Flexible foam keeps it comfy - VITA LOOKS TO THE FUTURE REPORTING ON THE GLOBAL PU INDUSTRY SINCE 1984 - Urethanes Technology
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June 2021/July 2021
A PUBLICATION
Vol 38 No 3
Flexible foam
keeps it comfy
VITA LOOKS TO THE FUTURE
www.utech-polyurethane.com REPORTING ON THE GLOBAL PU INDUSTRY SINCE 1984
P001_UT_20210601.indd 1 6/25/21 5:14 PM
UT/ERJ full page.indd 1 5/25/21 9:25 AM
newslines 6-22
6 Kumho Mitsui expands MDI at Korean JV site, ACC
proposes policies to cut greenhouse gas emissions,
CONTENTS
Cornerstone sells insulation panel business to
Nucor, Tempur brings foam production to Midwest,
Baumer offers export finance
7 Graco’s earnings bounce back in Q1 2021, Sales and
prices on the up at Ciech, TPU can put a spring in your
8 BASF had
step after a run, Sinomax leases space in Arizona
8 PU helps Covestro get 2021 off to strong start, Price
rises drive dramatic EBIT growth for BASF, Perstorp
a strong
benefits from product tightness in Q1 2021, Upbeat start to the year
Lanxess raises forecast Martin Brudermuller, BASF
7
10 Greiner makes play for Recticel, Recticel upgrades
2021 performance outlook, Greiner results boosted
12 Despite
by Eurofoam purchase in 2020, Vencorex launches
new HDI polyisocyanate for coatings
12 Dow reports strong sales growth… moves to boost
PU helps recovery from running supply
PU feedstocks in Texas, Carlisle plans Missouri PIR constraints, we
board plant, ITC: mattress imports injured US industry
saw demand
13 EMEA and Asia drive Adient sales, Rogers bounces
back in Q1 growth,
Jim Fitterling, Dow
14 Lear sales accelerated through first quarter, Q1 sales
up in 2021 at Ingevity, Marine PU adhesive cure
25
times reduced with microcapsules, Pandemic
recovery under way at Stepan I’m a real
15 Jane Austen encoded in urethane polymers believer
16 India levies anti-dumping duties on imports of TDI, that you don’t
Insulated PIR panels help take the battle to
coronavirus in Malaysia, Sheela pushed up sales, wait for legislation
earnings in 2021 financial year
18 New Jason Furniture facilities on schedule,
TechnoNicol moves into Indian market, Autocatalytic
30 before acting
Ian Robb, Vita Group
reactive FRs for rigids Making the PU business fully circular
19 Wanhua plans more MDI, HDI capacity, Huafon
raises funding to add new elastane plant, Mlily puts
bets on overseas markets, Sales decline by a fifth
for TDI maker Cangzhou Dahua
33 There is
a clear
hierarchy of
22 Pricing Outages continue to disrupt global
diisocyanates supply
industries that
want to do this
Keith Wiggins, Econic
features 23-34
23 Vita Group: a peek into the future Vita Group
recently purchased IMPE, an Italian foaming
company. Ian Robb, CEO of the Manchester, UK
business, talks to Simon Robinson about this first
foray into the Italian market, plus coronavirus, raw 32 31 We need
to be
conscientious
materials and further opportunities
27 More sustainable formulations for viscoelastic
Recycling PU foam by chemolysis
about legacy
foam Marta Pienkowska and Monika Cybulska- materials when
Kucharska of Purinova discuss a new polyester
polyol family that can bring benefits to viscoelastic
looking at circular
foam formulations economy solutions
30 A circular future? Covestro is looking at how it can Richard Skorpenske, Covestro
make its business fully circular. Sarah Houlton looks
at two projects for recycling mattress foam that help
32 As far as
put it on this path: new uses for rebonded foam, and
breaking old PU foam down into its polyol and
isocyanate building blocks that can be used to make we know,
new polymer
this is the first
33 Edging closer to market Econic has spent the past
decade developing catalyst technology to make scalable process
polyols from carbon dioxide. The campany’s new that gives the
CEO Keith Wiggins spoke to Sarah Houlton about
how the business and technology are progressing
34 China’s PU plan to 2025 Once every five years,
34 isocyanate
back, too
China sets out its medium-term plan. Jane Ho China unveils its latest PU plans Karin Clauberg, Covestro
reports on what the nation has in mind for PU.
On the cover: This is our regular focus on
departments 38 flexible foam, a group of products which has
made many consumers’ lives much more
38 Dates and Data comfortable during lockdowns over the past 18
Key events for the PU industry months. Picture: iStock
3 www.utech-polyurethane.com
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COMMENT
VOLUME 38, NO. 3 ISSN 1754-1352 (USPS 012611)
Published in February, April, June, August, October and
December by: Crain Communications Ltd,
Urethanes Technology International,
Postal address: Office 127, 61 Willow Walk, London SE1 5SF UK.
