Kuraray adds D-S extruder, Cloeren feedblock to R&D lab for barrier-film development

Kuraray's Research and Technical Center in Pasadena, TX has installed a Davis-Standard cast coextrusion film-and-sheet pilot line for its EVAL group to test and develop film structures from seven to 21 layers using a Cloeren NanoLayer feed block. The custom-engineered line features five extruders and is capable of producing cast film and sheet in thicknesses ranging from 1 to 60 mils (25 to 1524 microns) for applications in food packaging, medical, agricultural fumigation, crop protection, and building and construction. The line is also equipped with full gravimetric control via Davis-Standard's EPIC III supervisory control system. Kuraray had existing coextrusion capabilities, including technology for producing seven-layer blown film and multilayer PET/EVAL barrier containers.

Kuraray's Pasadena, TX facility recently added this five-layer cast-film extrusion line from Davis-Standard to support the evaluation of barrier sheet, film.

Kuraray's EVAL division supplies a range of ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) copolymer resins throughout the Americas. EVAL EVOH provide gas barrier; solvent, chemical, and hydrocarbon resistance; and barrier to odor and flavor permeation. Kuraray believes that the new Davis-Standard system will allow film and sheet producers to coextrude structures and measure critical performance barrier properties. It should also reduce the number of iterations required to deliver the final product, shorten development cycles, and trim costs. Finally, Davis-Standard believes the inclusion of the Cloeren technology will allow customers to determine the value and performance of multilayer feedblock designs while saving development time and costs for conventional structures.

In addition to Pasadena, TX and its global headquarters in Japan, Kuraray maintains additional laboratories in Frankfurt, Germany and Zwijndrecht, Belgium. Kuraray claims that its EVAL division, with a 65% market share, is the number one producer of EVOH globally. Kuraray manufactures EVAL resin in Japan (Okayama; 10,000 tonnes/yr), the U.S. (Texas; 35,000 tonnes/yr), and Belgium (24,000 tonnes/yr); with additional EVAL SP and film capacity in Okayama.