Brenntag North America announces collaboration with Umicore

Published: 10-Sep-2018

The partnership will focus on the distribution of polyurethane and polyester catalysts

Brenntag North America, part of the Brenntag Group, the global market leader in chemical distribution, has announced a new collaboration with Umicore for the distribution of polyurethane and polyester catalysts in the US and Canada.

Brenntag North America has been appointed as the exclusive distributor for two Umicore product lines:

  • Valirex catalysts for unsaturated polyester resins (UPR)
  • Valikat catalysts for polyurethanes (PU)

Umicore’s manufacturing and R&D is in Bruges, Belgium and supplies catalysts for a variety of industries including paints and coatings, inks, adhesives, sealants, elastomers, insulating materials, PU flexible foam, artificial stone, and gelcoats.

“The Umicore UPR & PU catalyst product lines are an exciting addition to our ACES (Adhesives, Coatings, Elastomers, Sealants) portfolio,” said Ted Davlantes, ACES Director for Brenntag North America.

“Distributing these products in North America will enable our team of technical sales professionals to meet the demands of new product development and the challenges of new regulations. By incorporating Umicore’s catalyst line, Brenntag continues to show commitment to investing in key strategic principal collaborations and providing differentiated value to our customers.”

New catalysts include:

  • Valirex Co: accelerators for UPR based on cobalt, available in concentrations between 1 and 21%, and a variety of solvents such as white spirit, xylene, TXIB, and DINP
  • Valirex K15 DEG: booster for cobalt accelerators in UPR
  • Valirex Cu 8 D60: exotherm peak reducer for UPR curing
  • Valikat Bi, Valikat Zn and Valikat ZB: catalysts based on bismuth and zinc for polyurethanes, replacing tin and mercury-based catalysts, which are available in multiple concentrations
  • Valikat DCC: delayed cure catalysts for polyurethane, mimicking the effect of mercury

“Umicore has realized a tremendous growth in its sales of catalysts for PU and UPR within the past 5 years, taking clear market leadership in its product range in Europe. It is a logical step to expand our geographical footprint toward North America, and we believe Brenntag is the best possible collaborator to make a success story out of it,” said Jensen Verhelle, Business Line Manager Carboxylates at Umicore.

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