Infichem plans to expand within 12 months, doubling annual capacity to 2 million lb (900 tonnes). It will then add in stages gradually to take capacity to 20-30 million lb, Sendijarevic said
Infichem will simply add individual reactors, slightly larger than its current one, and may then dedicate reactors to specific polyols, Winslow said
But the company may make 100 million lb eventually, as well as going beyond North America to Latin America and Europe, Winslow pointed out
Sendijarevic said the level of recycled polyol used in any formulation will depend on the use
“Automotive seating foam will not use 100 percent of our polyols, but if you are making filter foam or rigid foam you can use 100 percent of our polyols.” Also, Sendijarevic said, “formulators very rarely use a single polyol, they use mixes of two or three.” Hence, “our polyol competes well with, say, sucrose-based polyether polyols, which are used in almost all rigid applications,” Sendijarevic said. That means they will be able to substitute a large proportion of those polyols available on the market
As use of rebond foam for carpet backing declines, more scrap process foam is available, especially in Europe, Winslow said
And Infichem is also developing polyols based on rigid foam from post-industrial scrap currently sent to landfill — an expensive route which wastes valuable materials, Sendijarevic said
Plenty of companies in roofing or foam boardstock produce substantial amounts of scrap rigid foam, he noted. “Since this material is currently low cost to us, we can develop recycling to make a specific line of polyols,” Sendijarevic said
The polyols would also be available on the market if there is excess from the process
“Really the reason recycling did not take off ten or 15 years ago was that the economics did not pan out,” said Sendijarevic. “The big driver has to be economics now, unless the government mandates recycling in some way. So the process must be economically viable, that’s the hard bottom line.” Infichem’s polyols are priced slightly below new ones, Sendijarevic said. So the drive is not just the ‘green’ marketing aspect, it is also the potential cost savings, he said
“We realise people will have to invest some time and money to develop formulations using our polyols, so it’s nice to have
