applications and a variety of
specialty silicone products for
the electronics industry. Due to
space constraints, however, capacity expansions at the existing site are
not possible. For this reason, WACKER
will dismantle the production facilities
there late next year and transfer them
to the new site in Jincheon. “Our objectives in building the new site are twofold: first, the site will create additional
production capacity, which we will utilize for expanding our regional silicone
sealant business”, Willems emphasized.
“At the same time, we also intend to
continue growing our business regarding
specialty silicones.”
For several years now, WACKER has
been developing specialty silicone gels,
encapsulants and thermally conductive
silicone adhesives for the electronics
and lighting industries. During this time,
South Korea has emerged as a stronghold
for automotive and consumer electronics.
That makes Jincheon the perfect loca-
tion for these kinds of specialty silicones,
Willems added.
Silicone sealants and specialty silicones will be produced in physically
separate areas on the site, which has
a size of 2.5 acres. This will allow the
company to optimize its production processes and maximize its flexibility for
future expansion projects. The building
will also include its own cleanroom area
for producing and packaging silicone
gels, encapsulants and silicone elastomer
products under suitable conditions – an
increasingly frequent demand, especially
for optical applications.
“Over the past few years, our Center
of Electronics Excellence in Pangyo has
been very successful in its efforts to develop products for the electronics industry in South Korea and elsewhere in
Asia,” said WACKER SILICONES president Robert Gnann. “The aim of our
investments is to allow us to participate
in the growth of the electronics industry
over the long term. With the expansion
of our production capacity in Jincheon
we will be able to support our customers’ future growth by continuing to provide premium silicones in the quantity
and quality they need.”
France’s Avril Group,
Bpifrance and Biopolymer
Technologies Create
EVERTREE
Consumers are increasingly concerned about the impact on health and
the environment of Volatile Organic
Compounds (VOCs), such as formaldehyde, used in many household products, including resins, glues, paints and
building materials. Evertree offers
plant-based alternatives to traditional
VOC-emitting chemicals found in these
products. The first application will target the wood composite panel industry
and will help to reduce or even remove
the presence of, and exposure to, formaldehyde. Derived from rapeseed meal,
Evertree’s products and technologies
are vanguards of a new generation of
wood composite panels, which are
more competitive, as well as health and
environment-friendlier.
The ‘SPI – Société de Projets Industriels’
(Industrial Projects Company) investment
fund, financed by the French ‘Programme
d’Investissements d’Avenir’ (Investments
for the Future Program) and managed by
Bpifrance, has joined forces with the Avril
Group and the Israeli start-up Biopolymer
Technologies (BPT) in the Evertree joint
venture. The operational ramp up of this
innovative joint venture in renewable
chemistry should enable production start
in 2017 with the launch of an industrial
pilot plant in Compiègne, France, and the
opening of a dedicated production facility
in 2018. The production capacity should
be gradually increased to reach 50,000
tons per year by 2020, thus enabling the
creation of 110 direct jobs.
Through this joint venture, the three
partners intend to foster the development
of new commercial uses for vegetable
proteins, in order to address new manufacturing requirements and growing consumer expectations, especially in terms
of VOCs reduction or even removal.
Indeed, VOCs exposure may affect health
(irritations, reduced respiratory capacity, olfactory pollution; some VOCs are
also considered to be carcinogens) and
the environment (an early factor in ozone
formation, greenhouse gases, and the formation of secondary particles).
In this context, Evertree will market an
initial promising industrial application:
Devised by Biopolymer Technologies
and subsequently developed in partner-
ship with Sofiprotéol, Avril’s investment
and development company, it involves
manufacturing a resin additive from
rapeseed meal, much sought after in the
wood composite panel industry.
This additive targets industrial clients
in the sector, who will be able to use less
resin for an equivalent performance, substitute the current resins with less toxic ones
and optimize their distribution, therefore
achieving significant productivity gains.
Furthermore, this new market opportunity for the agribusiness sector will not
require the use of large volumes of rapeseed meal – 50,000 tons worldwide, and
will markedly enhance the added value of
rapeseed protein.
Arkema Innovates with
Bio-Based Resins for
Construction
Arkema has partnered with major industrial coatings companies to bring to market innovative bio-based Synolac resins
that meet the challenges of this dynamic
and demanding sector. For a number of
years Arkema has been developing unique
expertise in bio-based resins for the coatings markets, and now offers a technology platform (patent pending) that draws
extensively on new products.
As part of SORAGO, a French consortium dedicated to pre-coated metal
technology and applications, Arkema offers resins that can feature up to 100 percent bio-based carbon content*. Used in
formulations, these new resins produce a
coating with a bio-based carbon content
of up to 70 percent, as well as equivalent,
if not superior, performance compared to
traditional coatings.
This innovative technology also benefits from the Arkema Group’s back-in-tegration in castor oil, a raw material of
renewable origin.
This latest development underscores
Arkema’s commitment to the industrial
coatings industry, in particular to the pre-coated metal segment supplied from Arkema
Coating Resins’ manufacturing plants located in India, Malaysia, Spain and the U.S. CW
