Calgon Carbon, bought by Kuraray in 2018, said it would invest $185 million to add a second production line at its Pearlington plant and double the building from 200,000 to 400,000 square feet. The line adds about 25,000 tons a year of virgin granular activated carbon, used to clean drinking water, wastewater and air, and was expected to create 38 jobs. The plant The Pearlington plant sits on 100 acres in the Port Bienville Industrial Park on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Before the expansion it had 42 workers. The new line lifts Calgon Carbon's capacity for virgin granular activated carbon to more than 200 million pounds a year. About activated carbon Activated carbon is made from materials such as bituminous coal and coconut shells and is full of tiny pores that trap contaminants. Calgon Carbon is a world leader in coal-based activated carbon and in reactivating used carbon. Kuraray was folding its own carbon materials division into Calgon Carbon.