Tel: +44 (0)203 287 5979
Website: www.UTECH-polyurethane.com
LEADERSHIP
Chairman: Keith E Crain
Vice Chairman: Mary Kay Crain
Simon Robinson President: K C Crain
Editor Senior Executive Vice President: Chris Crain
Vice President and Publisher: Brennan Lafferty
Tel: +1 313 446 6768 Email: blafferty@crain.com
Flexible foam,
EDITORIAL STAFF:
Editor: Simon Robinson
Tel: +44 (0)203 287 5979 Email: srobinson@crain.com
Associate Editor: Sarah Houlton
Email: sarah@owlmedia.co.uk
flexible fun
Art Director: Amy Steinhauser
Email: asteinhauser@crain.com
NORTH AMERICAN OFFICES (Editorial):
Don Loepp, Tel: +1 313 446 6767 Email: dloepp@crain.com
INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENTS:
T
CHINA: Jane Ho,
he June/July issue is where Urethanes Technology International takes its Tel: + 86 189 3057 2271 Email: janeadios@gmail.com
regular look at the world of flexible PU foam. In the past 18 months, many KOREA: Choong-Ha Lee,
Tel: + 82 (0)31 211 2073 Email: puworld@naver.com
people will have been forced to work from home because of the coronavi-
INDIA: Satnam Singh
rus pandemic. We celebrate them, and the comfort that flexible PU foam has Email: Satnamsingh41@hotmail.com
given many, on the cover of the issue. TRADE SHOWS/EXHIBITONS
Inside, we examine a new range of more sustainable polyester polyols for visco- Director: Debbie Hershfield
Tel: + 1 303 608 0231 Email: dhershfield@crain.com
elastic foams; we discuss the future with the CEO of Vita Group; and we look at how
NORTH / SOUTH AMERICA, UK, OPEN AREAS:
companies are recycling and using CO₂ to reduce the impact of flexible polyurethane Advertising director: Ed Rich,
foams on the global environment. Tel: +1 330 869 0375 Email: erich@crain.com
It seems to me that one of the best ways of making foam last longer, and so reduce NORTHERN EUROPE: Arthur Schavemaker,
Tel: +31 (0)547 275005, Fax: +31 (0)547 271831
its environmental impact, is to make the products it is used in better. Usually, that Email: arthur@kenter.nl
means keeping the density of PU foam cushions and mattresses high so that they last SOUTHERN EUROPE: Fabio Potesta,
longer. Designing for recycling will also be more important in the future. Tel/fax: +39 010 570 4948,
Fax: +39 010 553 0088 Email: info@mediapointsrl.it
Of course, with materials prices on, or just coming down from, a high and arid pla- CHINA: Winnie Song,
teau, it can be hard to do. Consumers are fixated on price points and are (still) unsure Tel: +86 13810 173625 Email: songwei@wkexpo.com
of what the future holds for them. It will be interesting to see if the boost to furniture AFRICA, INDIA, MIDDLE EAST: Taher Patrawala,
sales that was reported during the lockdown of 2020 continues into the second half Tel: +971 4 297 0512 Email: taher@mediafusionme.com
KOREA: Min Pyo
of 2021. Tel: +82 (0) 31 211 2073 Email: minpyo@hotmail.com
One thing you will notice in this issue is that, after a period of high raw materials Media services manager: Patrick Alfes
prices, there are announcements of more capacity being built, especially for MDI. Tel: +1 313 446 0387 Email: palfes@crain.com
Of course MDI is not always the diisocyanate of choice for the flexible foam frater-
SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS: £20.00/€25.50 single copy;
nity, and capacity announcements can be as reliable as a vision of an ice-cold beer to £90.00/€101.00. Subscription includes surface mail postage; air mail
a desperate man in the desert. But capacity announcements and mirages of cooling rates available on request. Four weeks’ notice required for change of
address. Note: Subscription payments may be made using all stand-
liquid refreshment have one thing in common: neither count until you can physically ard credit and debit cards at: UTECH-polyurethane.com/subscribe,
put your hands around the promised product. Often, it seems to me, they are virtual where you will find a range of different subscription options.
bids in a high-stakes game of poker.
Subscriptions (abonnement) enquiries correspondence:
But Mitsui and Wanhua – both of which have announced Circulation Dept, Urethanes Technology International,
plans to up MDI capacity – have real markets to serve. And 1155 Gratiot Ave. Detroit, MI 48207, United States.
while Dow is to shutter its MDI production plant at La Porte, Tel: +1 313 446 0450
Email: customerservice@utech-polyurethane.com
Texas, a new facility being planned in Freeport will actu- Print: Latitude Group Ltd www.latitudenorth.co.uk ,
ally increase its MDI capacity in the state by 30%. These Dorset, UK
capacity hikes are sure to be welcomed by many polyure- © 2020 Crain Communications Ltd.
thane producers and users, who have been sorely tested A member of
by high MDI prices in recent times.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the permission of the publisher.
Registered office: 100 New Bridge Street,
London EC4V 6JA United Kingdom.
Registered No. 1576350 England. V.A.T. No. GB 577 6905 84
ABC audited
www.utech-polyurethane.com 4
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Huntsman_Plastics_Waste_Ad_UTI.qxp_Artwork 29/07/2019 13:13 Page 1
TRANSFORMING PLASTIC WASTE
INTO ENERGY-SAVING INSULATION
Huntsman doesn’t manufacture plastic bottles, but we’re deeply concerned about the global impact of
plastic waste. That’s why every year, we upcycle 1 billion PET bottles into energy-saving polyurethane
insulation that significantly reduces heating and cooling costs in homes and commercial buildings.
Learn more at Huntsman.com/PETrecycling
INTERNATIONAL NEWSLINES
Kumho Mitsui expands Baumer offers
export finance
MDI at Korean JV site Freudenberg, Germany –
Albrecht Baumer, a foam
cutting machinery compa-
ny, has started to offer ex-
Tokyo – Mitsui Chemicals is sion represents a KRW400bn ist policies, global polarisa- port guaranteed funding. ‘In
to increase its MDI capacity ($360m) investment. tion, increased country risks recent years, we have re-
by 50% in South Korea. The The increase in capacity, and changes in globalisation, peatedly been approached
MDI is produced in Yeosu from 410 to 610 kT/year, comes the company plans to invest by customers wishing to
by Kumho Mitsui Chemicals, in response to the anticipat- JPY1.8tr in the decade from defer the purchase price
the Seoul-headquartered joint ed growth in applications for 2021 to 2030. over a longer period of time
venture with Korean synthetic high-performance monomer- Progress in its restructuring or to organise long-term fi-
rubber maker Kumho. ic MDI. Mitsui also shared its programme for its basic chem- nance,’ the company said.
Mitsui Chemicals’ president growth strategy for the com- icals business turned around The new finance packag-
and CEO Hashimoto Osamu ing decade. It envisages op- significant losses. es are managed by Tr8fin
revealed plans to increase erating income to rise from The company plans to con- and Euler Hermes, and are
MDI capacity by 200kT/year JPY200bn ($180bn) in 2025 tinue with its focus on structur- available for amounts of
by 2024 in his presentation of to JPY250bn by 2030. al reform, reducing volatility, at least €50,000. Baumer
the company’s annual report Despite challenges such stabilising earnings, and im- said the offer should be
in early June. This expani- as an increase in protection- proving competitiveness. interesting to companies
in countries with risks, dif-
ficult capital markets, high
Cornerstone ACC proposes policies to cut inflation, high credit inter-
sells insulation est rates or high regulato-
greenhouse gas emissions
ry requirements for export
panel business finance.
Customers using the
to Nucor Washington, DC – The Amer-
ican Chemistry Council has
cycled feedstocks to be used
instead of virgin materials.
service can finance larg-
er projects more flexibly,
Cary, North Carolina – Di- issued a set of policy rec- ‘Meeting climate goals will protect their bank credit,
versified building compo- ommendations to Congress be impossible without a vi- and creditworthy compa-
nents company Corner- aimed at providing substantial brant chemical industry and nies can get financed with-
stone Building Brands is reductions in greenhouse gas the energy-saving and renew- out collateral, Baumer said.
selling its insulated metal emissions. These focus on able applications its products
panel business to Nucor for three areas: developing and enable – from solar panels
$1bn. The deal is expected deploying clean manufactur- and wind turbines to electric
to close later this year, as- ing technologies; pricing car- and fuel-efficient vehicles, News in Brief
suming that regulators ap- bon; and promoting the adop- high-performance building
prove the transaction. tion of solutions designed to materials, advanced batteries, OSV appoints new
It values the business at reduce emissions. and more,’ said ACC president
10x pre-pandemic EBITDA. It is also calling on Con- and CEO Chris Jahn. distributor in Turkey
With the deal, Nucor gains gress to broaden the defini- ‘A strong and growing Oleshky, Ukraine –
seven manufacturing sites tion of recycling that federal chemical industry is also criti- Ukrainian polyurethane ma-
across the US. programmes rely on to ensure cal to America’s economy. Our chinery maker has named
Before the purchase, that it includes advanced recy- plan recommends policies to Can Plast (Turkey) as its
Nucor was predominantly cling technologies. expand the adoption of chem- distributor for the polyure-
a steel and steel products It is asking for the deploy- istry-based solutions proven thane market in Turkey. Can
company, and recycler of ment of these to be acceler- to help reduce emissions,’ Plast (Turkey) makes PU
metals. In the first three ated, as this would enable re- Jahn added. pigments and elastomers.
