(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- W.R. Grace & Co. has entered into an agreement with Dow Chemical to develop new catalysts for polypropylene production, officials said on Thursday.
The catalysts, which use one of Dow's non-phthalate internal donor technologies and Grace proprietary catalyst expertise, will be sold by Grace under the HYAMPP brand.
HYAMPP catalysts are non-phthalate catalysts with industry-leading activity and performance benefits, and represent sixth-generation technology.
They enable producers to make resins that improve the performance of plastics, including better clarity, stiffness and impact strength, providing a pathway to new applications requiring more demanding properties that cannot be met by current generation catalysts.
Customers can use the resins in a broad range of applications such as films, high-performance pipe, automobile parts, household appliances and household containers. Grace expects to begin commercial production of the new catalysts in 2012, it said.
⌠We are continuously looking for ways to better meet the needs of our customers and the end-users of their products, said Tony Dondero, vice president and general manager of Grace's specialty catalysts and process technologies product line.
MRC