New polyols give good boardstock adhesion and uniform light colour
By Liz White
In October, Invista launched additions to its aromatic polyester polyol range which are a departure for the company. The company’s Terate polyols have traditionally been made from by-products of other processes, specifically DMT (dimethyl terephthalate) bottoms.
Now it is using different raw materials for its new Terate HT polyols. One reason for this change is that the DMT business is not growing, while demand for insulation and hence polyols is rising.
Invista’s HT polyols, initially aimed at rigid polyisocyanurate (PIR) and polyurethane boardstock uses, extend the Wilmington, North Carolina-based group’s portfolio to meet evolving customer needs, the company said.
Bob Francois, president of Invista’s speciality materials business, said in an exclusive 10 Oct interview during the Center for the Polyurethanes Industry/UTECH North America 2010 event in Houston, Texas, that part of the logic behind this move is that “the DMT business globally ... is not growing. But if you look at the expectations for the insulation business to grow globally then you need other resources to make polyols from.”
While Francois is not keen to overdramatise this change, it is a significant step for Invista.
Francois, who has been in the speciality materials business at Invista for three years, focuses instead on Invista’s push for innovation.
In polyols, this means that “Bill Trowell’s team and the R&D team looked at a very good DMT-based, by-product-based polyols business – which will continue — and started to look at what other products we might need in the portfolio and what other ways could we serve the markets,” he said. Trowell is Invista’s business director for Terate polyols.
Francois declined to reveal further details of how the new polyols are made. But he noted that Invista’s traditional DMT-based polyols start as a dark liquid, and the finished boardstock is a lighter colour. The HT polyols also start out a dark colour, but produce “a lighter, very uniform colour insulation boardstock,” he said.
Francois added that this development builds on Invista’s knowledge of formulations and markets, whether it’s in boardstock or spray or metal panels or other outlets, where Invista asks “what are our customers telling us?”
Good fascia adhesion and colour
Terate HT polyols, Francois said, bring some interesting properties. Trials to manufacture boardstock have shown “very good fascia adhesion and very good light uniform colour,” he explained, adding that certification testing is also showing positive results.
“Our plan is to try to get polyols in the hands of our customers in the fourth quarter this year give them a chance to do some testing and give us some feedback,” he explained.
Initially, Terate HT polyols are aimed at use in boardstock. Trials in spray foam and metal-faced panels are scheduled immediately, Francois said.
Invista’s new polyols required some new equipment, and modification of some existing kit, said the speciality materials executive. Once it has some customer feedback, “we can scale that up pretty rapidly... As we go into 2011, we will define full-scale manufacturing and which regions we will do it in,” he added.
Invista makes its Terate polyols at plants in Vlissingen, the Netherlands, and at the Wilmington operation in the US. For the new HT polyols “we have those as options.” Beyond that we haven’t made any decisions yet, he said, adding that Invista also has plants for other chemistries in Asia.
“Our goal is to offer customers what they need,” said Francois, noting that a lot of its customers’ business are different and their requirements differ in blowing agents and processes. “We want to make sure we offer solutions for those many different needs.”
In polyols, Invista is competing primarily with Stepan and Oxid in the US, and Stepan and COIM and smaller players in Europe.
Good future growth in insulation
“The industry our Terate business services, they’ve got to have a good future,’ and be really buoyant, with the global focus on energy conservation and cutting greenhouse gas emissions,” Francois said.
Invista’s polyols people are active in PIMA (the US Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers Association) and generally in promoting energy conservation via insulation, he added.
Expansion of sales in Asia is likely, with Invista “trying to figure out ... how do we service [customer] needs globally.”
In a diverse set of businesses in specialities, Francois said the teams “have truly built global businesses,” servicing customers in the Americas, all across Europe and are also growing and developing business in Asia, in China, India, and the ASEAN region.
Asked if Invista is looking to increase sales in Asia to counteract slack demand elsewhere, Francois said, “No, it’s growth. New opportunities.
“Look at India and its demand for refrigeration and infrastructure,” he said.
So I think some of the emerging markets may for a time grow at faster rates, but from a smaller base,” he said. But, the Invista executive stressed: “I think there’s also still a lot of opportunity in North America.”
Asked about sales figures, Francois said “Koch Industries {owner of Invista] is a private company. We don’t share data with anyone.”
Invista is an independently managed business within Koch. “We’re a business that the company continues to invest in and continues to grow.” Even in the downturn, where many companies completely retrenched, “we also continued investing,” Francois said.
Asked it there is crossover between customers in the various PU businesses Invista serves, Francois said there is some, adding that each of the speciality materials units can collaborate if needed. The Lycra PU fibres business is “a good customer of ours,” for Terathane, he said.
Five speciality businesses
Invista’s speciality materials unit has five divisions
* The polyols unit makes the Terate aromatic polyester polyols;
* A polyurethane intermediates unit making Terathane glycols (polytetramethylene ether glycol, PTMEG), butanediol, tetrahydrofuran, which also licences its technology, mainly in the Far East, to fibre producers;
* Speciality amines and nitriles made from by-products — the Ditek unit;
* The Flexisolve solvent business, which has just launched microemulsion technology; and
* Diacids and ketones, primarily C-12 molecules.
