Air Products to Build VAE Emulsions Plant in Brazil

Air Products Polymers, L.P., a joint venture of Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (Lehigh Valley, PA) and Wacker-Chemie GmbH (Munich, Germany), have announced its intent to build a world-scale vinyl acetate-ethylene (VAE) emulsions facility in Brazil. The new plant, targeted to be on-stream in 2003, will provide innovative and cost-effective emulsions to the region's expanding adhesives market.

Specializing in VAE emulsions, Air Products Polymers currently serves customers around the world from manufacturing facilities in Cologne and Burghausen, Germany; San Juan del Rio, Mexico; Seoul and Ulsan City, Korea; and six locations in the United States. The new facility, construction of which is expected to begin in 2001, will further increase Air Products Polymers' global manufacturing capabilities. The plant also represents the second major chemical investment by Air Products in the region, the first of which was the acquisition of Quimica da Bahia which serves Latin American amines markets from Camacari, Brazil.

VAE emulsions, which Air Products Polymers markets under the trademark AIRFLEX, are used in a variety of applications. In the adhesives industry, emulsions function as high quality binders, providing cohesion and adhesion, hydrolytic stability, adhesive strength, thermal stability, a high degree of tack, as well as excellent resistance to plasticizers and shrinkage. These products are experiencing strong growth driven by the global demand for environmentally-friendly products that can replace solvent-based and natural materials.

Initially, two product grades from the AIRFLEX emulsions line — AIRFLEX 300 and 400 — will be manufactured at the new facility. AIRFLEX 300 emulsion is used to manufacture general-purpose adhesives, case and carton sealing adhesives, and other general packaging and converting adhesives. AIRFLEX 400 emulsion is used in higher-end applications that require a high level of adhesion performance, such as labeling, vinyl laminating and film-to-board laminating.

Edited by Bill Noone