months of 2021, the com-
pany generated had sales
Tempur brings foam production to Midwest Vita Group scoops
of $7bn. Earnings before in-
terest and taxes ammount- Crawfordsville, Indiana – it the company’s largest facto- awards at Interzum
ed to $1.3bn. Tempur Sealy is to build a flex- ry. Production at the first phase Middleton, UK – Vita Group
Cornerstone was previ- ible foam plant on a 130 acre is expected to start in 2023. products has won two sus-
ously known as NCI Build- (53ha) site in Indiana. Con- Tempur’s chairman Scott tainability awards at Euro-
ing Systems. struction is slated to start later Thompson said: ‘This un- pean furniture show Inter-
In the third quarter of this year. derpins our commitment to zum. The first award was
2019, the insulated metal The plant will be built with a expanding our global manu- for using recycled polyols
panels business had sales 700,000 sq ft (65,000m²) foot- facturing footprint to fulfil pro- from post-consumer waste,
of $109.6m. This was an print, and will employ about jected long-term demand.’ He the second was for a pillow
increase of up 2.5% on the 300 local people. There is said that Crawfordsville offers made with PU containing
same period a year earlier. scope to double capacity in good transport links, and a ro- castor oil-based bio-polyols.
the future, which would make bust business climate.
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INTERNATIONAL NEWSLINES
Graco’s earnings bounce back in Q1 2021
Minneapolis, Minnesota – This compares with $159m in
Graco, which makes spray the equivalent period in 2020.
foam equipment, generated Operating earnings in the
total sales of $454m in the first division rose by 29.9% to
quarter of 2021. This was up $65.2m in the first quarter of
21.6% on on the 2020 period. 2021, up from $50.2m in the
CEO Patrick McHale said 2020 quarter. There was in-
that he was happy with perfor- creased activity in worldwide
mance. ‘We have seen improv- manufacturing in the first quar-
ing demand in both our indus- ter, and this contributed to
trial and process groups,’ he growth in this business.
said. ‘Our manufacturing and Looking ahead to the rest of
purchasing teams performed the year, McHale is optimistic.
well to meet the increased in ‘Improvement in our end mar-
demand in spite of external kets and our incoming order
supply chain challenges.’ rates bode well for continued
In the company’s industri- success in the second quarter,’
al business, which includes he said.
spray foam equipment, sales ‘However, we are cautious
rose by 16.4% between the on the longer-term outlook,
first quarter of 2020 and the as uncertainty remains in the
first quarter of 2021, at $185m. overall demand environment’. Graco: spraying ahead of the game
Sinomax leases
Sales and prices on the up at Ciech space in Arizona
Hong Kong – Sinomax, a
Warsaw – Ciech, a conglom- its business into a number of 2020 quarter. listed flexible polyurethane
erate listed on the Polish stock smaller business units. These The company said the avail- foam and bedding mak-
exchange that owns foamer include one containing Pianki, ability of raw materials was a er, is leasing a 332,000sq
Pianki, generated sales of the foam manufacturer based problem in the first quarter of ft (30,000m²) building in
PLN861.1m ($236m) in the first in Bydgoszcz. this year as it was in the first Phoenix, Arizona for seven
quarter of 2021. This is up Sales in the foams business quarter of 2020. This led to years, with an option to ex-
8.9% on the same period last increased by 57.4% between price increases of about 20% tend for a further five years.
year. Adjusted EBITDA across the first quarter of 2020 and in the first quarter, it said. Sinomax said it needs
the business rose 58.5%, the first quarter of 2021, at Like the furniture sector, the the extra space to enable
reaching PLN221.9m in the PLN102.6m. This compares business was resilient, and it to meet rising demand
first quarter of 2021. with PLN65.2m in the equiva- benefited from the lifting of for its products in the US. It
Ciech restructured its re- lent period in 2020. coronavirus restrictions in the chose Phoenix to balance
porting structure in the first Adjusted EBITDA in the divi- UK during the quarter. Fur- its geographical spread,
quarter of 2021, making good sion was up 133% to PLN18.9m niture makers had to accept which is currently focused
on a promise in November last in the first quarter of 2021, higher prices for the business on the southwestern US.
year. The company has split compared with PLN8m in the unit’s foam, and the segment.
TPU can put a spring in your step after a run
The Woodlands, Texas – others to help improve the
New recovery footwear for shape of the foot and its Recover from
tired joggers’ feet is now structure. the run with PU
available from specialist Additionally, the footbed
company Joe Nimble. The reduces plantar pressure
footwear, which features and improves circulation.
Huntsman polyurethane and Two Huntsman polyure-
was created with design and thanes were recommended
technology input from the for the shoes by Footwear
Footwear Innovation Lab, is Innovation Lab. Daltoped
called recoverToes. The san- AquaPUR is used to make
dals are designed to relieve the soft inner footbed, and
the tired, sore, tight feelings the outer uses a modified
that feet can develop after Daltoped Grip grade. This
pounding the pavements. was adapted to work with
The footwear aligns the machinery company Steem-
big toe, and spaces out the ma’s RPU spray process.
7 June/July 2021
P006_P007_UT_20210601.indd 7 6/25/21 5:28 PM
EUROPE NEWSLINES
PU helps Covestro get Upbeat Lanxess
raises forecast
2021 off to strong start
Cologne, Germany – Lanx-
ess is increasing its EBITDA
forecast for 2021, following
a good first quarter of the
Leverkusen, Germany – tration costs fed through to year. Sales and EBITDA be-
Covestro generated sales of EBITDA, helping the numbers. fore exceptional items are
€2.8bn in the first quarter of But these changes were off- on a par on the first quar-
2021, up 18.8% on the same set by unplanned production ter of the company’s 2020
period last year. EBITDA stoppages. financial year. This quarter
across the business was up Volumes in the company’s was unaffected by lock-
192% at €254m in the quarter. coatings, adhesives, special- downs and the other coro-
CFO Thomas Toepfer said: ties business grew by 7.1%, navirus restrictions which
‘We started the new year with and this helped sales revenue hit the global economy.
