We’ve just increased capacity by 30 percent at our Bauxite, Arkansas, Precipitated Alumina Trihydrate (ATH) operation.  This is very exciting news to share, as the expansion at Bauxite is only the first step in a long-term, multi-stage plan to incrementally increase capacity there to meet ongoing customer demand.  An interesting angle of the news is the overall plan requires a relatively low capital investment compared to Greenfield expansions due to the configuration of the facility.  Phase two of the capacity expansion plan is already in motion and targeted for completion in 2015.

A long-term, multi-stage capacity expansion plan in Bauxite will benefit Huber’s precipitated alumina trihydrate (ATH) customers.

These growth plans being implemented build upon the initial strategy Huber set when the Bauxite facility was purchased in 2012.  The continuing investments to improve the facilities mean good things in the future for new product development and customer service for our valued Precipitated ATH customers.

Regulators worldwide continue to update the requirements to increase the fire retardant and smoke suppressant performance of plastics and rubber compounds.  Their goal is to improve the safety of trains, buses, roofing, office buildings and electrical equipment by insisting on parts that resist flame propagation, generate little smoke and are also safe to handle.

In order to meet these new regulations, compounders are looking to increase the loading of environmentally-friendly fire retardants and smoke suppressants such as Alumina Trihydrate (ATH) and Magnesium Hydroxide (MDH).  But, it is not always easy to incorporate these polar ingredients which have hydroxyl functionality into non-polar thermoplastic resins and elastomers.

To allow faster incorporation and higher loadings, Huber offers a wide variety of high-performing ATH and MDH products with silane surface treatments.  The surface treatment converts these hydrophic ingredients into non-polar functional pigments which mix in much more quickly and enable higher loadings for increased fire retardance.

For more information about our surface-treated flame retardants and smoke suppressants, Contact Us or visit the ATH and MDH product section of our website by clicking here.