Expansions: Toray’s new non-woven facility in Czech Republic; Polyplastics breaks ground on COC facility in Germany

Japan’s Toray Industries Inc says that its subsidiaries Toray Textiles Central Europe (TTCE) and Toray Advanced Materials Korea Inc (TAK) have set up new facilities in the Czech Republic to expand the Airlite automotive interior sound acoustic insulation business in Europe. This material is said to enhance passenger comfort by suppressing noise from driving, vibrations, and from outside vehicles. This new facility at TTCE’s facility in the Czech Republic will go on line in October this year, with a production capacity of 1,200 tonnes/year.

Airlite is a melt-blown non-woven sound-absorbing material made of lightweight polypropylene and polyester. Melt-blowing extrudes melted polymers through nozzles and sprays them to form a nonwoven fleece. Airlite is said to deliver exceptional sound absorption across a broad frequency range. It is lighter than conventional counterparts, thereby reducing energy consumption from driving.

The new Airlite facilities will complement TTCE’s airbag fabric operations, helping it to expand its automotive materials business. TAK looks to leverage the new facilities to bolster its automotive interior sound-absorbing materials business in Europe and step up efforts to serve automakers and leading parts manufacturers as Europe’s electric vehicle market grows.

Toray will develop products incorporating recycled materials and other eco-friendly offerings to add value and match customer needs. It will collaborate with customers in its drive to reduce environmental impact and materialise a sustainable economy, transforming societies in keeping with its commitment to innovating ideas, technologies, and products that deliver new value.

In other news, Japanese chemical firm Polyplastics has broken ground on a production facility in Leuna, Germany, for cyclic olefin copolymers (COC) to be run by local subsidiary Topas Advanced Polymers.

The chemical site’s management company InfraLeuna said more than EUR200 million have been invested in the plant, which is expected to come onstream in the third quarter of 2024 with a capacity of 20,000 tonnes/year. When originally announced in 2020, the project had been set for completion in mid-2023.

The Polyplastics site in Leuna spans 30,000 sq m and is said to offer enough space for further expansions. The company announced that 50 jobs would be created in the first stage of the expansion.

Polyplastics also has another COC plant in Obernhausen, Germany. 

COC materials have similar properties to glass and are used in products such as insulin pumps and tests for medical diagnostics. They also improve the properties of standard polyolefins in packaging.

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