a strong first quarter. Demand increase by 4.0% between the The company said grow-
for our products remains high, first quarter of 2020 and the ing demand from the au-
and we have benefited from first quarter of 2021, to €595m tomotive sector, is helping
very good margins.’ This compares with €572m in business in its engineering
In the company’s polyure- the equivalent period last year. materials division. ‘Opera-
thanes business, sales rose by Growth came because of a tionally, we have left coro-
30.7% between the first quar- rebound in demand from cus- navirus behind us, and are
ter of 2020 and the first quar- tomers in the APAC region, now confident about the
ter of 2021, up to €1.7bn from but raw material bottlenecks rest of the year,’ chairman
€1.3bn. EBITDA in the division because limited the opportu- Matthias Zachert said.
rose by more than 750%, from Toepfer: strong first quarter nity for growth. European and Sales in the engineering
€50m to €433m. Latin American sales volumes materials business rose by
Polyurethanes sales vol- region. However, the bad were down, but higher prices 8.6% to €377m in the quar-
umes were up 2.5% because weather in the US reduced helped reduce the effect of ter, up from €347m in 2020.
of stronger demand from the product availability, and also that. EBITDA in the division EBITDA before exception-
electrical, electronics and limited potential growth, the fell by 14.0% to €114m in the al items was up 20.4% to
household appliance indus- company said. first quarter of 2021. This €59m, up from €49m.up
tries and automotive, with de- Strong demand and lower compares with €130m in the 20.4% to €59m, from €49m
mand coming from the APAC selling and general adminis- 2020 quarter. in the 2020 quarter.
BASF starts 2021 with very Perstorp benefits from more
healthy first quarter results product tightness in Q1 2021
Ludwigshafen, Germany – Malmo, Sweden – Perstorp, there was strong demand
EBIT in BASF’s materials seg- which makes specialty polyols, in the first quarter across all
ment, which includes polyure- generated sales of SEK2865m business segments in resins
thanes, grew by 444% in the ($342m) in the first quarter of & coatings. This has enabled
first quarter of 2021 because 2021, up 5.3% on the same pe- it to increase prices for all the
of higher prices and tight ma- riod last year. EBITDA across products in the business.
terials. Overall, the company the business increased by
generated sales of €19.4bn 16.0% to SEK486m.
in the first quarter of 2021, up ‘Despite the pandemic, we
15.8% on the same period last have continued many of our
year. EBIT across the business development projects to pre-
rose 58.7% to reached €2.3bn. pare the organisation to get
‘BASF had a strong start to Brudermuller: strong start back to our growth trajectory
the year 2021,’ said CEO Mar- as fast as possible’, said CEO
tin Brudermuller. contribution from the mono- Jan Secher. ‘The start of 2021
First quarter sales in the mers division due to improved was promising.’
company’s materials business isocyanate margins on the The company has put its
rose by 19.9% to €3.4bn, up back of higher prices.’ Penta polyols business into
from €2.9bn in 2020 quarter. BASF has upgraded its its resins & coatings division is
Divisional EBIT of €648m in growth forecasts for the rest of one of three areas the compa-
the first quarter of 2021 com- the year. It now expects sales ny plans to focus on in future.
pares with €119m in the 2020 to grow by between €68bn It did not give financial details
quarter. The company said: and €71bn, and EBIT before of the quarterly performance
‘This was mainly driven by a special items to be between of the individual divisions.
significantly higher earnings €5bn and €5.8bn. It did, however, say that Secher: getting back to normal
www.utech-polyurethane.com 8
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EUROPE NEWSLINES
Greiner makes play for Recticel
Kremsmunster, Austria – remaining shareholders the of all the stakeholders, and foam for 30 years.
Greiner, a privately owned same amount if they agree to substantially undervalued the In 2020 as part of a restruct-
packaging-to-foam conglom- sell. company. It issued an upbeat ing plan, Recticel sold Greiner
erate, has moved in on its This values Recticel at trading statement in which it its stake in the joint venture.
long-time joint venture partner €844m, according to a re- increased its sales projection This is the second takeover
Recticel, with a bid to acquire port from Bloomberg.com on for 2021 by 41%. attempt Recticel has faced in
the listed Belgian company. 14 May. On 21 June, Recticel Both sides are current- two years.
Greiner unveiled the plan in shares were trading at a price ly holding their breath while In 2019, insulated panel
mid-May, with an agreement to of €14.44 each. Greiner’s offer document is maker Kingspan tried to buy
buy 27.3% of Recticel’s shares Recticel’s directors respond- studied by the Belgian secu- the company. Had that at-
from its largest shareholder at ed by rejecting Greiner’s offer rities regulator. This process tempt succeded, Kingspan’s
€13.50. because, they said, it does can take up to 13 weeks. plan was to sell Recticel’s flexi-
At the same time Greiner not address the financial po- Recticel and Greiner were ble foam division to the Austri-
announced it would pay the sition and legitimate interests joint venture partners in Euro- an company, Greiner.
Recticel upgrades 2021 performance outlook
Brussels – Trading in 2021 will ny to pass on high chemical on target.
be substantially better than in raw material prices to its cus- The Gor-Stal PIR insulation
2020, Recticel said in a mid- tomers. ‘Chemical raw materi- board purchase has been
May trading statement. al supply remains very tight… signed, and the process of
‘The positive sales trend ob- as a consequence, raw materi- closing that deal is well un-
served during 1Q 2021 contin- al prices continue to increase, derway, he said. He added
ues, and our order books re- breaking new records,’ he that the initial steps to sell the
main strong,’ said CEO Olivier said. bedding division are also pro-
Chapelle. FoamPartner has joined gressing to plan.
‘This is due to solid demand the engineered foam division. Over the rest of the year, in-
for our insulation and engi- ‘April has seen its first month cluding the contributions from
neered foam business lines, of consolidation into our group nine months of FoamPartner
combined with improving vol- accounts,’ Chapelle said. He trading and cost savings plus
umes in bedding.’ confirmed that Recticel’s orig- and Gor-Stal’s figures, adjust-
He added that demand was inal estimates of cost savings ed EBITDA should be between
strong enough for his compa- through the integration were €123m and €133m. Chapelle: positive trends
Greiner results boosted by Vencorex launches new HDI
Eurofoam purchase in 2020 polyisocyanate for coatings
Saint Priest, France – Ven- polyaspartic, solvent-free/
Kremsmunster, Austria – corex has launched a new ultra-low VOC and 2K poly-
Greiner said sales at its No- member of its Tolonate HDI urethane.
veon flexible foam business polyisocyanate family. Systems made with the
were up 20% in 2020. The di- It has low viscosity, and new F450 material devel-
vision had sales of €479m. is designed to enhance the ops maximum hardness in
Greiner completed its pur- flexibility of coatings. about four days in a polyas-
chase of Recticel’s share of The company said that partic formulation. This
the Eurofoam joint venture the new F450 grade is a compares with about three
and put it into Noveon in June 100% solids material with days for a similar polyaspar-
2020, just after its financial viscosity of 450mPa.s at tic formulation made with
year started. Had it not done 25°C, and 16.3%N CO. a low viscosity HDI trimer,
this, foam sales would have Vencorex said that the claimed the company. Gel
fallen, it said. material has been designed time for a similar polyaspar-
Looking across the compa- to help make flexible coat- tic formulation with a fast
ny as a whole, Greiner said ings dry quickly with en- aliphatic ester is a shade
sales were up 15% to €1.93bn hanced flexibility, in appli- over 50 minutes.
