Mar 22 2005
The Cyclics Corporation announced the commissioning of its first manufacturing plant located in Schwarzheide, Germany. The plant has an initial capacity of 2500 metric tonnes (5.5 million pounds) of CBT resin. CBT resins melt to a water-like viscosity when heated and with the use of a catalyst polymerize into the engineering thermoplastic polybutylene terephthalate (PBT). CBT resin is used in compounding, casting, injection molding, nanocomposites, rotational molding, and composites. CBT resin applications under development include wind power blades, rotationally molded parts and fuel tanks, tooling blocks, marine composites, automotive parts and for use as a carrier resin for color and filler concentrates in other plastics. Cyclics’ CBT resin processes between 170-240C and is available in both one and two-part systems.
The CBT resin manufacturing plant employs 70 people and is co-located on the BASF Schwarzheide GmbH plant in the state of Brandenburg, Germany. The Cyclics plant was built with the assistance of a €59.4 Million project financing package through a number of German governmental programs and KfW IPEX-Bank. The four main elements of the project financing are:
- KfW IPEX-Bank financing totaling € 30.2 Million
- Subsidies and grants totaling € 17.6 Million (50% of the plant’s construction costs)
- Equity from the from the US parent corporation totaling € 11.6 Million
- 80% deficiency guarantee of the Federal Republic of Germany & State of Brandenburg
More than 50% of the initial plant capacity is under contract and numerous applications currently in development have led Cyclics to take steps to double the capacity to 5000 metric tonnes (10 million pounds) by early in 2006.
“The team effort to finance, design site and build our plant has resulted in a tremdous facility that is well positioned to satisfy the initial market demand and stretch to help cover projected increases in 2006,” said Roman Eder, Managing Director Cyclics Europe GmbH. “Our highly trained plant operations staff is focused on producing quality CBT resin for our customers.”
“This is the turning point where Cyclics transitions from development to a commercial enterprise,” said Ted Eveleth, Chief Executive Officer of Cyclics Corporation, “Everyone associated with Cyclics and the many that have watched us grow over the last five years are excited to see us commercialize the most exciting new resin technology in the plastics industry.”
By the fourth quarter of 2005, Cyclics will announce the location of its second, world-scale plant for the production of CBT resin, expected to have an annual capacity of 50-100 million pounds. There has been no decision as to the new plant’s location with a number of sites under consideration. Proximity to raw materials, low raw material and energy costs, availability of skilled labor, good transportation routes and attractive financial incentives are among the key criteria Cyclics is evaluating in determining the location of the second plant. Davy Process Engineering, the engineering firm that led the design and construction of Cyclics’ first plant, in Schwarzheide, Germany, is assisting in the site qualification process.
http://www.cyclics.com