US speciality chemicals supplier SI Group (Schenectady, New York; www.siigroup.com) plans to invest more than USD 50m (EUR 41m) to expand its antioxidants capacity at three sites in North America. The company said the expansions are expected to come online in H2 2022, and will increase its security of supply by offering a fully integrated portfolio of phenolic antioxidants in the US. These additives are broadly used in growth segments such as food packaging, automotive, construction and adhesives.

“With projected growth in the polyolefins market in the US, the expansions will enable SI Group to increase its domestic supply to match growing demand, and further strengthen its position as a key partner to its customers,” the company added.

SI Group also announced that it plans to start producing its liquid phosphite antioxidant “Weston 705” in China in May 2021. It said the move will increase security of supply for its global customer base and enable quicker expansion of the product in China and Asia Pacific through reduced lead time and simplified logistics.

Weston 705 can be used as a drop-in substitute to TNPP in most of its applications, and can be deployed in a broad range of polyolefins and other plastics and elastomers that require stabilisation, SI Group said. TNPP is included in the European Chemical Authority’s (ECHA, Helsinki / Finland; www.echa.europa.eu) candidate list of substances of very high concern (see Plasteurope.com of 22.07.2019).

SI Group has more than 30 manufacturing facilities worldwide with approximately 3,000 employees. Its annual turnover is around USD 2 bn.