in 2020. This compares with Kuhner: opportunities cations such as concrete This compares with a lit-
€1.65bn in 2019. floors, sports floors, coat- tle more than 20 minutes
‘The focus upon sustain- CEO Axel Kuhner. ‘Like virtu- ings and waterproofing. for a low viscosity HDI tri-
able innovations and a diver- ally no other enterprise, we It can be used in sys- mer in a similar formulation,
sified product portfolio has were able to use the situation tems for aliphatic polyurea, said the company.
made us crisis-resistant,’ said in 2020 as an opportunity.’
www.utech-polyurethane.com 10
P008_P010_UT_20210601.indd 10 6/25/21 5:27 PMFORANE
®
FBA 1233ZD
THE FRIENDLY FOAM
BLOWING AGENT…
Thermal Performance
• Improved energy efficiency for cold chain uses
• High insulation value for spray foam
Low Environmental Impact
• Low global warming potential (GWP = 1)*
• Non-ozone depleting
• VOC exempt. 1233zd is not a VOC
Safety Performance
• Non-flammable
• Low vapor pressure
Cost and Ease of Use
• Utilizes existing processing equipment
• Easy to use in liquid form
info.forane@arkema.com
*IPCC 5th Assessment Report WG1. Jan. 2014
Arkema has granted patents on 1233zd use in Foam
and Heat Transfer applications throughout the world.
Forane® is a registered trademark of Arkema.
© 2019 Arkema Inc.
All rights reserved.
forane.comAMERICAS NEWSLINES
Dow reports strong sales growth…
Midland, Michigan – Dow pre-storm operating rates by in the first quarter of 2021. This
Chemical generated total quarter-end. ‘Despite supply compares with $175m in the
sales of $11.9bn in the first constraints, we saw demand 2020 quarter.
quarter of 2021, up 21.6% on growth as the economic re- Dow said the performance
the same period last year. covery continued to broaden, of the polyurethanes & con-
Operating EBIT across most notably in packaging, struction chemicals business
the business rose by 84.3%, construction, mobility, elec- was led by strong local price
reaching $1.6bn in the first tronics and consumer dura- gains and solid demand for
quarter of 2021. The business bles end-markets,’ he said. consumer durables and in in-
performed well enough for The company’s industrial dustrial end markets and sales
Dow to contribute $1bn to its intermediates & infrastruc- grew by double digits. This
pension fund. ture business includes poly- price growth more than offset
CEO Jim Fitterling said urethane chemicals. In the the effects of lost production
that although the business business overall, sales rose related to storm Uri.
had been hit by winter storm by 18.5% between the first For the rest of 2021, Fitter-
Uri which halted production quarter of 2020 and the first Fitterling: resilient performance ling said that the US economy
in the US Gulf, his company quarter of 2021, at $3.6bn. will recover because of vac-
had brought assets back on- This compares with $3.0bn in Operating EBIT in the division cine distribution progress and
line within a week, reaching the equivalent period in 2020. increased by 86.3% to $326m tight market fundamentals.
…moves to boost PU feedstocks in Texas Carlisle plans
Freeport, Texas – Dow plans for downstream PU systems. and this helps keep supply
Missouri PIR
to increase overall MDI capac-
ity by 30% with a new facility in
‘[The investment] optimises
our existing asset infrastruc-
costs competitive and reliable.
The plant will also use waste
board plant
Freeport, alongside closures ture, further enabling us to heat generated by other parts Sikeston, Missouri – Car-
in LaPorte, also in Texas. support downstream systems of the Freeport site, lowering lisle is planning to invest
Plans include an integrated customers’ growth,’ said Jane the carbon footprint of prod- a total of $60m to build a
MDI distillation and prepoly- Palmieri, president of the in- ucts compared with LaPorte. 445,000 sq ft (4.1ha) plant
mers plant in Freeport that dustrial intermediates & infra- The company claims the to make its range of poly-
should be onstream in 2023. structure business. changes will also also enable iso building panels in the
This additional production will She added that the site at the company to use water US Midwest. Construction
support increasing demand Freeport is back-integrated, more effectively. will start this summer, and
the company said that first
ITC: mattress imports injured US industry phase is expected to be
completed by the end of
the first quarter of 2023.
Washington, DC – The US posed preliminary additional while a countervailing duty ‘This new facility is not
International Trade Commis- tariffs in November 2020. order will be placed on im- only an opportunity to bring
sion (ITC) has decided the The US Department of ports from China. more jobs to the area, but it
US mattress industry has Commerce had already de- Seven US mattress man- allows Carlisle Construction
been ‘materially injured’ by termined that these products ufacturers and two trades Materials to better meet the
imports of mattresses from are being sold in the US at unions asked the US ITC to needs of our customers in
Cambodia, Indonesia, Malay- less than fair value, and sub- investigate. In 2019, US ITC this important and growing
sia, Serbia, Thailand, Turkey, sidised by the Chinese gov- said, 53 US companies, em- region,’ said Carlisle CEO
and Vietnam. These are the ernment. Antidumping duty ploying nearly 13,000 peo- Chris Koch.
seven countries on which the orders will be issued by the ple, shipped $5.3bn of mat- Carlisle chose Sikeston
US Department of Trade im- Department of Commerce, tresses. because it is well located to
serve customers in the cen-
tral US, according to Nick
UFAC expands flammability testing to aid compliance with federal law Shears, who is president of
High Point, North Carolina – tary testing and verification niture Flammability Act), has the company’s construction
The Upholstered Furniture Ac- program provides a clear indi- for the first time formalised a materials business seg-
tion Council has revamped its cation of the importance that national furniture flammability ment. He said that it would
long-standing programme for UFAC member companies requirement. help get products to local
furniture flammability testing place on consumer health and Manufacturers are encour- customers more easily.
and verification. safety,’ said UFAC president aged to have a flammability The town is located
The aim is to help its mem- Don Coleman. testing programme in place to about halfway between
bers comply with a new feder- The Covid-19 Regulatory Re- meet the requirements of the Memphis, Tennessee and
al law that is set to come into lief and Work from Home Safe- new law. UFAC says its pro- St Louis, Missouri, the heart
effect on 25 June 2021. ty Act (also known as SOFFA, gramme meets and exceeds of the Midwest.
