J-Tec Material Handling, Kapellen, Belgium, recently designed and built a turnkey polymer processing installation on the site of SABIC’s production plant in Bergen Op Zoom, the Netherlands. With a capacity of 10t/h, this produces a monomer mix that acts as a key component for a polymer developed by SABIC primarily for use in the automotive industry. This latest polymer formula provides an even more technically sophisticated variant of its LEXAN™ polycarbonate resin and is used, for example, in the production of modern car headlights that have become so complicated that a need had arisen for a dedicated material which could comply with the latest industry standards.

 

A crucial step in the production process at the new installation involved precise mixing of solids into liquids, an area where J-Tec has developed considerable expertise. Extensive trials were carried out beforehand at the J-Tec test centre in order to guarantee the mixing quality and nitrogen blanketing is employed to remove any explosion risk. Except for the automation, J-Tec delivered the complete process installation on a turnkey basis, from unloading of road powder tankers through to filling of the reactors. The company has just been awarded another SABIC contract, this time in Spain. www.j-tec.com 

 

 

 

 

At SABIC’s new Bergen Op Zoom facility there is a requirement for extremely precise mixing of specialist monomer formulations into liquids