Based in Southwestern France, DRT specializes in pine chemistry and uses natural and renewable raw materials, primarily turpentine from pine trees, to produce a wide variety of products including ingredients for perfumes, resins used in adhesives and chewing gum, and many others. The new facility will be the company’s first U.S. production facility. DRT’s U.S. subsidiary, DRT America LLC, will operate the plant.

DRT will build on a 60-acre parcel the most modern turpentine distillation plant in the world, including state-of-the-art safety and pollution controls. It will initially provide 30 to 40 new jobs in Effingham County.

The company will begin hiring for the new positions starting in the last quarter of 2016.

“This is an excellent site and we are very pleased that we were able to locate such an excellent company as DRT to build on it,” said John Henry, CEO of the Effingham County Industrial Development Authority. “This project represents not only a new high-skilled industry locating in Effingham County, but it will also operate as DRT America, LLC’s U.S. headquarters. We are very proud to have them as a new corporate citizen.”

DRT chose to build its first U.S. plant to be close to important sources of raw materials, which will reduce its ecological footprint by improved logistics. According to Corey Schneider, President of DRT America, LLC, the company’s philosophy is founded on good corporate citizenship, “DRT takes pride in being a responsible business. Our development is based on three core values; acting ethically, behaving responsibly, and demonstrating respect for people and the environment.”

“There is a lot of synergy created by having a company that utilizes biomass generated from the forestry operations in this region. We have a long history of turpentine, forestry, pulpwood and paper in this area. We are excited to have this state of the art facility locate in Effingham County,” Henry said.

Schneider commented that the company had searched in three states to locate a site for its new US plant. “Effingham County offered everything we need, having a location central to the supply of resources coming from the paper industry, a strong educational system supplying a skilled workforce, and close proximity to the ports. We were also excited to learn that turpentine refining is part of the history of Effingham County, making it a natural home for our business.”