New Nova material combines PE with PS

After years of working with polyethylene and polystyrene, Nova Chemicals has decided to put the two together.

US-based Nova has created a PE/PS blend that combines the easy processing of PS with the strength and abrasion resistance of PE, according to Michel Berghmans, Nova’s styrenics research and development manager.

Berghmans spoke at Flexpo 2008, hosted by Chemical Market Resources, 25-27 June in Galveston.

The PE/PS product first was commercialised in mid-2007 at a Nova plant in Monaca, Pennsylvania. A single grade currently is available, but more can be added if sales ramp up, Berghmans said. The material is being priced and marketed as an additive for use with resins such as low and linear low density PE.

Applications for the new material include foam, injection moulded parts and film. In foams, Nova’s PE/PS can improve stiffness and dimensional stability and offer cost savings through lower material consumption, the company said. It can also be painted and recycled.

Berghmans added that Nova’s PE/PS is different from an ethylene-styrene copolymer made previously by Dow Chemical. Compared with the Dow product, the Nova material is “more of a standard blend” and is made through reactor polymerisation, he said.

Nova posted sales of $6.7bn in 2007, up about 3% for the prior year. The firm employs more than 3,000 and is a major North American maker of PE and of PS through its Ineos Nova LLC joint venture in Channahon, Ill.