Borealis, a leading provider of innovative, value creating plastics solutions, announces the start-up of an additional gas phase reactor at its Schwechat plant in Austria that will enhance its ability to produce superior high flow materials for the automotive and packaging sectors.
The additional gas phase reactor in Schwechat (Austria) will enhance the ability to produce superior high flow materials for the automotive and packaging sectors
The new four-reactor configuration is the result of Borealis' EUR 35 million investment to upgrade its 300,000 tons per year (t/y) Borstar polypropylene (PP) plant in Schwechat, Austria. The addition of a third gas phase reactor will ensure that the products based on Borealis' proprietary multi-modal Borstar technology are fully bimodal.
Bimodality allows Borealis to tailor each product's characteristics precisely to achieve specific performance and processing benefits. The addition of bimodality throughout the manufacturing process at Schwechat will allow antagonistic properties to be combined in one material or the inclusion of different properties that together deliver the enhanced performance required by innovative automotive and thin wall food packaging applications.
For the automotive sector, the high flow PP materials will offer Tier One suppliers and OEMs the potential to raise productivity of consistent quality parts with narrow gap tolerances or improved stiffness/impact resistance benefits.
Converters of thin wall packaging will be able to improve their manufacturing cost-efficiency. At the same time as allowing line speeds to be increased, the superior high flow materials enable a reduction in both material and energy usage without compromising on such performance features as crack resistance, transparency and sealability.
"The decision to build a further gas phase reactor for Schwechat was based mainly on the growing demand we were experiencing from key segments of the PP market", comments Lorenzo Delorenzi, Executive Vice President Polyolefins. "As a result of this investment we have improved our ability to customise product performance and add the extra value our customers require for their finished products."