Swiss-based specialty chemical supplier Clariant is expanding its plant in Lewiston, Maine, and installing a new compounding line to meet growing demand for pre-coloured medical plastic compounds sold under the Mevopur brand name.
The new capacity will come on-line in the fourth quarter of 2017.
The new compounding line, built around a new 70-mm extruder, will be able produce larger batch sizes at high throughput rates, Clariant said in a statement. “Production will focus on materials such as polyolefins, ABS, PC and PC alloys as well as specialty resins like TPU, and cyclic olefins,” the firm said. “The EN-ISO13485 (2012) certified site in Lewiston is also being expanded to improve process-flow and material-handling.”
This new capacity complements equipment and plant investments aimed at compounding engineering resins and high-temperature polymers and, most recently, completion of a special installation in Lewiston for processing fluoropolymers such as FEP, ETFE, and PVDF.
Clariant already operates several smaller lines – in Lewiston and Clariant’s other Mevopur facilities – which produce masterbatches and pre-coloured compounds in a wide range of lot sizes.
“In addition, production capacity for compounds is also being added during the first half of 2017 in Singapore, to handle increasing demand of color compounds for local and international customers,” Clariant said. “These small- and medium-sized lots are in high demand, especially in the medical market, since many resin producers have discontinued or severely curtailed their custom-colour offerings in anything smaller than full-truck or railcar quantities.”
