ROCHELLE – U.S. Silica held a ribbon cutting for its new Rochelle Innovation Center on Thursday, a 10,000-square-foot facility with labs and a pilot plant to support product development and scaling on Steward Road. The building has been repurposed to drive research in areas such as nanotechnology for batteries, with company leaders saying it will boost innovation, growth, and ties to the Rochelle community.
US Silica Chairman and CEO Bryan Shinn said the facility is focused on the future.
“This is very cutting-edge science, and nanotechnology is one of the more interesting things. If you can make the particles inside of batteries smaller, they can hold more energy, they can charge faster, and just be more useful.”