In 2003, Marcus Oil and Chemical, Houston, TX and the Polyofefins and Elastomer Business Group of Dow Chemical, Middle, MI, announced an agreement by which Dow would manufacture and supply polyethylene waxes to Marcus Oil made using its INSITE technology. INSTE is Dow.s proprietary single cite catalyst technology which is increasingly being used to produce linear low density polyethylene(LLDPE) plastics and some polypropylene. The waxes were to be made at Dow's Sarnia, ONT development plant. The wax facility would initially have capacity to produce 27,000 tous per year of polyethylene wax.
Single site catalyst technology was introduced a decade ago as a major development and advancement in the polymerization of ethylene to make polyethylene resins. The use of single site catalysts in polymerization reactions provides for greater control over the reaction and the resultant polymer that is produced. As a result, more uniform and consistent are obtained, and in general properties of the polymer can be altered as desired.
Marcus has now begun offering a range of polyethylene waxes made using the metallocene catalysts. |