Borealis selects Taylorsville, North Carolina to build dedicated automotive polypropylene compounding plant

VIENNA, 29-May-2017 — /EuropaWire/ — Borealis, a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers, has decided to build a dedicated automotive polypropylene (PP) compounding plant in Taylorsville, Alexander County, North Carolina. This decision demonstrates the continuing commitment of Borealis to the global automotive industry. Together with Borouge, a joint venture between Borealis and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), we are increasingly well positioned to serve our automotive customers on a global basis. North Carolina has been selected for its strategic location and proximity to the company’s customer base, as well as for the business-friendly and supporting environment of the State and the County.

The new facility will help to secure the position of Borealis as a local supplier to automotive OEMs and their Tier partners in North America and serves to strengthen our leading position in Europe, Brazil and China. With this investment, Borealis will step up its capacity, capabilities and support infrastructure, ensuring that its customers in North America receive the same high level of service as in the other regions. “We are very excited to be expanding our automotive business in North America and look forward to working more closely with our customers in the region to deliver our global material innovations locally,” says Ken Wiecoreck, President of Borealis Compounds Inc.

The North Carolina plant is scheduled to become commercially operational in early 2019 and will initially produce PP compounds in the Daplen™ family of PP thermoplastic olefins (TPO) and in the Fibremod™ range of PP short glass fibre (SGF) reinforced materials. The plant will complement the existing Borealis Automotive Compounding assets located in New Jersey, as well as the current production via tolling partners.

“We are aware that North America is a competitive market with established suppliers, however, we are convinced that our cutting-edge material solutions will continue to help our customers create value through innovation and enable us to grow with them on a global basis,” adds Nicholas Kolesch, Head of Automotive Marketing at Borealis.

Borealis and Borouge have established a broad global portfolio of high-end PP TPO and SGF materials capable of solving the automotive industry’s most pressing challenges. Some of the latest innovations include new generation materials for part light-weighting through reduced filler content, chemical and mechanical foaming or metal and engineering plastic replacement. Furthermore, the companies have recently introduced advanced products for improved surface aesthetics and paintability, pushing the boundaries for the quality perception of polypropylene applications. At the same time, Borealis and Borouge’s material innovations continue to deliver increasingly better mechanical properties and robustness in material processing, helping customers to achieve outstanding part performance and production efficiencies.

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For further information please contact:

Patrick Laureys
Senior External Communications Manager
tel.: +43 1 22 400 726 (Vienna, Austria)
e-mail: patrick.laureys@borealisgroup.com

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With its head office in Vienna, Austria, the company currently has around 6,600 employees and operates in over 120 countries. Borealis generated EUR 7.2 billion in sales revenue and a net profit of EUR 1,107 million in 2016. The International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) of Abu Dhabi owns 64% of the company, with the remaining 36% belonging to Austria-based OMV, an integrated, international oil and gas company. Borealis provides services and products to customers around the world in collaboration with Borouge, a joint venture with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).

Building on its proprietary Borstar® and Borlink™ technologies and more than 50 years of experience in polyolefins, Borealis and Borouge support key industries with a wide range of applications in the areas of energy, automotive, pipes, consumer products, healthcare, and advanced packaging.

The Borouge 3 plant expansion made Borouge the world’s largest integrated polyolefins complex. Now fully ramped up, the additional 2.5 million tonnes of polyolefins capacity yield a total Borouge capacity of 4.5 million tonnes, and a combined Borealis and Borouge capacity of 8 million tonnes.

Borealis offers a wide range of base chemicals, including melamine, phenol, acetone, ethylene, propylene, butadiene and pygas, servicing a wide range of industries. Borealis also creates real value for the agricultural industry, selling approximately 5 million tonnes of fertilizers. Technical nitrogen and melamine products complement the portfolio with applications ranging from mono-nitrogen oxide (NOx) abatement to glues and laminates in the wood working industry.

Borealis and Borouge aim to proactively benefit society by taking on real societal challenges and offering real solutions. Both companies are committed to the principles of Responsible Care®, an initiative to improve safety performance within the chemical industry, and work to solve the world’s water and sanitation challenges through product innovation and their Water for the World™ programme.

For more information visit:
www.borealisgroup.com
www.borouge.com
www.waterfortheworld.net

SOURCE: Borealis AG