Materials firm Polyplastics Co. Ltd. is building a new cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) plant in Leuna, Germany.
The new plant will open by mid-2023 and will have annual production capacity of about 45 million pounds, doubling the firm's current output, officials with Tokyo-based Polyplastics said in a Sept. 17 news release.
The plant will make Topas-brand COCs and will be operated by Polyplastics subsidiary Topas Advanced Polymers GmbH. The firm also makes specialty chemicals at a plant in Leuna.
Polyplastics' existing COC plant opened in Oberhausen, Germany, in 2000. Officials said that since the Oberhausen plant opened, a broad range of applications for Topas COCs have been developed. The material "has become a crucial component" in many medical devices based on its purity and glass-like properties, they added.
In packaging products, officials said that Topas COCs have raised the performance of commodity polyolefins, enabling the development of solutions that are more recyclable and sustainable. Topas COCs also have been certified as recyclable polyolefins as part of the EU initiative for a circular economy.
Polyplastics makes specialty plastics including acetal, polyphenylene sulfide and liquid crystal polymer. The firm operates two plants in China and plants in Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan, as well as the two in Germany.
According to its website, Polyplastics has annual acetal production capacity of almost 700 million pounds. Earlier this year, Celanese Corp. sold its 45 percent stake in Polyplastics to Daicel Corp. for $1.6 billion. Celanese had been a joint venture partner in Polyplastics since 1964.