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Albemarle to open new flame retardant plant in China
STRATEGIES
BASF increases plasticizer production, reorganizes businesses
C
hemicals giant BASF AG is expanding production capacity at its integrated Ludwigshafen site in Germany both for higher oxo alcohols, used in plasticizer manufacture, and for plasticizers themselves. The expansions are in response to strong demand from customers throughout Europe for PVC plasticizers based on C9 and C10 alcohols, the company says.
The group is raising oxo alcohol capacity by 80 000 tonnes/year to 390 000 tonnes/year in a phased expansion programme that is scheduled for completion by the first quarter of 2009. This additional capacity is earmarked mainly for plasticizer production, BASF says. Plasticizer capacity will be extended by 40 000 tonnes/year to 300 000 tonnes/year by the second quarter of 2008. The company also recently completed a quadrupling in capacity to 100 000 tonnes/year for its Hexamoll Dinch plasticizer [ADPO, September 2007]. According to Albert Heuser, president of BASF’s Petrochemicals division, the latest expansions strengthen the company’s position as ‘Europe’s secondlargest producer of plasticizers’. BASF’s plasticizer portfolio in Europe comprises: Palatinol N (DINP), a flexible product; Palatinol 10-P (DPHP), primarily used for outdoor applications; Hexamoll Dinch for sensitive applications; as well as speciality plasticizers. C9- and C10-based plasticizers are increasingly replacing the C8-based plasticizer DEHP, the company reports. Meanwhile, the group is reorganizing its businesses into six segments with the aims of increasing speed to market, moving closer to its customers, and improving efficiency and cyclical resilience. In addition, structures at the Ludwigshafen site will be improved further. According to chairman Jürgen Hambrecht, the closer focus on customers will enable BASF to bring its ‘products and system solutions faster to market and will create additional potential for value-adding growth’. With effect from 1 January 2008, the company will consist of the following segments: Chemicals, Plastics, Functional Solutions, Performance
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Additives for Polymers
Products, Agricultural Solutions and Oil & Gas. The Performance Products segment will combine a new Care Chemicals division with the Acrylics & Dispersions (previously Functional Polymers) and Performance Chemicals divisions. As a result, BASF says it will be better able to supply its customers worldwide with the products and innovations they need to optimize their products and processes. The Performance Chemicals division includes BASF’s polymer additives products as well as solutions for the oil and refinery industries, coatings, and the leather and textile industries. The division’s annual sales are approximately 2 billion. It has around 5000 employees worldwide and will be headed by Hans W. Reiners. In its latest financial results, for 3Q 2007, BASF reported a 5% increase in sales compared to 3Q 2006, to nearly 14 billion. Income from operations (EBIT) before special items rose by 6% to 1.7 billion while earnings per share more than doubled for the quarter. For the year to date, sales rose 13% to 43.3 billion while EBIT before special items increased by 9% to 5.9 billion. The Performance Products segment achieved a 1% growth in sales for 3Q 2007 to 2.99 billion as a result of higher volumes, but sales by the Performance Chemicals division dropped 2% to 872 million. Contact: BASF AG, Ludwigshafen, Germany. Tel: +49 621 60 0, Web: www.basf.com
Albemarle to open new flame retardant plant in China
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S flame retardants major Albemarle Corp is to open a new production unit in Nanjing, China, for one of its best-performing phosphorus-based products, NcendX® P-30. Operations at the new plant are scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2008.
Initial capacity for the bisphenol A diphosphate-type (BPADP) flame retardant at the Nanjing unit will be 4000 tonnes per year, with options to expand at a later date. According to Luc Van Muylem, VP of polymer additives, the new plant will improve Albemarle’s flexibility to supply its Asian customers as well as the rest of
February 2008
STRATEGIES
its global customer base for this ‘important and growing flame retardant’. Albemarle’s existing NcendX P-30 flame retardant unit in Orangeburg, SC, USA, will be converted to other uses following start up of the Nanjing plant. NcendX P-30 is a liquid flame retardant primarily used in PC/ABS and PPE/HIPS blends for electronic enclosure applications. It is preferred over other phosphorus flame retardants because it improves resin melt flow and exhibits outstanding thermal stability, excellent hydrolytic stability, low migration and low volatility during processing and end use, Albemarle says. Contact: Albemarle Corp, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Tel: +1 225 388 7402, Web: www.albemarle.com
Chemson expands one-pack stabilizer capacity
significant change and it sees an opportunity to increase overall production capacity to 16 000 tonnes per annum by mid 2008.
