The compounds produced in The Netherlands are used in PVC heat stabilisers

The compounds produced in The Netherlands are used in PVC heat stabilisers

Japan’s Kisuma Chemicals is to expand its European capacity for manufacturing lead-free ingredients used in PVC heat stabilisers. The company will double production of its speciality magnesium compounds to 20,000tpa at its Veendam site in The Netherlands.

A third production line will be installed at Veendam as part of a two-stage programme costing a total of E20m. Completion of the first stage is scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year, with the full programme to be implemented by the middle of 2007.

The company said a substantial part of the overall capacity increase has already been achieved by a debottlenecking exercise completed last year. Kisuma Chemicals is the European affiliate of Kyowa Chemical Industry, which set up its Dutch plant in the north of the country in 1999. Turnover at the Veendam operation, which employs 60 people, increased 20% last year to E24m.

The company supplies the polymer industry with heat stabilising, acid scavenging and flame-retardant products. It believes that Ca-Zn compounds, which incorporate its Alcamiser hydrotalcite materials, are an environmentally preferable alternative to lead-based compounds, which still account for the bulk of stabiliser use.