The Lubrizol Corp. (Cleveland, Ohio) announced a $20-million investment to its plant in Gastonia, North Carolina, to enhance production of innovative acrylic emulsions.
Dating back to the 1950s, Lubrizol has a long history of innovating and manufacturing acrylic emulsion technologies used in a variety of coatings formulations commonly used in diverse applications, including paper, textiles and construction materials. With over a dozen patents throughout the years in North America alone, Lubrizol’s acrylic emulsions have pioneered step changes in coating performance, from UV and chemical resistance to hardness and toughness improvements to self-dispersibility to lower VOCs and more.
“Our commitment to innovation and production of world-class acrylic emulsions will continue, as evident by this significant investment,” shared Luis Carthery, Sr. Business Director-Americas, Lubrizol. “While some Hycar® Acrylic Emulsions first commercialized in the 1960s continue to have significant sales volumes today, we continue to innovate and bring modern resin technologies to customers, helping them achieve advanced performance capabilities for their coatings.”
“The investment in Lubrizol’s manufacturing facility in Gastonia includes updated processing equipment, storage tanks, packaging equipment, and an increase in overall production capacity to serve our customers,” added Tom Zagore, Sr. Director for Product Management. “Safety and operating efficiency are key drivers for the changes. As Lubrizol continues to drive acrylic product performance, we need to be capable of handling product complexity, system optimization, and the safe handling of materials to achieve the highest level of Responsible Care® compliance, employee safety, and operational efficiency.”