April 2013 Additives for Polymers5

Società Chimica Larderello acquires Joseph Storey to boost flame-retardant offering

Italy’s Società Chimica Larderello SpA (SCL) has acquired UK-based Joseph Storey & Co Ltd,

manufacturer of the Storflam brand of borates and stannates. The Storflam product range includes zinc borate and zinc hydroxystannate, widely used in polymers as flame retardants to meet increasingly stringent legislation.

Both SCL and Joseph Storey have long histories in the chemical industry. The Italian company was estab-lished in 1818 and claims to be the oldest worldwide producer of borates, as well as the only European pro-ducer of boron speciality products. It produces two main groups of products – special boric derivates (including the Borowood®, Zinborel® and Foliarel® brands) and special fertilizers (FertiGobal®) – and supplies a range of industries from nuclear and electronic to chemical and pharmaceutical in more than 50 countries. SCL has headquarters in Milan and a plant in Larderello in Italy’s Pisa province. It also has overseas offices in Kansas City (USA) and Shanghai (People’s Republic of China).

Joseph Storey of Lancaster, UK, was founded in 1860 and, like SCL, was a pioneer in the production of zinc borate. Today, its products improve fire and smoke per-

formance in many polymer systems, with and without the presence of halogens, it reports. The replacement of anti-mony trioxide is a key feature. Its products are used today ‘across the full spectrum’ of plastic, rubber and coatings industries, from electrical cables, automotive and aerospace to marine and construction applications, it says. The com-pany offers a well-equipped technical service laboratory and is supported by a global network of distributors.

The acquisition of Joseph Storey by SCL marks the two companies joining forces to complement each other’s products to offer a wider range of flame retardant and smoke suppressant products to customers. The brands of both companies are ‘well recognized and respected in the market’, they say. By acquiring Joseph Storey, SCL says it is showing its commitment to offering a wide range of solutions to its clients and in continuing to hold its posi-tion ‘as the world’s leading manufacturer of borate-based products’. ‘We acquired Joseph Storey because of its long experience in making high-quality polymer additives. Its

range of products is a complementary fit to ours. Now we can approach the market with a wider range of flame retardant and smoke suppressant products, and offer concrete solutions to our customers’, according to SCL’s managing director Paolo Bonini.

Contact: Società Chimica Larderello SpA, Via Fara, 28, 20124 Milan,

Italy. Tel: +39 02 6771681, Fax: +39 02 677168 20,

Email: info@scl.it, Web: www.scl.it/en

Or contact: Joseph Storey and Co, Ltd, Heron Chemical

Works, Lancaster LA1 1QQ, UK. Tel: +44 1524 63252,

Fax: +44 1524 381805, Email: info@josephstorey.com,

Web: www.josephstorey.com

Clariant invests to support North American packaging customers, cooperates with Melitek

Speciality chemicals firm Clariant is extending its colour and special effects’ testing services

for North American customers in the packag-ing sector, one of the company’s key markets. A new production-scale stretch blow-moulding machine has been installed at its ColorWorks™ Design & Technology Center in West Chicago, IL, USA, to allow developers of PET plastic contain-ers to evaluate Clariant colour and special-effect masterbatches in full-size, three-dimensional bottles instead of flat injection-moulded chips.

The new machine is typical of those used in actual package manufacturing, so designers and brand manag-ers are now able to develop realistic samples for almost immediate evaluation, Clariant explains. The availability of the PET blow-moulding machine alongside the other services on offer at the ColorWorks facility means that package developers can now make their decisions about colour and special effects and produce sample contain-ers, all in one facility, the company says. There is no need to travel extensively, ship masterbatch samples, or tie up valuable production machines for these evalua-tions, it comments. Colour changes are quick and easy so customers usually can complete their work in a day or two and, if necessary, have production quantities of masterbatch delivered to their converters soon after that, according to Clariant.

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