Great Lakes Solutions (West Lafayette, Indiana / USA; www.greatlakes.com) – part of US speciality chemicals producer Chemtura (Middlebury, Connecticut; www.chemtura.com) – has begun commercial production of “Emerald” 1000 flame retardant at its El Dorado, Arkansas facility. The product is one of four new flame retardants in the “Emerald” range of high performance, environmentally friendly fire safety solutions.

“Emerald” 1000 has been developed by Great Lakes as an effective replacement for decabromodiphenyl oxide and decabromodiphenyl ethane, which are used in a wide variety of applications including consumer electronics, automotive, textile back coating and construction materials. It is designed to replace commonly used flame retardants in polyolefin and styrenic resin systems. The company said the material offers ease of substitution in existing production technologies with minimal adjustments, while maintaining comparable fire safety performance.