SI Group Adds China Location to Manufacture Weston 705

China is the additional sourcing point for the proprietary Weston 705 antioxidant from SI Group, Schenectady, N.Y., announced during its participation in Chinaplas 2021. In fact, the company will begin production by May, which will further increase security of supply for SI Group’s global customer base and will enable quicker expansion of the product in China and the rest of Asia Pacific region through compressed lead time and simplified logistics. Through a virtual press event, SI Group’s senior v.p. commercial officer Joey Gullion and v.p. of plastics solutions Chuck Reardon weighed-in on the importance of this strategic move.

They noted that within the last five years, capacity was tripled for this modern nonylphenol-free liquid phosphite antioxidant that offers global regulatory compliance combined with a superior performance profile compared to the incumbent solutions. The expansion at the company’s Morgantown, W.Va. site, was spurred by strong demand for Weston 705, which had received extensive regulatory approvals for use in food packaging and allows processors of polyolefin films and rigid formats to meet food packaging needs without using nonylphenol chemistry.

Weston 705 represents an industrially proven drop-in substitute to TNPP in most of its applications and can be deployed in a broad range of polyolefins and other plastics such as ABS and PVC as well as elastomers, including thermoplastic versions, that require stabilization.

For example, to PE producers and compounders, Weston 705 has been shown to bring much improved control of gels and plate-out in their resins relative to the common solid phosphite antioxidants. Significantly enhanced gas-fading resistance has also been shown.

The newly added manufacturing location in China will be equipped to produce Weston 705 in multiple packaging types based on customer needs.

SI Group was formed in October 2018, when New York City-based private investment firm SK Capital acquired global additives and intermediate manufacturer SI Group, Inc. and combined it with Addivant USA, Danbury, Conn., which had been part of SK Capital’s portfolio since 2013.