‘Participation in this volun- or the Safer Occupancy Fur- TB117-2013 requirements.
www.utech-polyurethane.com 12
P012_P015_UT_20210601.indd 12 6/25/21 5:27 PMAMERICAS NEWSLINES
EMEA and Asia Rogers bounces back in Q1
drive Adient sales
Chandler, Arizona – Rogers,
which makes a range of spe-
ciality polyurethane foams,
had total sales of $229.3m in
Plymouth, Michigan – The business, sales grew by 9.9% the first quarter of 2021, up
automotive seat maker Adient between the second quar- 15.34% on the same period last
generated sales of $3.8bn in ter of 2020 and the second year. Operating income across
the second quarter of 2021, up quarter 2021, at $1.5 bn. This the business rose 112.6% and
8.8% on the same period last compares with $1.4bn in the reached $37.2m in the first
year. Adjusted EBITDA across 2020 quarter. Adjusted EBIT- quarter of 2021.
the business rose by 39.8%, DA in the division increased by CEO Bruce Hoechner said: Hoechner: Accelerating demand
reaching $323m in the second 56.0% to $62m in the second ‘Accelerating demand in ad-
quarter of 2021. quarter of 2021. vanced mobility markets and pares with $12m in the equiva-
In the company’s Americas EMEA numbers include a broad recovery in industrial lent period in 2020. Business
business, sales were almost trading performance and a demand were the primary cat- grew because of the recovery
unchanged at $1.6bn in the number of commercial set- alysts for the sales increase.’ in the transportation sector
second quarter of 2021, but tlements, Adient said. As was Polyurethane foam reve- following the slowdown in the
adjusted EBITDA in the divi- the case with the Americas, nues are accounted for in the first quarter of 2020.
sion fell by39.6% to $64m, the figures were hit by supply company’s elastomeric materi- The results were hit by a fire
down from $106m in the chain problems and the high al solutions business. In this di- at the company’s UTIS facility
equivalent period in 2020. cost of raw materials. vision, sales rose by 9.9% be- in Ansan, Korea, which add-
Numbers in the Americas In Asia, the 2021 quarter- tween the first quarter of 2020 ed 1.3m to expenses. Looking
were hit by what the company ly sales were up by 32.4% at and the first quarter of 2021, ahead, the company said this
described as temporary oper- $588m. This compares with to $91.8m. This compares with business may start to suffer
ating inefficiencies. These re- $444m in the same quarter $83.5m in the 2020 quarter. because of shortages of raw
sulted from a range of disrup- last year. Adjusted EBITDAfor Divisional operating income materials after winter storm
tions to the supply chain. the Asian region rose by 92.1% was up 74.8% at 20.1m in the Uri disrupted upstream pro-
In the company’s EMEA to $121m in the quarter. first quarter of 2021. This com- duction in February.
Living polyurethanes
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UT/ERJ 1/2 H.indd 1 6/23/21 5:46 PM
13 June/July 2021
P012_P015_UT_20210601.indd 13 6/25/21 5:27 PMAMERICAS NEWSLINES
Lear sales accelerated Marine PU adhesive
cure times reduced
through first quarter
with microcapsules
Baltimore, Maryland – Sci-
entists at Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity’s applied physics labo-
ratory have developed a way
Southfield, Michigan – Lear, production increased by 14% to use microcapsules to speed
the global automotive seating compared to the first quarter up the cure time of PU adhe-
and interiors company, gener- of 2020. sives under water. Cure time
ated sales of $5.4bn in the first Operating margin increas is a particular problem in mari-
quarter of 2021. This is up 20% ed, Lear said, because of a time applications, they said.
on the same period last year. better mixture of car platforms Interstitial water is a prob-
Net income across the busi- served by its seating products, lem for glues, and most work
ness rose by 167% to $203.7m and new business. best on pretreated surfaces.
in the first quarter of 2021. In the seating business, However, in an underwater
Sales grew faster than the sales rose by 18.7% between environment, both make the
market. ‘[This was] despite the 2020 and 2021 quarters, gluing process difficult.
multiple challenges, including at $4bn. Net income in the ‘You can imagine, in a ma-
component shortages impact- division increased by 56.9% rine environment, how need-
ing industry production,’ said to $292m in the first quarter ing 24 hours to cure and hold
CEO Ray Scott. The company of 2021, up from $186m in the at full strength could be an
estimated that global vehicle equivalent period in 2020. Scott: Sales grew faster than market issue,’ said Reid Messersmith,
the chemist who led the re-
search. ‘So, we made it strong
Q1 sales up in 2021 at Ingevity and fast. From 24 hours to
one minute was our speed in-
crease, and if you can actually
let it sit for 24 hours, it’ll hold at
North Charleston, South Car- prices rose across the busi- 10 times the strength.’
olina – Ingevity, which makes ness. While adding a tertiary
specialist polyols, generated John Forston, CEO, said: amine catalyst and a polyol
sales of $320.3m in the first ‘In performance chemicals, crosslinker to the isocyanate
quarter of 2021, up 11.1% on the we drove a sharp increase in resin allowed it to hold imme-
same period last year. engineered polymers sales. diately, they found this did not
Adjusted EBITDA across We also experienced slight in- work in practice because a
the business rose 14.3% and creases in both industrial spe- time lag is required between
reached $105.4m in the first cialties and pavement technol- application and the start of the
quarter of 2021. ogies sales,’ said Fortson. ‘As cure to allow for repositioning.
In the company’s perfor- a note, we have combined our The answer lay in containing
mance chemicals business, Forston: strong rebounds sales of oilfield technologies the catalyst and crosslinker
which houses speciality poly- 2.3%. It reached $31.7m in the products into industrial spe- within a microcapsule, which
ols, sales rose by 7.5% be- first quarter of 2021. This com- cialties.’ are added to an isocyanate
tween the first quarter of 2020 pares with $31m in the equiva- Looking ahead to the rest resin. Although the microcap-
and the first quarter of 2021. lent period in 2020. of the year, Ingevity said it is sules remain intact on storage
They reached $179.6m in The rise in earnings was as watching fright costs, and raw and with gentle mixing, apply-
the first quarter of 2021. This a result of improved polyure- material disruptions. Despite ing a small shear force breaks
compares with $167.1m in the thane demand in industrial these concerns and worries the shell. As soon as the con-
equivalent period in 2020. equipment, automotive ap- over the current disruption in tents leak out, the glue cures
At the same time, adjusted plications, electronic devices the automotive industry, In- instantly, even under water.
