Lanxess strengthens its butyl rubber site in Belgium

(chemeurope) -- Specialty chemicals company Lanxess is strengthening its butyl rubber plant in Zwijndrecht, Belgium. The company has significantly invested to expand the production capacity of the existing plant and to build two new pilot plants for the development of production technology for butyl rubber.

LANXESS is one of the world's largest producers of butyl rubber, which is mainly used in the production of tires. The biggest share of butyl rubber produced in Zwijndrecht is premium halobutyl rubber.

⌠This investment underpins the major role that our butyl rubber production here in Zwijndrecht plays in our global strategy. Our plans for continued growth are founded on innovation and technology that serves the global megatrends - with the primary focus on solutions for sustainable mobility, said Axel C. Heitmann, Chairman of the Board of Management at Lanxess, during the official opening ceremony.
MRC

NATPET introduce high-clarity PP for thin-walled packaging

(packwebasia) -- Noticeably increasing demand towards very high clarity packaging articles at reasonable price has led National Petrochemical Industrial Co. (NATPET) to upgrade its range of polypropylene random copolymers.

The Saudi Arabian company has introduced two new grades in its Teldene range, both containing Milliken's Millad NX 8000 latest-generation clarifying agent, aimed principally at markets for thin-walled injection molded food and non-food containers, especially in Europe, Turkey, the Middle East, and Asia.

NATPET said, "As living standards improve in emerging markets, end-users are putting increasing emphasis on aesthetics when buying products such as food storage containers. The new grades cater for this demand. Additional advantage of this grade by virtue of having Millad NX 8000 is that it enables the converters to achieve added benefit of considerable energy and cost savings (value for price) by processing the grade at lower temperatures and cycle times than by similar products in the market."


MRC

IVL reopened PET plants

(packwebasia) -- Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL) has reopened its PET plants in Thailand following a shutdown due to the floods from end-September 2011.

The plants in Lopburi - Indorama Polymers Public Company Limited and Asia Pet (Thailand) Limited - have started partial resumption of operations, and according to IVL, will ramp up production with a target of being fully operational in May 2012.

IVL's packaging division Petform (Thailand) Limited - which has an annual production capacity of 178,000 tonnes of bottle-grade PET - is expected to come online shortly after, while the Indorama Holdings Limited wool facility is expected to return to service later this year.
MRC

BASF acquires Brazil polyamide polymer business

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- BASF on Thursday acquired the polyamide (PA) polymer business of Mazzaferro Group in Brazil.

With the deal, BASF is strengthening its position with regard to engineering plastics and polyamide polymers in South America, the company says. The companies agreed not to disclose financial details of the transaction.

The deal includes the site and production facilities for the PA 6 product range, as well as engineering plastics compounds at Sao Bernardo do Campo in the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo.

The polymerization plant has a capacity of roughly 20,000 metric tpy. Around 100 employees will transfer to BASF.

Meanwhile, Mazzaferro's monofilaments, fishing equipment and household products businesses are not part of the transaction and will continue their operations at the Diadema and Sao Paulo production sites.

The transaction is subject to post-closing approval from Brazilian authorities. BASF says it will integrate the acquired business into its existing engineering plastics and polyamide polymer business.

MRC

Perstorp and MGC form partnership to distribute copolyesters in Europe

(specialchem4adhesives) -- Perstorp and Mitsubishi Gas Chemical has announced the signing of a distribution agreement for the new copolyesters and key raw material. Through this agreement, Perstorp is the exclusive distributor of the innovative copolyester under its own brand Akestra in Europe.

This strategic partnership will enable developing the market for these new high heat resistant and durable copolyesters in Europe, addressing the demand for safer and superior thermoplastics.

"We are very pleased to collaborate with MGC for developing the market of this next generation of amorphous highly transparent co-polyesters," says David James, Market Development Manager. "There is strong need in substituting other thermoplastics like polycarbonate due to safety and environmental concern and Akestra can be seen as a viable alternative. Its unique set of properties also make it attractive for developing new applications and substituting other materials like glass and polymers with improved performance, durability, lighter weight, and with low energy consumption for processing. On longer term, thanks to our key integrated technologies in Europe, the ambition is to establish jointly the most competitive production platform in Europe for the raw material used in these copolyesters"

MRC