignam, President of Advanced Performance Materials at Chemours. “Chemours is committed to taking on the world’s biggest challenges through the power of our chemistry and driving investment in supporting the hydrogen economy. This joint venture with BWT FUMATECH demonstrates the exact type of collaboration that empowers us to uphold that commitment. This is an ideal partnership, possessing everything required to go from monomer to membrane with the agility, efficiency, and production volume necessary to bring affordable hydrogen energy solutions to mass markets.”
“In coming together to combine the best assets and competencies of both partners, THE Mobility F.C. Membranes Company GmbH, will focus on establishing the resources and processes to secure the path for long-term success in line with the growth within the hydrogen space,” said Andreas Weissenbacher, CEO BWT. “Ultimately, our work together will fill a pipeline of needed products critical to achieving a global, sustainable hydrogen economy.”
Climate policies, such as the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), European Green Deal, and other future-oriented policy frameworks on the EU and member state level, will drive significant changes to the energy, transportation, and manufacturing industries as well as spark innovation in clean technology with billions of dollars in new climate and energy spending. With the foundation of Chemours’ strong polymer technology and FUMATECH’s optimized manufacturing technology, the joint venture company aims to play a significant role in servicing the hydrogen economy pipeline with a supply of highly engineered HDFC membranes. At the outset, THE Mobility F.C. Membranes Company will supply to the European Union, United States, Japan, China, and Korea, enabling downstream customers to accelerate broad conversion to green, hydrogen-powered heavy-duty transportation.
About The Chemours Company
The Chemours Company (NYSE: CC) is a global leader in Titanium Technologies, Thermal & Specialized Solutions, and Advanced Performance Materials providing its customers with solutions in a wide range of industries with market-defining products, application expertise and chemistry-based innovations. We deliver customized solutions with a wide range of industrial and specialty chemicals products for markets, including coatings, plastics, refrigeration and air conditioning, transportation, semiconductor and consumer electronics, general industrial, and oil and gas. Our flagship products include prominent brands such as Ti-Pure™, Opteon™, Freon™, Teflon™, Viton™, Nafion™, and Krytox™. The company has approximately 6,400 employees and 29 manufacturing sites serving approximately 3,200 customers in approximately 120 countries. Chemours is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware and is listed on the NYSE under the symbol CC.
For more information, we invite you to visit Chemours.com or follow us on Twitter @Chemours or LinkedIn.
About FUMATECH
FUMATECH (Functional Membranes and Plant Technology) is part of the BWT Group, a private water treatment company founded in the 1990. FUMATECH, headquartered in Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany, has established itself as a technological pioneer in the production of fuel cell membranes, ion-exchange membranes for energy storage and separation technology. The company has extensive expertise in areas ranging from the formulation of raw materials and the processing of materials to create membranes suited to their technical application. Visit fumatech.com for more information.
About BWT
The BWT – Best Water Technology – Group is a leading water technology company in Europe with a staff of more than 5,500, working on innovative, economic and ecologically friendly water treatment technologies to provide private households, industry, commerce, hotels and municipalities with the safest, healthiest and most hygienic water possible for their day-to-day needs. BWT provides modern water treatment systems and services for drinking water, process water, pool water and, especially, WFI – water for injection for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. The company’s research and development staff works on new techniques and materials using cutting-edge methods to develop economical and ecologically friendly products. Employees work particularly hard to create products which use fewer resources and less energy, thereby reducing CO2 emissions.
Sustainability is in BWT’s DNA, and every BWT product contributes to the conservation of our most valuable resource, water. BWT’s Claim – For You and Planet Blue – is today more relevant than ever before, given the challenges our society faces worldwide today. With its unique and patented water treatment technologies, BWT contributes every day to “Change the World – sip by sip” – not only through the creation of “Bottle Free Zones” but also with its worldwide leading know how in the development and production of high-performance membranes for the fuel cell – the energy converter of the 21st century.
More information about BWT Group and their products and services is available at www.bwt.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to a historical or current fact. The words “believe,” “expect,” “will,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “estimate,” “target,” “project” and similar expressions, among others, generally identify “forward-looking statements,” which speak only as of the date such statements were made. These forward-looking statements may address, among other things, the outcome or resolution of any pending or future environmental liabilities, the commencement, outcome or resolution of any regulatory inquiry, investigation or proceeding, the initiation, outcome or settlement of any litigation, changes in environmental regulations in the U.S. or other jurisdictions that affect demand for or adoption of our products, anticipated future operating and financial performance for our segments individually and our company as a whole, business plans, prospects, targets, goals and commitments, capital investments and projects and target capital expenditures, plans for dividends or share repurchases, sufficiency or longevity of intellectual property protection, cost reductions or savings targets, plans to increase profitability and growth, our ability to make acquisitions, integrate acquired businesses or assets into our operations, and achieve anticipated synergies or cost savings, all of which are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and expectations of future events that may not be accurate or realized. These statements are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements also involve risks and uncertainties that are beyond Chemours’ control. In addition, the current COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the national and global economy and commodity and financial markets, which has had and we expect will continue to have a negative impact on our financial results. The full extent and impact of the pandemic is still being determined and to date has included significant volatility in financial and commodity markets and a severe disruption in economic activity. The public and private sector response has led to travel restrictions, temporary business closures, quarantines, stock market volatility, and interruptions in consumer and commercial activity globally. Matters outside our control have affected our business and operations and may or may continue to hinder our ability to provide goods and services to customers, cause disruptions in our supply chains, adversely affect our business partners, significantly reduce the demand for our products, adversely affect the health and welfare of our personnel or cause other unpredictable events. Additionally, there may be other risks and uncertainties that Chemours is unable to identify at this time or that Chemours does not currently expect to have a material impact on its business. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2022 and in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. Chemours assumes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement for any reason, except as required by law.
Contacts
INVESTORS
Jonathan Lock
SVP, Chief Development Officer
+1.302.773.2263
investor@chemours.com
Kurt Bonner
Manager, Investor Relations
+1.302.773.0026
investor@chemours.com
NEWS MEDIA
Cassie Olszewski
Media Relations and Financial Communications Manager
+1.302.219.7140
media@chemours.com
