Clariant (Muttenz, Switzerland; www.clariant.com) will expand its plant in Lewiston, Maine, and install a new compounding line to help meet growing demand for pre-colored medical plastic compounds that are supplied under the Mevopur brand name. The new capacity will come online in Q4 2017.
The new compounding line, built around a new 70-mm extruder, will be able produce larger batch sizes (for example, 3,000 to 6,000 kg /6,000 to 12,000 lbs or larger) at high throughput rates. Production will focus on materials such as polyolefins, ABS, PC and PC alloys, as well as specialty resins like TPU, and cyclic olefins. The EN-ISO13485 (2012) certified site in Lewiston is also being expanded to improve process-flow and material-handling.
“Over the last five years,” says Steve Duckworth, Head of Global Segment Healthcare Polymer Solutions, “Clariant has pioneered the development of masterbatches for the healthcare sector. These are color and additive concentrates that are added to natural polymers during molding or extrusion of finished products. However, in some cases, medical processors may prefer to use a pre-colored compound instead, perhaps for ease of handling or because of technical difficulties in the molding or extrusion process. And yet, they have the same need for Controlled, Consistent and Compliant materials.”
Clariant’s Mevopur materials are offered for applications in medical devices and pharmaceutical packaging, where strict regulations on materials and change control apply. The Lewiston plant is one of three global sites designed and operated to produce materials used in medical devices and pharmaceutical packaging. The other two facilities are located in Malmö, Sweden, and Singapore.
This new capacity complements equipment and plant investments aimed at compounding engineering resins and high-temperature polymers and, most recently, completion of a special installation in Lewiston for processing fluoropolymers such as FEP, ETFE, and PVDF.
Clariant already operates several smaller lines – in Lewiston and Clariant’s other Mevopur facilities — which produce masterbatches and pre-colored compounds in lot sizes ranging from 25 to 2,500 kg/50 to 5,000 lbs. In addition, production capacity for compounds is also being added during the first half of 2017 in Singapore, to handle increasing demand of color compounds for local and international customers. These small- and medium-sized lots are in high demand, especially in the medical market, since many resin producers have discontinued or severely curtailed their custom-color offerings in anything smaller than full-truck or railcar quantities.