EoW September 2011

corporatenews

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Investment to boost production

Repsol is planning new investment at its Puertollano site to increase production of ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers (EVA). The new production unit will be able to produce 15,000 tonnes per year, with the possibility to achieve vinyl acetate (VA) contents exceeding 35%, meeting the needs of a wide range of differentiated applications. This EVA capacity increase is one of a series of investments planned for Repsol’s Puertollano production facility included in its strategy to maximise the production of high-value polyolefins. During 2009, Repsol carried out the conversion of one of its EVA copolymer units (including 5% to 20% of VA content) to EVA resins (ranging from 20% to 40% of VA content). Additionally, in June 2010 Repsol implemented process changes in another of its EVA copolymer units, to adapt it to the quality demands of the specialised film converters. Because of this change and process improvement, the company has been able to reduce significantly the potential off-spec production associated with this type of film grade production. Repsol consolidated its ethylene butyl acrylate copolymers (EBA) production capacity at its Sines site in Portugal, increasing the production of EBA copolymers as an alternative to the EVA copolymers production at Puertollano, due to the growing specialisation of the former towards the production of EVA resins. The combined activity of the Puertollano and Sines production facilities, together Moreover, during 2010,

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with the growing demand for these products has seen record production of EVA and EBA. Repsol produces EVA and EBA copolymers and resins with comonomer contents that may range from 5% to 40%, and melt flow indexes (MFI) exceeding 800 dg/ min. The company is present, amongst others, in the hot-melt adhesives, shoes, photovoltaic panels, cables and film market segments. The process and product development has been carried out internally at Repsol’s Technology Centre in Madrid. Repsol – Spain Fax : +34 91 314 2821 Email : info@repsol.com Website : www.chemicals.repsol.com ▲ ▲ The new plant will produce up to 15,000 tonnes of ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers each year

Dolder takes over marketing

Basle, Switzerland-based Dolder AG will take over the marketing of the Vestakeep ® PEEK polymers produced by Essen, Germany-based Evonik Industries. The marketing activities will focus in particular on small-volume sales in Europe. Ever since Vestakeep ® was launched on the market, Dolder has acted as the distribution partner for Evonik’s moulding compounds in Austria and Switzerland. This successful cooperation was extended to Germany at the end of 2009. For small customers in Europe, this means better product availability and more intensive customer support. Dolder AG – Switzerland Fax : +41 613 266 204 Email : info@dolder.com Website : www.dolder.com

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EuroWire – September 2011