Basell will manufacture Metocene PP grades in Texas

Basell, the world’s leading supplier of polypropylene, is to step up its product offerings in the US. Four grades of the company’s Metocene brand of PP – which is made using a metallocene catalyst to deliver narrow molecular weight distribution – will now be produced in the US. Previously, Metocene grades have only been produced in Europe.

The company has applied a new version of its Avant metallocene catalyst to the process, at its Bayport, Texas facility, following testing at its plant in Terni, Italy.

Four grades will be made at Bayport: two textile grades and an injection moulding grade have already been produced in Europe, but the fourth grade – for meltblown fibres – is being produced commercially for the first time in Texas. The grades are produced using Basell’s Spheripol process.