AKRON—Emerald Polymer Additives and Nitriles has completed construction of a pilot plant to expand its range of Nychem specialty nitrile and butadiene emulsion products.
The business group of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio-headquartered Emerald Performance Materials L.L.C. built the new plant at it Akron production site, which has been producing nitrile for more than 50 years. The new operation features a 100-gallon pilot reactor and advanced research and development facilities, the company said.
Emerald has been ramping up its nitrile-related operations over the last several years in response to increasing demand for existing and new products that it claims outperform other polymers.
Coupled with other upgrades to the business group's production capabilities, including process control upgrades for its Cure-Rite line of rubber accelerators, Emerald said it is expanding the range and scope of its capabilities for the global market.
“Development of customized solutions has been one of the strengths of our organization that we have continued to build on in recent years,” said John Zuppo, vice president of commercial services for the group.
Emerald said the pilot plant will enable the group to facilitate a more diverse range of end-use applications by supporting innovations in new emulsion compositions, including emulsions that fall outside the traditional lattices of butadiene, acrylonitrile and styrene monomers.
The Nychem line is used for a variety of applications, including adhesives, paper, abrasives and tape, specialty coatings, coated fabrics, coal tar sealing binders and leather.