NEWS


Asahi Kasei and Honda Motor come together for separators


Asahi Kasei and Honda Motor are to create a joint venture company in Canada to produce lithium-ion battery separators in the country. It cements a basic agreement that the two companies made in April this year. They plan to convert E-Materials Canada – now owned by an Asahi Kasei subsidiary in Canada – into a joint venture that will tentatively be renamed Asahi Kasei Honda Battery Separator. It will be based on Honda Canada Inc acquiring a 25% stake. Honda will invest around C$417 million (US$300m)


Flexopack to build US plant


Greece-based Flexopack is to build its first manu- facturing facility in the US. The company will build a new 107,000 square-foot facility in Lebanon County in Pennsylvania as part of its US$33 million project – in the first of three phases. The move is likely to create 64 new jobs. The initiative will expand


Flexopack’s manufacturing footprint into the US, including its role as the primary packaging supplier for Pennsylvania- based poultry company Bell & Evans.


“Our new facility aims


to strengthen the already significant commercial presence of Flexopack in the US market,” said Stamatios Gkinosatis, CEO of Flexopack. � www.flexopack.com


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in the joint venture. The two compa- nies will combine each other’s strengths, such as high value-added material technologies and electrifica- tion technologies, to produce lithium- ion battery separators. The plant, in Port Colborne in


Ontario, will see an investment of around C$240m (US$173m). It will have an annual output of around 700 million sq m of coated film. The companies plan to begin the joint venture in early 2025, subject to obtaining permits and approvals from


relevant authorities. After this, they plan to begin operating the plant in 2027.


“In October, we launched Asahi


Kasei Battery Separator as a new company for the Hipore separator business,” according to Ryu Taniguchi, president of Asahi Kasei Battery Separator. “Honda is building a comprehensive electric vehicle value chain in Canada. Our partnership will establish a stable supply of separators in North America.” � www.asahi-kasei.com


Evonik Oxeno to expand PVC plasticisers capacity in Marl


Evonik Oxeno, the C4 chemicals arm of Germany’s Evonik group, has an- nounced it is “significantly expanding” its production capacities for isononanol- based PVC plasticisers. The company did not


provide details of the new capacities for the INA-based plasticisers, Elatur CH (DINCH) and Elatur DINCD. The capacity expansions will be integrated into the existing network of C4 plants in Marl, Germany. “The capacity expansion


marks another important milestone in the diversifica- tion of our plasticiser portfolio,” said Frank Beissmann, MD of Evonik Oxeno. “To meet the growing demand for these products, we will begin work this year.” n Evonik said it is reorganis- ing core offerings in its


FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION | November/December 2024


Evonik’s facility in Marl, Germany


Coating & Adhesive Resins and Health Care business units and selling off non- core businesses which contribute sales of €350m. Coating & Adhesive


Resins will now focus on two areas: liquid polybutadienes as additives for adhesives and sealants or tyres, and specialty acrylics for medical technology and the packag- ing industry. The business


unit’s polyolefins business, with sales of around €100m, will be transferred to Evonik’s C4 chain business. In March, Evonik an- nounced it would cut up to 2,000 jobs, the majority in Germany, by the end of 2026 as part of a €400m restructuring and cost cutting programme dubbed ‘Evonik Tailor Made.’ �www.evonik.com


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