news


Dynasol joint venture to be extended


Repsol and its partner, the Mexican conglomerate Grupo Kuo, have agreed to extend their 50-50 joint venture, Dynasol, in order to make it a top ten global player in synthetic rubber. The focus will be on developing products for high-performance tyres. Grupo Kuo will provide


Dynasol with its synthetic rubber solution and nitrile rubber units in Altamira, Mexico, and in China, most of whose production goes into the tyre industry. Repsol, meanwhile, will contribute General Química, its chemical unit in Álava, Spain, which is Europe’s second largest producer of accelerators for rubber vulcanisation in the production of tyres, footwear and technical parts. Dynasol, which dates


back to 1999, will be headquartered in Madrid, with operations in Altamira, Mexico, and Santander, Spain. A new plant in Liaoning, China, is due to be open by the end of June, making total capacity of over 500,000 tons/year. It also has offices in the US and its products are marketed in 70 different countries, giving it sales of about US$750 million/year. Currently it is the world’s second largest player in asphalt modifica- tion and prominent in adhesives, sealants and technical compounds. ❙ www.dynasolelastomers.com


10


Europe ‘on target’ for PVC recycling goals


VinylPlus, the PVC industry’s voluntary body to support sustainable development, has announced that it recycled 481,018 tonnes of PVC waste in 2014 and is on track to achieve its target of 800,000 tonnes/ year by the end of 2020. More than 98% of the 2014 total was registered and certified by Recovinyl, the organisation set up in 2003 to facilitate PVC waste collection and recycling. Other key areas of progress


have included an 86% reduction in the use of lead-based stabilizers in the EU-28 countries since 2007 and a 10.2% decrease in the energy used by ECVM member companies in 2012-2013 to produce one tonne of PVC compared to the 2007-2008 baseline. This is well in line with


PVC products, integrating the current standard Environmen- tal Product Declarations (EPDs) with TNS criteria for sustain- ability. Consultation is now going on with stakeholders. The first EPDplus for sewage pipes has been finalised. Uncertainties remain in the


More than 480,000 tonnes of PVC was recycled in Europe in 2014


the target of a 20% reduction by 2020, VinylPlus said. In addition, the VinylPlus


Additives Task Force has developed a new methodology called the ‘EPDplus’ approach to evaluate the use of sub- stances used as additives in


interpretation of relevant EU regulations, including REACH, the CLP and Hazardous Waste, the association noted. These concerns, particularly in relation to recycled PVC containing legacy additives, might jeopardise recycling activities and demand for recyclates in Europe. The industry is working with the competent authorities to address these issues. ❙ www.vinylplus.eu ❙ www.recovinyl.com


Victrex commissions PAEK plant


Victrex has successfully commissioned the first production stream of its third polyaryletherketone (PAEK) manufacturing plant at Thornton Cleveleys, UK. The US$138 million investment includes a new control room for the centralised manage- ment and monitoring of all three plants. The company has now


increased PAEK capacity to over 7,000 tonnes/year. The new plant will focus on specific high-growth opportunities in the wider automotive, aerospace, energy, electronics and medical markets, notably


COMPOUNDING WORLD | May 2015 www.compoundingworld.com


aerospace brackets, applica- tions for mobile devices, orthopaedic knees and oil and gas pipes. Victrex is also continuing its downstream investment in its


Victrex is expanding polymerisation and processing capacity at its UK plant


Aptiv film, pipe, tape and medi- cal components, as it seeks to fill gaps in the market with semi-finished and finished components. ❙ www.victrex.com


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