Arkema’s Arizona debut heralds water membrane push

The presence of Pennsylvania-based Arkema Inc, part of France’s leading chemical producer, at the AWWA/AMTA conference in Arizona in February 2012 was one of the first moves along its development expansion into the water treatment industry.

The company is hoping that its Kynar® polyvinylidene (PVDF) fluoride resins, as well as its foamed extruded products, will find increasing application in the membrane water business. To this end, Arkema in January 2012 appointed business development engineer Sean Stabler to oversee this new development.

“Kynar PVDF has long been used in the pharmaceutical water process, potable water systems and wastewater containment,” says Dave Seiler, Arkema’s Americas industrial business manager and global advisor for fluoropolymers.

“With today’s increased global emphasis on purification for drinking water and chemical plant effluent, this versatile fluoropolymer is finding increased application in water filtration membranes, piping, pumps and various other chemical-handling components often associated with cleaning compounds such as chlorine, bromine, peroxide, ozone and acid combinations,” Seiler added.

Stabler will work with original equipment manufacturers and design firms to help to bring cost-effective and life-long solutions to the water industry. He will also focus on fostering development of a new closed-cell continuous foaming process for extrusion applications.

A new Arkema product, Kynar 2620 FC, has been developed for used in applications where a lighter weight, softer and more flexible PVDF is required.