PVC: part of the solution not the precipitate of the problem

REAGENS I PROFILE

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not the precipitate of the problem

Reagens are the eminent supplier of plastics additives, and PVC stabilisers in particular –the lifeblood of the polyvinylchloride (PVC) and plastics industry as a whole. It is not too far of a reach to say that much of the world’s industries rely on this particular sector of chemical manufacturing, with PVC being used in construction, medical and the aviation industries to name a few. But despite being a company that has spanned across the globe Reagens has not lost sight of its core values, that have been in place since the business was founded in 1952, by the current CEO Ettore Nanni’s father, Augusto. Article written by Jordan Yallop.

Reagens, headquartered in San Giorgio di Piano, northern Italy, remains at the company’s original location that opened in 1952. It is from here that Reagens upholds the values of trust, creativity, passion and team spirit.

When asked about these values, CEO Ettore Nanni commented: “Any company’s strength is in its managers and employees especially when its coming from different experiences and nationalities; it is particularly important that everybody shares similar values and follows the same behaviours. These are words that I’m proud of and we try every day to put them into practice.”

At its founding, Reagens first produced lead phosphite, an early stabiliser in the manufacture of chlorine-containing polymers, especially polyvinylchloride (PVC). At this time, all lead phosphite used in the manufacture of PVC was imported from the USA to Europe, meaning Reagens became the first homegrown provider of this important additive.

Quickly becoming the centre of the plastics stabiliser manufacture in Italy, the company continued to grow and became the first European manufacturer to offer a nondusting, fully formulated one-pack system, capable of being delivered and stored in bulk.

Now a remarkable 70 years later, Reagens spans four continents, owning a total of seven facilities. Including the headquarters in Italy, Reagens has four locations in Europe, two of which are in Germany and the last being in the UK. The remaining facilities are in the USA (Texas), in Argentina and the newest addition to the portfolio in Gujarat, India.

“In total, we employee around 370 workers and our consolidated turnover is about €350 million. Most of our processes are batch ones and we produce by ourselves most of the key raw materials and intermediates needed for the several PVC applications we serve,” said Mr Nanni.

Reagens’ extensive product range is designed for all PVC and selected thermoplastic applications. Product types include solid calcium, organic systems (COS) supplied in a wide variety of physical forms, tin based stabilisers, liquid mixed metal soap stabilisers, co-stabilisers and anti-oxidants, process freeze and purge materials, and blended one-pack systems including additives such as lubricants and blowing agents.

Products are available in a wide variety of packaging options, and in many cases,Reagens can tailor-make products to ensure optimum cost-performance efficiency to best suit a customer’s specific process requirements.

A personal additive

Born in 1959, current CEO, Ettore Nanni studied at the University of Bologna receiving a PhD in industrial chemistry

in 1983, and upon graduation immediately started work at Reagens, his father’s company. Mr Nanni took over the running of the company after the passing of his father and has helped the company continue to grow to the stature that it holds today as one of the top worldwide plastics additive suppliers, which supplies all the stabilisers types in most areas of the world.

Since 2007 Mr Nanni has been the Chairman of the ESPA (the European Stabilizer Producers Association), a panEuropean association that represents over 95% of the European PVC stabiliser sector. The association is an active member of Cefic (the European Chemical Industry Council), and its mission is the promotion of the use of stabiliser additives in vinyl applications.

Mr Nanni is also an active member of the VinylPlus Board. This organisation is a voluntary industry-wide, decade-long commitment of the entire PVC value chain, to develop more sustainable methods of producing valuable PVC articles and crucially recycling them. VinylPlus encompasses all areas within the European PVC sector – including resin manufacturers, additive producers, converters and recyclers – and its remit covers the 27 European member states and includes the UK, Norway and Switzerland.

The VinylPlus programme is constantly checked by a Monitoring Committee

REAGENS I PROFILE

(involving representatives from the EU Commission and EU Parliament) and reviewed according to the TNS (The Natural Step) sustainability principles.

