TO streamline its product portfolio, Wacker Chemie has sold its silicone-based tyre release agent business to Rhein Chemie Rheinau, a subsidiary of German chemicals company Lanxess. In other news, Wacker has set up a silicones plant in India and started up several silicone polymer lines at its Burghausen site in Germany.
As part of the sale agreement, Rhein Chemie acquires the rights to related product formulations, as well as existing segment-specific contracts and inventories. Furthermore, Wacker will continue to supply Rhein Chemie with the required silicone raw materials, among other products. Last year, the business generated sales in the mid-one digit million range. The companies did not disclose the sale terms.
Meanwhile, to cater to India’s demand for silicone compounds, Wacker has commissioned a compounding plant at its joint venture site, Wacker Metroark Chemicals, near Kolkata, India, for the manufacture of ready-to-use silicone elastomers. The plant is designed for an annual production volume of several thousand metric tonnes and can be expanded in stages as demand requires. Set up in 1998, Wacker Metroark Chemicals is headquartered in Kolkata and is responsible for all manufacturing and marketing activities in the country. Key markets are the textile, personal care, construction, coatings, plastics, adhesives and packaging sectors. The company also markets Wacker silicone sealants, silanes and pyrogenic silica in India.
In Germany, the company has started operating several silicone polymer production lines at its Burghausen site. The lines are for high-purity speciality silicones, encapsulation and coating compounds as well as UV-activated silicones for the medical, LED and electronics industries.
As these products must meet particularly high quality and purity requirements, a new cleanroom facility has been added to the site. Production, filling and logistics are housed separately and can only be accessed from outside via special airlocks. Particularly strict regulations apply to filling operations. Here, aside from special stipulations regarding clothing and hygiene, air and particle filters ensure compliance with the international ISO standard for class 8 cleanrooms.
The new clean operations facility produces Silpuran and Elastosil silicone elastomers for medical applications as well as highly specialised Lumisil, Semicosil and SilGel silicone products for encapsulating and coating electronic components. There is also a production line for UV silicones. (PRA)