By Richard Higgs, European Plastics News
London -- Composite manufacture in Russia took a step forward as Dow Chemical signed a deal with Russian partners, including state-run nanotechnology corporation Rusnano, to produce composite materials and carbon fibre intermediates in the country.
The partnership, which includes Dow's Turkish composites joint venture DowAksa, agreed to study opportunities in the areas of aerospace, infrastructure, energy, oil and gas and transportation, and to explore supplying both the Russian domestic and global markets.
The parties agreed to draw up "a comprehensive strategy" for composite production which will lead to potential investments in Prepreg-ACM and Nanotechnology Center of Composite, two Russian firms with Rusnano co-investment.
Top executives from global chemicals giant Dow, DowAksa, Rusnano and Russian composite materials producer Holding Co. Composite (HCC) signed the memorandum of intent at the 2013 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Signatories to the agreement included Dow Chemical Co. group ceo Andrew N. Liveris; Dow Europe, Middle East and Africa president and DowAksa chairman Heinz Haller and Anatoly Chubais, Rusnano's ceo.
DowAksa is a 50:50 joint venture between group offshoot Dow Europe and Turkey's Aksa Akrilik Kimya Sanayii A.S., a global leader in the acrylic fibre industry. DowAksa entered the carbon fibre business in 2009 by developing its own technology for the production of carbon fibre and carbon fibre intermediates.
