AKRON, OHIO — A capacity expansion for Eastman Chemical Co.'s Tritan copolyester is featured in this week's Material Insights video.
Eastman will add about 35 million pounds of capacity for Tritan at its headquarters site in Kingsport, Tenn., by mid-2014. The additional capacity is needed because of rising demand for the material in several markets, including medical, durable good and infant care.
An expanded range of compounding done by Solvay Specialty Polymers also is featured in this week's video. Solvay now is compounding its PEEK and PAEK specialty resins at its plant in Changshu, China. The firm also recently opened two news warehouses in the U.S. and four more in Asia.
The video wraps up with a look at Evonik Industries AG's opening of a bio-feedstocks plant in Slovakia. The plant is making a palm oil-based amino acid that can be used in production of compounds based on nylon 12.