Life begins at 50+ for EPDM

摘要

Since its large-scale introduction in the early 1960s,EPDM rubber has become one of the most widely used synthetic rubbers,with applications including automotive parts,tires & tubes,hoses,belts and wire & cable.And,rather than settling for maturity,producers have in recent years,advanced their process and catalyst technologies to bring a new lease of life to the polymer.Among the largest producers,Dow Chemical has upgraded the polymerisation of its Nordel-brand-ed EPDMs,with the introduction of'advanced molecular catalyst'(AMC)technology.Commercial-scale production of new grades based on the'post-met-allocene'system is centred on a 200 kilotonne per annum(ktpa)plant commissioned in 2018 at Dow's Plaquemine,Louisiana site.AMC is said to enable ultra-high molecular weights,broader molecular weight distributions,very high diene incorporation and more homogenous long-chain branching than conventional Ziegler-Natta technology.