EBITDA in the division rose and footwear. Volumes and gevity is raising its forecasts. It worked effectively on
surfaces including aluminium,
stainless steel, glass and plas-
Pandemic recovery gets underway at Stepan in Q1 tic. It gave a bonding strength
Northfield, Illinois – Stepan, was the result of a 32% in- of that purchase, Stepan said of about nearly 3MPa in 60
which makes polyols, gener- crease in volume compared the volume of polyols for rigid seconds on untreated alumin-
ated $537.7m in sales during with the first quarter of 2020, projects was up 8%, and spe- ium surfaces.
the first quarter of 2021. This and this reflects a gradual ciality polyols were up 10%. The team speculates that
is up 19.5% on the same peri- recovery from coronavirus In the company’s polymers it has many potential applica-
od last year. related delays, and also the business, sales rose by 41.2% tions, both in and out of the
Operating income across cancellation of re-roofing and between the first quarter of water. These could include
the business rose by 34.8% new projects. 2020 and the first quarter of boat repairs and reattaching
to $53.9m in the first quarter Its Invista purchase in Feb- 2021, to $150.4m. This com- shingles to houses.
of 2021. ruary also helped the num- pares with $106.5m in the The work has been pub-
The company said that this bers. Stripping out the effects equivalent period in 2020. lished in the journal ACS Ap-
plied Polymer Materials.
www.utech-polyurethane.com 14
P012_P015_UT_20210601.indd 14 6/25/21 5:27 PMAMERICAS NEWSLINES
Jane Austen encoded in urethane polymers
Austin, Texas – A team of sci- along with a set of instruc- ‘This work is another step molecules to usefully store in-
entists at the University of Tex- tions, to a colleague who was toward the long-term goal of formation. Our future work will
as at Austin has developed a not involved in the project. All using synthetic sequence-de- address the error rates in the
way of encoding information but two characters were deci- fined polymers for information reading and writing, as well
using urethane polymers. To phered correctly on the first at- storage,’ said Eric Anslyn, who as the limitations of oligoure-
illustrate the technique, they tempt. A slight modification to is one of the chemists on the thanes as a medium for infor-
managed to encode a quote the instructions meant that the team. mation storage.’
from Jane Austen’s Mansfield quotation was decoded com- ‘It sets the stage and hope- The work has been pub-
Park that could then be read pletely correctly at the second fully inspires further work lished in the journal Cell Re-
back. attempt. towards the practical use of ports Physical Science.
Similar techniques are in-
creasingly common using
DNA, because information
can be stored at a much high-
er density than they can with
familiar silicon-based technol-
ogies. The team of scientists
FOAM EXPO - NOVI MI
believes the polyurethane
13/15 JULY 2021
method will allow an even
BOOTH 1415
greater density of information
to be stored.
The potential of polymers
as information storage devic-
es has yet to be realised, they
said, because of a lack of inex-
pensive, efficient approaches
to reading and writing informa-
tion that are reproducible on a
large scale.
Their approach is to com-
press the text into a sequence
of binary digits via an algo-
rithm, and then convert this
into hexadecimals that were
‘translated’ into a urethane
chain.
They applied it to the
158-character Austen quote: ‘If
one scheme of happiness fails,
human nature turns to another;
if the first calculation is wrong,
we make a second better:
we find comfort somewhere.’
It was synthesised into 18
ten-monomer oligourethanes,
with each individual monomer
representing a hexadecimal LOW EMISSION
character. ANTISCORCHING AGENTS
Decoding was achieved by
working backwards. The oligo- &
mers were sequenced using
a self-immolation technique.
BONDING ENHANCERS
In this the compounds spon- F O R F L A M E L A M I N AT I O N
taneously fragmented into
monomers via a cascade of
reactions.
The sequencing data were AESTHETICS, PERFORMANCE, PROTECTION
then fed into decoding soft-
ware, which assigned the mol-
ecules to their corresponding
hexadecimal characters. The
entire quote could be repro-
duced accurately from this.
The reproducibility was
checked by handing the code,
UT/ERJ 1/2 Frac V.indd 1 6/23/21 5:40 PM
15 June/July 2021
P012_P015_UT_20210601.indd 15 6/25/21 5:27 PMASIA NEWSLINES
India levies anti-dumping
duties on imports of TDI
New Delhi – At a time of global tariffs in January after Gujrat duties were needed because imports are at fair prices, and
shortages and high prices, In- Narmada Valley Fertilisers & ‘prices from the subject coun- not harming the Indian indus-
dia’s government has imposed Chemicals (GNFC), India’s only tries have declined drastically try,’ it said.
import duties of between $102 indigenous producer, com- in a short period and as a re- Among the companies fac-
and $368/tonne on 80:20 TDI, plained in December 2019. sult of which the performance ing the duties, Covestro ar-
the most commonly traded The duties have been im- of the domestic industry dete- gued that its INR1.5bn ($20m)
grade of the product. posed after a six-month peri- riorated drastically’. investment in a crosslinker
The tariffs apply to product od of prices was taken as the However, it said that while plant for TDI at Ankelshwar,
made specifically by Covestro, basis of the complaint. there was no risk on the con- Gujarat will become unviable,
Borsodchem and Sadara, as The importers argued that tinuity of its business opera- and the downstream industry
well as imports from the EU, the six-month period is too tions, it was currently operat- would suffer as a result if du-
UAE and Taiwan. The coun- short, and a full year should ing with losses. ‘Anti-dumping ties were imposed.
try’s Directorate General of have been taken. duty will not discourage im- The DGTR rejected these
Trade Remedies proposed the GNFC’s argument is that ports, but it will ensure that and other arguments.
Insulated PIR panels help take the
battle to coronavirus in Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur – BASF’s Elas- produce storage with stable Postlethwaite
topir PH1132 is being used temperatures. BASF’s experi- (l): going
as the insulating element in ence in systems for commer- beyond
new cold storage facilities for cial refrigeration systems also
coronavirus vaccines made by helped the decision, it said.
United Panel System. United Panel System was
‘Vaccines need to be pre- founded in Johor, South Ma-
served at super-cold tempera- laysia in 1978, and has made
tures ranging from –70°C to PU, PIR and PS insulated
+8°C. The reliability of cold panels for walk-in cold rooms
storage is extra important,’ since that time.
said Bee Loh from United Pan- The company claims it has
el System. The cold storage the only continuous PIR line in
products are being used in the ASEAN region that produc-
Malaysia, which has approved es PIR panels. It also claims to
the Pfizer vaccine. be the first company to make
This must be stored in ul- a 250mm thick PIR insulated
tra-cold conditions, at –70°C, panel in the world. collaboration with United Pan- the highest quality panels for
to prevent spoilage The com- Andy Postlethwaite, BASF’s el once again demonstrates the vaccine storage facilities.’
pany chose BASF’s system SVP for performance materi- our spirit to go beyond, as BASF added that the system
because the material can als in Asia Pacific, said: ‘Our we work together to produce was uses n-pentane.
