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MUMBAI: The specialty chemicals group LANXESS AG and the Russian rubber manufacturer Halopolymer, OJSC, Moscow, have entered into a distribution agreement for fluororubbers.

Maxim V. Doroshkevich, CEO of Halopolymer, and Guenther Weymans, head of the Technical Rubber Products business unit at LANXESS, met at the Moscow office of the local subsidiary OOO LANXESS to sign a contract on the global distribution of this special-purpose rubber.

By entering into this agreement, LANXESS is expanding its range of specialty rubbers into the market of fluororubbers. “This product is the perfect addition to our range of high-performance rubbers, ensuring that LANXESS has exactly the right elastomers in its portfolio for an even wider range of highly specialized applications,” explains Weymans. “Here the best Russian research resources and the expertise of LANXESS have joined together to potentially drive forward the development of new products – to the benefit of our customers across the globe.”

Fluororubbers have a global market volume of more than 20,000 metric tons/year. In the medium term, LANXESS plans to market a considerable proportion of this under the name Levatherm F. In addition to the existing LANXESS sales network, a team of experts specializing in marketing and technical service has been put in place. Halopolymer will serve the Russian market as in the past.

“Halopolymer is one of the biggest fluoropolymers producers in the world,” said Maxim V. Doroshkevich, CEO of Halopolymer. “We produce about 13,000 metric tons of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) per year. It is a global strategy of Halopolymer to diversify our fluoropolymers business from the production of PTFE as a commodity to specialized products – melt-processable fluoropolymers and fluorinated rubbers – to gain about ten percent of the global market. The cooperation with LANXESS is of great benefit to our company, helping us to promote our new products on the market and providing us with a very good partner in the field of technical rubbers.”

“The partnership with Halopolymer combines the potential of two highly specialized rubber manufacturers,” said Werner Breuers, member of the LANXESS Board of Management. “The innovative spirit that is deeply ingrained in Russian culture is perfect for LANXESS and ties in nicely with our goal of establishing successful, long-term business relationships on this market.” It was only in March this year that the Group opened its new independent sales company OOO LANXESS in Moscow.

Fluoroelastomers are extremely resistant to chemicals and heat. This makes them ideal for applications in which other types of rubber are pushed to their very limits. For example, fluororubbers can withstand service temperatures of up to 230 °C. They are also very resistant to aggressive liquids. Fluororubbers are used in aerospace, the automotive industry, oil extraction and process engineering to make seals, hoses, diaphragms, and sealing plugs, for example.
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Halopolymer, OJSC is one of the world’s largest producers of fluoropolymer products (with 9 percent of the world market). The company is the number one Russian producer of freons and fluoropolymers, and one of the largest producers of inorganic chemicals in Russia. It is number one by volume in potassium chloride production. Halopolymer comprises two large Russian chemical enterprises; it supplies products to more than 30 countries around the world; it has over 4,500 highly skilled employees; and sales amount to more than USD 200 million. The company has its own science and research center for fluoropolymers and invests in the research and development of modern fluorochemicals.

LANXESS is a leader in specialty chemicals with sales in 2007 of EUR 6.61 billion and currently around 15,000 employees in 21 countries. The company is represented at 44 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacture and sale of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.(IndiaPRWire)

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