Solvay Starts Up Production of Technyl Nylons in Mexico

Solvay Performance Polyamides (U.S. office in Alpharetta, Ga.) has begun production in San Luis Potosi, Mexico dedicated to the Technyl range of nylons. It was built within a few months in partnership with Chunil Engineering, a global automotive Tier 1 and long-standing customer. The 22-million-lb/yr facility will service the company’s regional customers in the automotive and consumer goods markets.

Meanwhile, as reported last November, BASF (U.S. office in Florham Park, N.J.) has a pending deal to buy Solvay’s nylon 66 business, a transaction that is expected to be finalized in third quarter 2018. The acquisition will include Solvay’s upstream and downstream nylon business in Europe, North America and Asia, as well as the downstream engineering plastics business in Latin America. Included in the acquisition are some of the newer nylon 66 materials in the Technyl brand that Solvay acquired from Rhodia in 2011, such as Technyl 4 Earth—a 100% post-industrial nylon 66 sourced from airbags and Tecnyl REDx—a high-heat nylon 66 based on a patented technology that eliminates the need for heat stabilizers—both of which were introduced at K2016.