According to Nubiola, the expansion was precipitated by the closure in June of one of two production sites operated by a co-producer. This caused a major shift in demand towards Nubiola, the company says, which resulted in facilities working at full capacity, with output exceeding planned production by 10%. This excess has had a detrimental effect on the standards of service it strives to provide, Nubiola says. The shortage is being salvaged by several investments in different sites to add capacity to meet commitments. Nubiola adds that it aims to satisfy the demand of its regular customers with this rise, as well as increasing its portfolio with new speciality products designed to improve functionality, productivity and/or energy savings. Contact: Nubiola Pigmentos, Barcelona, Spain. Tel: +34 93 343 5750, Web: www.nubiola.com
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ustrian stabilizer manufacturer Chemson Polymer-Additive AG is expanding production capacity for its calcium-zinc-based one-pack stabilizers for PVC at its Philadelphia site in the USA. The company says the move is in response to the growing demand for calcium-zinc stabilizers.
The new production line is scheduled for start up in early 2009 and will increase capacity by 30%. The extension of its US capacity is one step in Chemson’s ‘ongoing lead-free strategy’, the company says. Chemson currently manufactures a full range of calcium-zinc, organic and lead-containing PVC-stabilizer systems. Contact: Chemson Polymer-Additive AG, Arnoldstein, Austria. Tel: +43 4255 2226 0, Web: www.chemson.com
Nubiola raises pigment production capacity
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panish ultramarine pigment manufacturer Nubiola is increasing its production capacity by 25%. The company adds that the ultramarine blue and violet pigment market is undergoing
February 2008
Clariant Masterbatches expands in Latin American, Europe
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lariant’s Masterbatches division has invested in expansions to its operations in both Latin America and Europe. The company has acquired a Colombian masterbatch producer and expanded plants in Brazil, Belgium, Spain and France.
In Colombia, Clariant has completed the purchase of MasterAndino SA, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition includes the product inventory, equipment and business portfolio. Manufacturing has continued at MasterAndino’s plant for an interim period but the operation will be merged in a newly constructed Clariant Masterbatches facility in Cota, on the outskirts of Bogotá, in early 2008. According to Clariant, the transaction and the economies of scale achievable at the new site will strengthen its ability to offer superior value to customers throughout Colombia. MasterAndino was founded in 1995 by Rafael Botero Salazar, and has grown to become one of the largest colour masterbatches suppliers in Colombia. It produces colour and additive masterbatches for polyolefins, polystyrene, ABS and PET.
Additives for Polymers
7
BASF increases plasticizer production, reorganizes businesses
C
hemicals giant BASF AG is expanding production capacity at its integrated Ludwigshafen site in Germany both for higher oxo alcohols, used in plasticizer manufacture, and for plasticizers themselves. The expansions are in response to strong demand from customers throughout Europe for PVC plasticizers based on C9 and C10 alcohols, the company says.
The group is raising oxo alcohol capacity by 80 000 tonnes/year to 390 000 tonnes/year in a phased expansion programme that is scheduled for completion by the first quarter of 2009. This additional capacity is earmarked mainly for plasticizer production, BASF says. Plasticizer capacity will be extended by 40 000 tonnes/year to 300 000 tonnes/year by the second quarter of 2008. The company also recently completed a quadrupling in capacity to 100 000 tonnes/year for its Hexamoll Dinch plasticizer [ADPO, September 2007]. According to Albert Heuser, president of BASF’s Petrochemicals division, the latest expansions strengthen the company’s position as ‘Europe’s secondlargest producer of plasticizers’. BASF’s plasticizer portfolio in Europe comprises: Palatinol N (DINP), a flexible product; Palatinol 10-P (DPHP), primarily used for outdoor applications; Hexamoll Dinch for sensitive applications; as well as speciality plasticizers. C9- and C10-based plasticizers are increasingly replacing the C8-based plasticizer DEHP, the company reports. Meanwhile, the group is reorganizing its businesses into six segments with the aims of increasing speed to market, moving closer to its customers, and improving efficiency and cyclical resilience. In addition, structures at the Ludwigshafen site will be improved further. According to chairman Jürgen Hambrecht, the closer focus on customers will enable BASF to bring its ‘products and system solutions faster to market and will create additional potential for value-adding growth’. With effect from 1 January 2008, the company will consist of the following segments: Chemicals, Plastics, Functional Solutions, Performance
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Additives for Polymers
Products, Agricultural Solutions and Oil & Gas. The Performance Products segment will combine a new Care Chemicals division with the Acrylics & Dispersions (previously Functional Polymers) and Performance Chemicals divisions. As a result, BASF says it will be better able to supply its customers worldwide with the products and innovations they need to optimize their products and processes. The Performance Chemicals division includes BASF’s polymer additives products as well as solutions for the oil and refinery industries, coatings, and the leather and textile industries. The division’s annual sales are approximately 2 billion. It has around 5000 employees worldwide and will be headed by Hans W. Reiners. In its latest financial results, for 3Q 2007, BASF reported a 5% increase in sales compared to 3Q 2006, to nearly 14 billion. Income from operations (EBIT) before special items rose by 6% to 1.7 billion while earnings per share more than doubled for the quarter. For the year to date, sales rose 13% to 43.3 billion while EBIT before special items increased by 9% to 5.9 billion. The Performance Products segment achieved a 1% growth in sales for 3Q 2007 to 2.99 billion as a result of higher volumes, but sales by the Performance Chemicals division dropped 2% to 872 million. Contact: BASF AG, Ludwigshafen, Germany. Tel: +49 621 60 0, Web: www.basf.com
Albemarle to open new flame retardant plant in China
U
S flame retardants major Albemarle Corp is to open a new production unit in Nanjing, China, for one of its best-performing phosphorus-based products, NcendX® P-30. Operations at the new plant are scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2008.
