From the Sector

• The first year of TECHNYL® in China under the DOMO brand name; DOMO will be pushing forward its expansion plan of high-performance polyamides in China
• Continued innovation in engineered nylon materials for a sustainable future

DOMO Chemicals announced a long-term investment plan in China to continue expanding its production capacity of TECHNYL® high-performance polyamides. This plan aims to meet growing demand in the automotive, electrical & electronics, and industrial consumer goods industries, and help build a sustainable future. DOMO Chemicals acquired Solvay's Performance Polyamides business in 2020 and has sold the TECHNYL® products globally since February 1, 2022, including in China, one of the company's key strategic markets.

The global demand for polyamide materials is currently booming at a CAGR of up to 3 percent. The adoption of new energy vehicles (including pure electric, hybrid and fuel cell vehicles) is expected to reach 45 percent globally by 2030, and automakers are increasingly using sustainable materials to make components, which are key growth drivers of the polyamide market. In addition, the demand for miniaturized circuit breakers, contactors, plug switches, and other components in the electrical and electronics and industrial consumer goods industries further opens up the application potential for polyamide materials.

DOMO Chemicals will continue to expand the capacity of its production site in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, which has been planned to be gradually introduced in three stages:

• Since March 2022, an additional 6,000 tons of capacity has been made available, with the plant achieving the total capacity of 14,000 tons of PA6 from April onwards.
• A 35,000-ton new plant in Haiyan is planned to be completed in the third quarter of 2023, in which DOMO Chemicals has invested more than 14 million euros (97 million yuan).
• Going forward, DOMO Chemicals will further expand the plant, gradually increasing its capacity to 50,000 tons.

In addition to the expansion, the plant will also use renewable energy wherever possible, adopt advanced water and air treatment technologies to reduce water consumption and CO2 emissions, and fully comply with Health, Safety and Environmental Management System (HSE) regulations. DOMO Chemicals will improve HSE compliance continuously and work closely with the local government, while partnering with key local and global customers to accelerate innovation and development across a wide range of industries.

TECHNYL® has been committed to helping customers improve their low-carbon competitiveness since its very first year in China. It allows OEMs and component makers in the automotive, electrical & electronics, and industrial consumer goods segments to create lightweight, durable, aesthetically pleasing, smart and environmentally-friendly products.

Market leader Oerlikon Neumag has its finger firmly on the pulse of their customers with the new Color Pop Compacting unit (CPC-T) for the BCF S8 carpet yarn plant, which is now available for the Polyamide 6 process. The new solution, which was on show from 10-13 January 2020 at the Domotex 2020 in Hannover, attracted great interest from many trade visitors.

Following the trend for multicolored carpets, BCF S8 sets new standards in regards to color separation. The plant, launched as a tricolor solution at last year’s ITMA in Barcelona, makes anything possible – from mélange to strongly separated. It promises carpet yarn producers even more flexible color mixing variants for product differentiation. The core component in this process, the Color Pop Compacting unit (CPC-T), offers more than 200,000 different color shades from three colors. The innovation, which has been filed for patent, is available for polypropylene and polyester polymers as well as for the polyamide 6 process.

Polyester, recycling polyester and fine titers are on trend
During numerous conversations with customers, Martin Rademacher, Head of Sales Oerlikon Neumag, observed a noticeable trend for polyester in the carpet industry even outside the USA. Sustainable solutions are equally sought after: “Our customers increasingly demand plants that can process recycled polyester,” explains Martin Rademacher.

The Manmade Fibers segment presented an additional solution by Oerlikon Barmag for polyester applications that need fine single filament titers from 0.5 dpf and high filament counts: Puffy, soft polyester filament yarns with BCF-similiar properties are produced on the basis of a POY and texturing process. Core components of the processes are the POY take-up unit WINGS HD as well as the new texturing machine eAFK Big-V.