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.
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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. |
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.