CHESTERFIELD, Virginia (From The Chesterfield Observer) -- If a company is proud of its products, it likes to market their advantages. But can they be Vastly better?

Tranlin Inc. apparently thinks so. The Chinese company that is planning to build a $2 billion paper mill in eastern Chesterfield has announced that it is changing its name to Vastly.

It's unclear whether the name change applies to the entire operation or just to the special line of fertilizer products exported to the country from China by Tranlin's parent company, Shandong Tranlin Paper Co. On the company's website, Tranlin has incorporated language that suggests the entire company is being rebranded as Vastly.

But a company official said the Tranlin moniker will remain for legal purposes.

"The legal entity will remain Tranlin Inc. for now," John M. Stacey, senior vice president for marketing and sales, said in an email to the Observer.

Regarding the Vastly renaming, he wrote: "We are in the process of transitioning consumer and public facing branding to Vastly while leveraging the awareness of Tranlin Inc. that has been created over the last couple of years."

The Tranlin project, expected to be in full operation with 2,000 employees by 2020, has been hailed as the biggest economic development coup in Chesterfield's history.

But recently the paper manufacturer has been plagued by internal delays. It broke ground during a ceremony with company officials and local and state leaders in October of last year, but construction has yet to begin on the 850- acre plant site off of Willis Road.

Tranlin has yet to acquire the largest, 650-acre tract of land for the sprawling paper mill. The company also has deferred receiving $2 million in grant funding from the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.

The deferred funding is part of a $20 million state performance grant, which is scheduled to be distributed as the company meets targets for job creation and public investment. The performance grant is just one piece of the nearly $60 million in economic incentives county and state officials floated to lure Tranlin to Chesterfield in 2014.

According to the performance grant agreement, Tranlin needed to show the state by April 1 that the company had invested $20 million in capital and created 25 jobs by the end of 2015.

By the end of 2016, per the agreement, Tranlin is expected to have invested a total of $555 million in capital and created a total of 565 jobs to qualify for the next $3 million installment.

Despite the delays, Stacey said in an email that Tranlin plans to begin construction in 2017 and is currently hiring "across departments of the company." The company continues to work toward purchasing the 650-acre parcel, Stacey said, and has hired a firm to coordinate work on 15 or more initial permits Tranlin needs from local, state and federal regulators.

Tranlin's Chesterfield plant is expected to incorporate new processing methods the company says are far less polluting than traditional paper mills. Instead of trees, the plant will use farm waste, such as corn stalks from fields that have been cut.

The plant will not use bleach in processing its paper plates and other consumer goods, company officials have said, so there will be less pollution of the James River, which abuts the site where the factory will be built.

A byproduct of its paper process will be used to make nutrient-rich fertilizer that will be sold to American farmers.

On Aug. 3, the company announced the launch of "its unique line" of ecologically friendly fertilizer products under the Vastly name. "Our organic acid fertilizer naturally stimulates plants, promoting stronger, healthier growth while building soil health," Jerry Peng, chairman and chief executive of Tranlin, said in the release.

Stacey told the Observer that Tranlin has tested the imported fertilizer from China on its Chesterfield plant site. It also has been running trials with "multiple farms, universities and Monticello [in Charlottesville] under varying conditions and geographies."

Stacey told the Observer last week that the company is planning an announcement in coming weeks, but declined to offer details.

Ben Humphrey, business attraction manager for Chesterfield Economic Development who is working with Tranlin, said he's unaware of any major changes or upcoming announcements from the company.

As far as progress at Tranlin's site in eastern Chesterfield, Humphrey said the company's Willis Road office is now up to 18 employees.