Orlando, Fla. — Materials firm Clariant International Ltd. is looking to grow in North America through new capacity and new products.
North America now accounts for 20 percent of sales for Muttenz, Switzerland-based Clariant, but the market is growing at an annual rate of 2-3 percent, North America President and CEO Deepak Parikh said in an interview at NPE2018.
Clariant has added production capacity for medical grade masterbatch concentrates in Lewiston, Maine. Parikh said that the automotive and construction markets have done well for Clariant in North America, even as a shortage of labor in some areas has presented a challenge. High-temperature materials particularly have done well in automotive, he added.
Products in focus for the firm at NPE2018 included:
• Halogen-free Exolit OP 1400 flame retardants for nylon parts. The materials enable the molding of complex parts with no mold deposits and blooming, officials said.
• Low-halogen controlled high-performance PV Fast pigments to meet the high requirements of the transportation and automotive industry.
• Easy processing Renol compounds and masterbatches for engineering and high temperature resins to provide heat and light stability and flame retardancy.
• PV Fast and Graphtol pigments that bring color to the packaging market.
• Licolub FA 1, an FDA-compliant, vegetable-based powder amide wax, which acts as a slip and anti-block agent for polyolefins and PVC.
• Mevopur color and performance masterbatches and compounds for the medical market.
• AddWorks additive packages for strong and colorful textiles, carpets and industrial fibers. The materials can offer a number of benefits to help stabilize and smoothen fiber production processes, protect color, and improve heat stability of fibers, officials said.
Clariant's ColorWorks center in the Chicago area also is dedicated to U.S. brand managers and designers with teams of color design experts to create color formulations for bottles, caps, closures and films.
Philippe Lazerme, head of plastics pigments strategic marketing, said at NPE2018 that Clariant's pigments increasingly are being used in sustainable packaging . Products in that area are FDA-compliant and are focused on low-halogen for consumer goods, packaging and electrical/electronic uses, he added.
Clariant's Addworks solution portfolios allow customers to combine different types of polymer additives while increasing throughputs and addressing other problems, according to Martin John, vice president of performance additives.
Addworks packages can include UV absorbers, light stabilizers, antioxidants and other materials, he added.
Clariant employs more than 17,000 worldwide and has annual sales of more than $6 billion. The firm's materbatches unit ranks as one of North America's 30 largest compounders and concentrates makers.
Earlier this year, Saudi Basic Industries Corp. of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, acquired a 25 percent stake in Clariant.
