LyondellBasell Achieves Production Milestone of Two Million Tonnes of Multimodal HDPE in Europe
LyondellBasell Industries has achieved another significant milestone in the commercial introduction of its Hostalen Advanced Cascade Process (ACP) technology, with the production of two million tonnes of multimodal high density polyethylene (HDPE) produced and marketed in Europe to date.
“This significant success demonstrates that HDPE resins based on LyondellBasell’s Hostalen Advanced Cascade Process (Hostalen ACP) have become the materials of choice for customers’ small blow molding, large blow molding, pipe and film applications respectively,” said Tassilo Bader, head of LyondellBasell’s polyethylene and polyolefins solutions business in Europe, Asia and International. “To a large extent, we have attained this milestone due to the significant market penetration that has been achieved in small blow molding applications with multimodal resins such as Hostalen ACP 5831D.”
Hostalen ACP 5831D resin has set a new performance benchmark for blow molding applications such as bottles and canisters due to its combination of environmental stress cracking resistance (ESCR) and stiffness. With the resin’s high stiffness and excellent ESCR, the wall thickness of bottles and canisters can be significantly reduced. Compared to standard monomodal and bimodal HDPE grades, LyondellBasell tests have shown that raw material savings can be achieved, along with lighter-weight final products. Hostalen ACP 5831D resin has also been shown to outperform conventional HDPE products in terms of impact strength and processing characteristics.
“Raising the property profile of HDPE underscores LyondellBasell’s strong innovation heritage,” said Bader. ”We continue to extend our leading polyolefin process technologies portfolio, which enables us to develop new products and respond flexibly to market needs.” He added, “With this year’s successful start up of the world-scale Hostalen ACP plant by our joint venture Saudi Ethylene and Polyethylene Company (SEPC), multimodal grades will also be made available for the Asian markets, enabling us to serve global customers on a global base.” According to Kaspar Evertz, who is responsible for the global licensing business of LyondellBasell, “More than two million tonnes produced and marketed in a mature market such as Europe, represents a remarkable achievement in our efforts to expand the use of Hostalen ACP multimodal resins in film, blow molding and pipe applications. It also affirms the superior product range offered by this process for the highly competitive HDPE market. “
