Invista adds 22,000-tonne compounding capacity to US plant

Invista Engineering Polymers has added 22,000 tonnes/year of additional production capacity to its US plant in Chattanooga (Tennessee) for its Torzen brand of glass fibre reinforced polyamide (PA) 6.6 compounds. The additional compounding capacity started up earlier this year (2013) with a turnkey plants supplied by the compounding extruder producer Coperion.

Having been originally established as a subsidiary of Du Pont in 2003 that was acquired by Koch Industries in April 2004, Invista bought the Chattanooga plant from DuPont in 2004 for US$ 4.2m (€3.09m) in 2004. The company has meanwhile also acquired a second PA 6.6 compounding plant by purchasing for an unspecified amount a PA compounding and recycling plant in Born, Netherlands from VSL Holding in December 2012, along with its 30 employees.

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The company claims to be the worldwide largest PA 6.6 polymer producer. It also compounds PA 6.6 polymer with not only glass fibre reinforcement, but also with mineral fillers. Its Torzen PA 6.6 compounds are additionally available in elastomer-modified and flame retardant versions.

In May 2013, Invista announced that it had reserved land in the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park with a view towards production of the polyamide pre-cursor feedstock hexamethylene diamine (HMD) that may possibly be also used as the basis for PA 6.6 production on land adjoining the planned HMD production site in Shanghai.

Invista is an integrated producer of chemical intermediates, polymers and fibers that also producers polyamide and polyester fibre. Its product brands also include Lycra elastane (spandex) polyurethane-polyurea copolymer fabrics, Coolmax polyester fibre based moisture-absorbing fabrics, Cordura polyamide fibre based tear-resistant fabrics, Stainmaster PA 6.6 carpet fibres and Antron hollow PA 6.6 carpet fibres.

More information: www.invista.com

Invista Engineering Polymers, Chattanooga, Tenn., USA