Thomas Swan, a producer of specialty chemicals, has announced that it has completed the purchase of a specialty chemicals manufacturing facility at Opelika, Alabama, formerly owned by Apollo Chemicals, part of the Mount Vernon Chemicals group. No products from Mount Vernon Chemicals were included in the purchase.
The acquisition follows increased demand from Thomas Swan’s contract manufacture customers for glass-lined manufacturing capacity in the United States. Thomas Swan says it is planning a major overhaul and upgrade of the facility to a state-of-the-art, flexible plant for the custom manufacture of specialty chemicals. Significant glass-lined reactor capacity will be included in the design, the company says.
“Existing custom manufacturing customers have asked us to add US manufacturing capability, providing a strong business case for this acquisition,” says Tom Porter, business director of the custom manufacturing division at Thomas Swan. “We will shortly commence the process of fitting it out to allow significant room for sales growth, with the site capable of large future expansion in addition to the current plans,” Porter says.
Specific available capacity will include glass-lined, acid-resistant production and distillation capability with a volume up to 10 cubic meters; stainless steel reactor and distillation capability with a volume up to 8 cubic meters; reaction vessels and instrumentation controlled by the Emerson DeltaV control system; and bulk storage with tanker loading and off-loading facilities.
“This is a major step in the implementation of our global expansion strategy and will provide a valuable manufacturing hub for us in the United States,” says Harry Swan, managing director, Thomas Swan. “We expect the Opelika plant to support our continued recent growth in custom manufacture by opening up the US market to us. Flexible, glass-lined capacity is rare in the United States, especially at the mid-scale that we will offer,” Swan says.
By Michael Ravenscroft
Source: Chemical Week
We are closing the chapter of the Chemicals Import Export Headquarters, and opening a new chapter under the name of Qemetica – a chemical group driving many industries on all continents. Therefore, the change of name is also accompanied by the adoption of the key goals of the business strategy for the next 6 years. – says Kamil Majczak, President of the Management Board.
In its efforts to advance chemical recycling, Neste has successfully conducted its first processing trial run with a new challenging raw material, liquefied discarded tires. In the processing run, Neste produced high-quality raw material for new plastics and chemicals.
Sika is opening a state-of-the-art facility in Lima, Peru, to produce synthetic macro fibers, and expanding the rollout of a product range with great growth potential in Latin America. With this innovative technology, Sika is further strengthening its position as a leading supplier to the mining industry and a strong partner for infrastructure projects.