Speaking about VinylPlus, Mr Nanni commented: “Since 2014, I also head its Additives Task Force. Within VinylPlus, we are strongly supporting the image of PVC, demonstrating how this polymer, while using long-term sustainable additives, can stand in service for many decades, and then be mechanically recycled many times.”

Mr Nanni was keen to discuss the voluntary commitment that all companies within the European plastics industry signed in 2000, and then renewed in 2010; this commitment included a target to replace all lead based stabilisers in PVC applications. He mentioned how the last kilogram of lead stabiliser was sold in December 2015, with all of Europe being lead stabiliser free since 2016. He explained how this change must be implemented all over the world to see its maximum effect, with Reagens helping to lead the charge.

“Today it is very easy to parallel with Covid,” he suggested. “For instance, we can be proud that in Europe we can vaccinate people two or even three times, but we are not capable of vaccinating at least one or two times all the people of the world, including Africa and other poor

countries, meaning sooner or later, new variants arrive in Europe.

“There is a similar situation with lead. We can be proud that Europe is free from it, but Europe is a small part of the world economically. So, as long as there will be those areas still using lead for the PVC in windows, pipes and other products, it will cast a bad light on PVC.”

Stopping the rumour mill

PVC enjoys the title of being the best plastic for long life applications, and as such it is used commonly in the building and construction sector. For example, it is used in window frames, and these are constantly exposed to the elements and sunlight, all of which will contribute to a material degrading. Thanks to the additives it contains however, PVC becomes highly resistant to such damage, and due to this resilience, manufacturers will often guarantee its effectiveness for decades. But in truth PVC can hold up much longer.

With plastic being a topic of concern for people with regards to the environment, Mr Nanni explained that PVC is perfectly recyclable: A pipe that lasts 100 years can be recycled repeatedly, increasing the lifespan of the raw materials into millennia if need be.

Some legacy additives, such as lead, can therefore still be contained into new PVC articles, while adding recyclate obtained from ones produced decades ago: but those additives are permanently, firmly embedded into the PVC matrix, becoming their best possible grave, without posing any risk for the human beings. If you factor in that the lead element has now been removed from the manufacturing process in Europe, it can be quite logically argued that PVC is more environmentally friendly than most might think.

“The European Commission has published a pledge that has been submitted to all the plastics industry in order to arrive at 10 million tonnes of recycled plastics per year by 2025,” detailed Mr Nanni.

“PVC and PET are the only two plastics that are already perfectly in line with this target in proportion to their volumes of production in Europe. The big effort is now for the polyolefins which are going into packaging and are the main products responsible for littering.”

Ettore Nanni, CEO

A stable goal in mind

As an industry leader, Reagens is not one to shy away from investing in research and development, acquisitions and the construction of new facilities. Mr Nanni stated that Reagens is actively investing into more sustainable PVC additives, as well as reducing the dependence on transoceanic delivery of raw materials.

“My goal is seeing Reagens capable of continued growth, keeping its main focus on PVC stabilizers. Thanks to this dedication to our core business, Reagens remains successful with a generous part of our profits reinvested into R&D, new lines of construction and external acquisitions.”

Echoing the company’s goal of reduced reliance on trans-oceanic shipping, the company’s newest production plant has been built in Gujarat, India. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, no one from the Italian team, including Mr Nanni, has seen the facility yet despite it being completed in early 2021. At a cost of between €15-€20 million, the new facility shows just how dedicated Reagens is to the sector and its core values.

Mr Nanni reiterated the company’s commitment to a lead free future for PVC: “The plant was successfully commissioned in early 2021, and since then it has been fully on stream, offering to the Indian customers the opportunity to be served by the largest and most modern local manufacturing facility.

“Using the latest western technology will help the rapid replacement of lead stabilizers with calcium zinc ones, thanks to our European experience and leadership.”

With companies like Reagens at the helm, it would seem that a lead free future might not be as far away as we first thought. n