Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, is increasing production capacity for its Licocene® Performance Polymers by 50% at its facility on the Frankfurt-Höchst Industrial Park in Germany. The debottlenecking of Clariant’s existing production line represents a low double-digit million Swiss Franc investment, with the additional capacity scheduled to come on stream in Q1 2016.

Christian Kohlpaintner, Member of Clariant’s Executive Committee, comments: “The decision to increase capacity reflects the steady double-digit growth experienced for Licocene Performance Polymers since their launch in 2006. It presents an efficient opportunity to support the current strong rise in demand particularly from China, India, Indonesia and Turkey, in line with Clariant’s general strategy to invest in growing businesses.”

Licocene Performance Polymers are unique metallocene polyolefins with low molecular weight yet high mechanical strength. Their low melt points and low viscosities allow optimum processing at lower temperatures and with lower dosage than alternative products. Without compromising mechanical and other properties, even improvements in end-product performance such as weight reduction can be achieved.

Licocene’s ability to support more sustainable processing is particularly valued by customers in energy-intensive sectors, such as technical textiles for mattresses, furniture and carpets for automotive and aerospace interiors. They are also used in the manufacture of masterbatches and engineering plastics, as well as in industrial coatings, and in printing inks and adhesives for packaging applications.

Michael Grosskopf, Head of Business Unit Additives, comments: “Licocene Performance Polymers were developed to address the gap between easier processing for our customers and optimised properties for the consumer. They bring added-value by offering more sustainable solutions that allow them in turn to formulate products with sustainable benefits, such as lower volatile organic compounds (VOC) for the automotive interior, weight reduction for aircraft carpets, higher concentration in Masterbatches and lower dosage in adhesives.”