The Yangquan High-tech Industrial Development Zone – located in the city of Yangquan in North China's Shanxi province – signed an agreement on July 25 for manufacturer Do-Fluoride New Materials Co (DFD) to build a major production plant there.

Founded in Central China's Henan province in 1999, DFD specializes in the research and development of high-performance inorganic fluorides, electronic chemicals, lithium-ion batteries and related materials – with over 600 authorized patents and 30 scientific and technological achievements.

The new facility will cost 1.04 billion yuan ($153.62 million) and involve the production of high-end polyvinylidene difluoride or PVDF resin, making 10,000 metric tons a year. 

High-end PVDF resin is the preferred material for lithium battery binders and separator coatings, which is widely applied in the aerospace sector and in the field of medicine. 

Lei Jiankun, a senior zone official, said that the new plant would boost the development of 100-billion-yuan new materials industrial clusters there.

She hoped that the company would join forces with Yangquan to build new energy battery industry systems, attract more upstream and downstream enterprises to settle in the city, and achieve mutual-benefit development.