Addivant expands capacity at Morgantown

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—Addivant more than tripled its capacity to produce its Weston 705 nonylphenol-free antioxidant with a new expansion at its Morgantown facility.

The multi-million-dollar expansion is the first in a series of three investments into the product line, according to Serge Rogasik, vice president and general manager of global performance materials business.

This phase of investment does not add any square footage onto the facility, but Rogasik said it will increase the output of the plant by more than 40 percent by adding several dedicated reactors for Weston 705. He did not disclose what kind of equipment was being upgraded or added.

The expansion also includes creating 15 new jobs. The Morgantown facility already supports more than 120 employees, according to Rogasik. He did not share projected plans for the upcoming investment phases.

"This is an area where we're going to continue to keep growing," he said. "One phase is this year, and we've just completed that one. There will be another one next year, and probably another one after that in 2019-20. It's a multiple-stage growth."

This year's investment is focused on expanding Addivant's production capability for the Weston 705 antioxidant by more than three times to meet growing demand in a global market, Rogasik said. Markets in the Americas and Asia have been the major drivers for both elastomers and polyolefins. The company has continued double-digit capital expenditures during the last four years.

As Addivant's main phosphite antioxidant plant, the Morgantown facility is a strategic part of meeting that demand. The company also will be establishing Weston 705 production in Asia in upcoming months as the company follows up with customers locally, Rogasik said. Addivant has 11 plants worldwide and also will be undertaking minor expansions at those facilities in line with demand.

Weston 705, a liquid phosphite antioxidant, is used in applications for production of linear low-density polyethylene packaging and elastomers, and acts as a replacement for tri nonylphenol phosphite. TNPP, also a liquid phosphite, has been gradually removed from shelves and formulations because it is based on nonylphenol, which will be restricted in food-contact packaging in China as of October 2017 to a few parts per billion, Rogasik said. In Europe, nonylphenol has been under scrutiny and the European Food Standards Agency also is looking at its uses around food.

"What's happening is the polyolefin and elastomer industries particularly are proactively moving away from nonylphenol and moving away from TNPP," Rogasik said. "Weston 705 is actually the only liquid phosphite replacement to TNPP. It's a direct drop-in, so if you are using TNPP today, you can use Weston 705 tomorrow."

Weston 705 has been approved for food contact in polyolefin and LLDPE in the U.S. with the Food and Drug Administration, in Europe with the FSA, and by the National Health and Family Planning Commission in China earlier this year, Rogasik said. Overall, it has been approved in more than 180 countries for food-contact packaging.

"Our core application and our core target is LLDPE for packaging, but because LLDPE, when manufactured for packaging is also very often used for other applications, we have many large polyolefin manufacturers that are now shifting across applications," Rogasik said. "It's immediate replacement of an existing market."

Addivant held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the expansion June 30 at the Morgantown facility. Along with company employees, more than 20 local, state and federal officials—including Woody Thrasher, West Virginia secretary of commerce—attended the event. The celebration included a reception following the ribbon-cutting.