Initial capacity for the bisphenol A diphosphate-type (BPADP) flame retardant at the Nanjing unit will be 4000 tonnes per year, with options to expand at a later date. According to Luc Van Muylem, VP of polymer additives, the new plant will improve Albemarle’s flexibility to supply its Asian customers as well as the rest of
February 2008
STRATEGIES
its global customer base for this ‘important and growing flame retardant’. Albemarle’s existing NcendX P-30 flame retardant unit in Orangeburg, SC, USA, will be converted to other uses following start up of the Nanjing plant. NcendX P-30 is a liquid flame retardant primarily used in PC/ABS and PPE/HIPS blends for electronic enclosure applications. It is preferred over other phosphorus flame retardants because it improves resin melt flow and exhibits outstanding thermal stability, excellent hydrolytic stability, low migration and low volatility during processing and end use, Albemarle says. Contact: Albemarle Corp, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Tel: +1 225 388 7402, Web: www.albemarle.com
Chemson expands one-pack stabilizer capacity
significant change and it sees an opportunity to increase overall production capacity to 16 000 tonnes per annum by mid 2008.
According to Nubiola, the expansion was precipitated by the closure in June of one of two production sites operated by a co-producer. This caused a major shift in demand towards Nubiola, the company says, which resulted in facilities working at full capacity, with output exceeding planned production by 10%. This excess has had a detrimental effect on the standards of service it strives to provide, Nubiola says. The shortage is being salvaged by several investments in different sites to add capacity to meet commitments. Nubiola adds that it aims to satisfy the demand of its regular customers with this rise, as well as increasing its portfolio with new speciality products designed to improve functionality, productivity and/or energy savings. Contact: Nubiola Pigmentos, Barcelona, Spain. Tel: +34 93 343 5750, Web: www.nubiola.com
A
ustrian stabilizer manufacturer Chemson Polymer-Additive AG is expanding production capacity for its calcium-zinc-based one-pack stabilizers for PVC at its Philadelphia site in the USA. The company says the move is in response to the growing demand for calcium-zinc stabilizers.
The new production line is scheduled for start up in early 2009 and will increase capacity by 30%. The extension of its US capacity is one step in Chemson’s ‘ongoing lead-free strategy’, the company says. Chemson currently manufactures a full range of calcium-zinc, organic and lead-containing PVC-stabilizer systems. Contact: Chemson Polymer-Additive AG, Arnoldstein, Austria. Tel: +43 4255 2226 0, Web: www.chemson.com
Nubiola raises pigment production capacity
S
panish ultramarine pigment manufacturer Nubiola is increasing its production capacity by 25%. The company adds that the ultramarine blue and violet pigment market is undergoing
February 2008
Clariant Masterbatches expands in Latin American, Europe
C
lariant’s Masterbatches division has invested in expansions to its operations in both Latin America and Europe. The company has acquired a Colombian masterbatch producer and expanded plants in Brazil, Belgium, Spain and France.
In Colombia, Clariant has completed the purchase of MasterAndino SA, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition includes the product inventory, equipment and business portfolio. Manufacturing has continued at MasterAndino’s plant for an interim period but the operation will be merged in a newly constructed Clariant Masterbatches facility in Cota, on the outskirts of Bogotá, in early 2008. According to Clariant, the transaction and the economies of scale achievable at the new site will strengthen its ability to offer superior value to customers throughout Colombia. MasterAndino was founded in 1995 by Rafael Botero Salazar, and has grown to become one of the largest colour masterbatches suppliers in Colombia. It produces colour and additive masterbatches for polyolefins, polystyrene, ABS and PET.
Additives for Polymers
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