Launch of KetaSpire™, a new polyether ether ketone (PEEK) product line
The Solvay group announces today that it has decided to expand and upgrade its facilities in Panoli (Gujarat State, India), which will result in the creation of a new, world-class production unit for polyether ether ketone (PEEK) and other materials in the ultra-performance segment of the specialty polymers business. The installation will be built to provide for a natural expansion of production, resulting in a step-wise increase in capacity as warranted by demand. It will come on stream in the first quarter of 2008, with a production capacity of 500 metric tons per year of KetaSpire™, the new line of PEEK products developed by Solvay Advanced Polymers.
The amount of the investment required for the upgrade and expansion of the site will not be communicated.
The extraordinary mechanical properties, temperature resistance and processability of KetaSpire™ designate this PEEK product as a lightweight alternative for metal parts in critical aerospace or medical applications, among many other possible uses.
The R&D center and production plant in Panoli were formerly operated by Polymers Division of Gharda Chemicals, which Solvay acquired earlier this year. The successful completion of this acquisition laid the groundwork for Solvay’s entry into the PEEK market. In parallel, the extensive research carried out at Solvay Advanced Polymers’ R&D center in Alpharetta, (Georgia, United States) was finalized and resulted in a fully operational, robust, proprietary product and manufacturing technology for the new line of KetaSpire™ PEEK materials.
Solvay Adavanced Polymers has begun the production of KetaSpire™ PEEK, which will initially be based at its semi-commercial plant in Alpharetta, in a progressive rollout which will culminate in the launch of full commercial production in Panoli.
“The expansion of the Panoli plant and the launch of our new KetaSpire™ PEEK materials are instrumental in our high and ultra-performance polymers strategy,” said Vincenzo Morici, General Manager of the Specialty Polymers Strategic Business Unit, Solvay. “More importantly, our product range is escalating into the upper, most sophisticated category of the polymer performance pyramid. Solvay Advanced Polymers now produces more plastics with more performance than any other supplier in the world,” added Roger Kearns, CEO of Solvay Advanced Polymers.
“With these expansion and upgrade plans, we are successfully capitalizing on the inherent strengths of Panoli, which contributed outstanding talent to the Group, as well as a prime location at the heart of the world’s fastest-growing economies,” said Vincenzo Morici.
SOLVAY ADVANCED POLYMERS, L.L.C. is a member of the Solvay Group.
SOLVAY is an international chemical and pharmaceutical Group with headquarters in Brussels. It employs some 30,000 people in 50 countries. In 2005 its consolidated sales amounted to EUR 8.6 billion generated by its three activity sectors: Chemicals, Plastics and Pharmaceuticals. SOLVAY (Euronext : SOLB.BE - Bloomberg: SOLB.BB - Reuters: SOLBt.BR) is listed on the Euronext stock exchange in Brussels. Details are available atwww.solvay.com.
Notes to the Editors:
The term polymer covers a large, diverse group of molecules, including substances ranging from proteins to high-performance materials. The polymers manufactured by the Solvay Group include plastics, elastomers and fluids. A polymer is a long chain of atoms, formed through the repetition of an identical molecule - called monomer. This repetition occurs during polymerization, in which many monomer molecules link to each other.
Ultra-performance polymers are polymers having an extremely high performance profile in terms of thermal, mechanical, and chemical resistance. Such products are typically priced in excess of 50 Euros per kilogram and having annual demand generally in the order of hundreds to thousands of tons.
Semi-Crystalline Materials are materials that are comprised of molecules that are arranged either partially or nearly completely in an ordered and structured fashion. With thermoplastics, semi-crystalline and crystalline molecular structures often result in certain performance features including high strength, high stiffness, and generally always opaque appearance.
PEEK is a generic acronym for polyetherether ketone, a class of semi-crystalline ultra-performance thermoplastics.
KetaSpire™ PEEK is a semi-crystalline polymer with exceptionally high thermal, mechanical, chemical-resistance and processing performance.
