Nouryon, a global specialty chemicals leader, has started full-scale production at its new Expancel expandable microspheres plant in Green Bay, Wisconsin, US.

The launch of the new plant is an important milestone to better serve specialty additives customers in North America in the packaging, construction, mining, and automotive industries, and complements the Company’s existing full-scale plant in Sundsvall, Sweden, and product expansion facilities in China and Brazil.

Expance expandable microspheres are used as a lightweight filler and blowing agent to make customers’ end products lighter, incorporate high-performing insulation properties or better reflect light to reduce energy consumption, cost, and environmental impact. These properties are valued across a number of applications including cool roof coatings and automotive coatings and body fillers.

“Nouryon continues to invest in developing solutions that support our customers’ sustainability targets while boosting the performance of their end-products,” said Larry Ryan, President at Nouryon. “Our customers around the world rely on our Expancel expandable microspheres and we are pleased to expand our capacity to meet growing demand.”

“Nouryon is seeing a marked increase in demand for expandable microspheres, particularly in the packaging, construction, mining and automotive industries and we are pleased to open a full-scale manufacturing facility to support our customers in North America,” said Sylvia Winkel Pettersson, Vice President Engineered Polymers at Nouryon. “This investment underscores our dedication to growing with our customers.”

Nouryon is a leading producer of expandable microspheres worldwide and has over 40 years of expertise in expandable thermoplastic microspheres under the brand Expancel expandable microspheres.