SPECIAL FEATURE | 10 YEARS OF COMPOUNDING WORLD
Ford continued its foray into natural reinforcements in 2013 with the introduc- tion of rice husk reinforced PP wiring harness parts in its F-150 SUV
Techmer PM and established its own US operation; Asahi Kasei expanded its Thermylene PP compounding activities in Michigan; Plasticomp added LFT capacity and extended its product range to carbon fibre; and Citadel Plastics bought Lucent Polymers. European invest- ments included Mitsubishi Chemical buying CTS; GCR expanding its Granic masterbatch activities in Spain; and Coperion opening the “world’s largest compounding test centre” in Germany. China’s compounders were becoming increas- ingly active. Kingfa Technology took a stake in India-based PP compounder Hydro S&S Industries while ChinaXD announced plans to build a 300,000 tonnes/yr compounding plant at Nanchong in China. K2013 continued its growth path with 218,000 visitors making their way to the Dusseldorf fair- ground in October. The show saw Nordson launch its Polymer Processing Systems group, bringing together its Kreyenborg, BKG and Xaloy brands; KraussMaffei Berstorff introduced its ZE BluePower twin screw extruder; Leistritz showed a ZSE50Maxx concept extruder offering 20 Nm/cm3
of torque;
and Akro-Plastic gave polyketone compounds a second lease of life (the novel polymers were originally developed by Shell back in 2000 but reintroduced by Hyosung of Korea.) In the patent area, both lawyers for Milliken and Clariant warned companies in China they claimed were infringing their respective IP in clarifiers and flame retardants. And Bayer surprised many with its decision to pull out of the nanotube business saying significant commercialisation was not likely in the foreseeable future.
2014 Polymer producers continued the seemingly endless process of restructuring their activities through 2014. Ineos acquired BASF’s share of their Sytrolution JV; Chevron Phillips sold its Ryton PPS
56 COMPOUNDING WORLD | December 2018
www.compoundingworld.com
business to Solvay; and BASF disposed of its liquid masterbatch and PolyAd Services additives operations. In the PVC sector, OpenGate Capital acquired the Benvic PVC operations from Solvay and the Kem One PVC business (formerly owned by Arkema); Vinnolit was sold to Westlake Chemi- cal; Vestolit acquired by Mexichem; and Viking Polymers sold to Teknor Apex. Compounding investments in the US included S&E Specialty Polymers and RTP Company expand- ing their toll compounding capacity; Tosaf investing in its first local compounding operation; So.f.Ter starting up its compounding operation in Tennes- see; and Lanxess committing to doubling its engineering plastics compounding capacity. A Schulman acquired Prime Colorants and the Specialty Plastics division of Ferro (it had unsuccessfully attempted to buy the whole
of Ferro in 2013); Washington Penn Plastic bought ExxonMobil’s North American specialty PP com- pounds business; Americhem added LTL Color Compounders to its Infinity Engineered Com- pounds business; and Celanese bought thermally conductive compound producer Cool Polymers. In Sweden, Polykemi added two compounding lines and Elasto installed two more medical TPE lines. Lifocolor invested €4m in its Czech master- batch operation. And Akro-Plastic bought the PHA compound business from struggling bioplastics firm Metabolix. 2014 was not a good year for bioplastics producers as Cereplast also filed for bankruptcy. Regulation continued to impact on the plastics
industry. With HBCD flame retardants still under pressure, Albemarle and ICL revealed plans to set up a JV to produce polymeric flame retardant alternatives using technology licensed from Dow.
Aston Martin recalled 17,950 cars in 2014 after counterfeit PA6 compounds were found to have been used to produce throttle pedal parts
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2014
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