Sheela pushed up sales, earnings in 2021 financial year
Noida, India – Sheela Foam, reached INR3.6bn in 2021. the subsidiary it had previous- period. EBITDA across in
India’s only listed flexible This compares with INR3.0bn ly formed in the US in to sell the division was up 32.7% at
foam company, generated in 2020, representing a rise its products there. INR690m in 2021. Sheela
sales of INR24.5bn ($336m) of INR620m. Sheela owns Joyce Foam also now has a subsidiary in
in 2021. This is up 12.8% on The company’s financial in Australia, and sales in Spain. During its first full year
the previous financial year. year runs to the end of May. the country rose by 30.7% of ownership, it reported that
EBITDA across the busi- The auditors said that in between 2020 and 2021, sales were INR3.4bn and
ness rose by 20.7% and 2020, Sheela had wound up reaching INR4.1bn in the 2021 EBITDA was INR540m.
www.utech-polyurethane.com 16
P016_P018_UT_20210601.indd 16 6/25/21 5:18 PMUT/ERJ full page.indd 1 6/14/21 2:50 PM
ASIA NEWSLINES
New Jason Furniture facilities on schedule Autocatalytic reactive
Hangzhou, Zhejiang – China’s It broke ground in early quarter of 2022. FRs have potential in
leading upholstered furniture
manufacturer Jason Furniture,
2021, and has designed an-
nual capacity for 120,000
Ground was broken in Dong
Xoai city for the Vietnamese
rigid PU formulations
also known as Kuka Home, standard units and 5m m³ cus- plant at the end of 2020. It rep- Istanbul, Turkey – A group at
expects its two new plants in tom-made products. resents a CNY505m invest- the department of chemistry
China and Vietnam to start op- The company is earmarking ment, with designed annual at Marmara University has de-
eration on schedule. a CNY1bn ($154m) investment capacity for 500,000 standard veloped a new type of flame
The Chinese plant is located to generate CNY1.5bn/year units, the company said. retardant. The autocatalytic re-
in Huanggang, Hubei province sales, with nearly 12% profit Production will start ramp- active FRs may have potential
and is the company’s second margin. The plant is expected ing up in Vietnam in the first in rigid PU foams.
site in the city. to come on stream in the first quarter of 2022, The team synthesised two
different new flame retardants
TechnoNicol moves into Indian market
containing phosphorous and
nitrogen. Both comprised a
tertiary amine connected to a
New Delhi – Russia’s Tech- phosphine oxide via a spacer.
noNicol, which makes insu- They were incorporated
lated PU boards, has started into PU foam formulation at
selling the products in India. 2.5, 5 and 10%, and their ef-
The company is also now fects on the foams’ thermal,
selling professional sealing, mechanical, flame retardancy
fire-resistant adhesive foams and physical properties were
and spray foam insulation in assessed, along with their cat-
the country. alytic performance.
Sales of the products, Both displayed good cata-
which started in March this bai. The subsidiary company India with PU board products lytic activity, and reasonable
year, are through its Indian was founded in 2015. shipped from its site in Ryzan, flame retardancy, depending
subsidiary, located in Mum- TechnoNicol is supplying 200km south of Moscow. on the nature and concentra-
tion of the FR.
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Convention Center
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www.utech-polyurethane.com 18
P016_P018_UT_20210601.indd 18 6/25/21 6:40 PMCHINA NEWSLINES
Wanhua plans more MDI, HDI capacity
Ningbo, Zhejiang – Wanhua first phase from 400kT/year company is planning to spend The projects were first
is to increase its MDI and HDI to 600kT/year. The second CNY3.2bn to build a new announced in 2019. At that
capacity in two projects at its phase will increase capacity 280kT/year modified MDI ca- time, they had CNY3.2bn in-
plant in Ningbo. The projects further, from 800kT/year to pacity and 50kT/year for HDI vestment, and only included
are being assessed for envi- 1.2MT/year. In total Wanhua is at Ningbo. When the projects 300kT/year additional MDI
ronmental impact. planning to spend CNY941m go into operation, the Ningbo capacity and 50kT/year HDI.
The first is an existing ($145m) on these investments, site will have 1.8mT/year ca- The facilities were originally
two-phase MDI expansion, according to an environmental pacity for MDI, 300kT/year for scheduled to start construc-
which is being modified. This impact report. modified MDI, and 100kT/year tion in July 2020, and come on
will increase capacity in the In a separate project, the for HDI, Wanhua said. stream in March 2023.
Huafon raises funding to Sales decline by a fifth for
add new elastane plant TDI maker Cangzhou Dahua
Wenzhou, Zhejiang – Hua- schedule construction for the Cangzhou, Hebei – Cang- CNY1.3bn to the top-line fig-
fon Chemical is to raise up elastane facilities. zhou Dahua, one of China’s ure, but it was less profitable
to CNY5bn ($777m) to fund The elastane project is at largest TDI makers, recorded than in 2019. The gross mar-
two new projects, including a Huafon’s Chongqing site. CNY1.65bn ($254m) sales in gin in 2020 was 3.5%, while in
300kT/year differentiated PU There will be 50kT/year ca- 2020, down 21% from 2019. 2019 it was 4.5%.
elastane expansion. pacity in phase one, 150kT/ The figures were given in the China’s TDI market has
The company plans to year in phase two, and company’s annual report, re- been in oversupply, the an-
pump CNY2.8bn into the 100kT/year in phase three. leased in April. nual report said. In 2019, the
elastane project; the rest is Each phase will take two Net profit in 2020 was country produced 900kT of
earmarked for its 1.15mT/year years to complete. CNY37m, after the company the product, up 14% from 2018.
adipic acid expansion. The overall investment to- sold some assets. However, However, demand only rose
The projections were in- tals CNY4.36bn. When com- this was still down 19% from a by 5% to 810kT.
cluded in an announcement plete, the plant is expected year ago. Ignoring non-recur- Chinese TDI makers have
in May. Huafon is yet to to generate CNY8. 8bn sales. ring items, in all the company been pursuing overseas mar-
made a net loss of CNY43m. kets, and in 2020 export vol-
Mlily puts bets on overseas markets TDI sales contributed umes exceeded 140kT.
Nantong, Jiangsu – Revenues
at Chinese mattress maker
The increased revenue was
partly a result of consolidated Arkema partners to make Forane
Mlily, also known as Health-
care Co, shot up by 70% year-
sales from Mor Furniture For
Less. This is the US furniture 1233zd blowing agent in China
on-year in 2020 to CNY6.5bn retailer Mlily acquired in 2019. Paris – Arkema is to add Changjia, Shandong, and will
($1bn). Net profit rose by 1% Mlily now has five manufac- Forane 1233zd blowing agent start with 5kT/year capaci-
to CNY346m. However, net turing sites outside China. Last capacity in Calvert City, Ken- ty. This is projected to be on
profit less non-recurring items year, foreign markets account- tucky, and has reached an stream in mid-2022. In Calvert
dipped 3% from a year ago to ed for 87% of total revenue. agreement with Zibo Aofan City, Arkema is planning an
CNY350m, according to the The newly added capacity in to make the product in China. extra 15kT/year expansion, at
company’s annual report, re- Spain had its first trial run in Zibo Aofan has a facility in a cost of about $60m.
leased in April. September 2020.
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