Total Petrochemicals will from 2013 start manufacturing a new range of expandable polystyrene at Feluy, Belgium, with "technical and insulating properties that are significantly better than those of conventional white EPS," the company said in a statement late Friday.
Total, which developed the new EPS, will modify one of its two polystyrene lines at a 160,000 mt/year plant, and the line is scheduled to start up in early 2013.
The second polystyrene line will be used to manufacture all grades of PS -- high-impact polystyrene, or HIPS; and general-purpose polystyrene, or GPPS.
With these changes, Total Petrochemicals is consolidating its position in styrenic polymers for the insulation market, and the Feluy site is strengthening its position as the leading polymer production site in Europe, the statement said.
Total's polymer production facility in Feluy has an overall capacity of more than 1.2 million mt/year. The complex, which has three polypropylene lines with a combined capacity of 930,000 mt/year, is the largest polymer production site in Europe. Feluy also houses a 170,000 mt/year high-density polyethylene plant and can currently produce 80,000 mt/year crystal GPPS and 80,000 mt/year HIPS.
