News

As a result of further innovation by polyurethane chemical specialist IFS Chemicals, manufacturers of a wide range of oil and gas pipeline equipment now have the opportunity to make a major contribution to international environmental protection.

In continuing to develop its environmentally friendly processes and products, IFS Chemicals has now designed, built and commissioned an innovative new plant in Roydon in Norfolk which manufactures polyol from rape-seed oil.  The entire operation is based in East Anglia; industrial grade rape-seed oil is produced in the region, having been grown by local farmers.  It is then used to manufacture polyols in Roydon, which in turn are used to manufacture polyurethanes.

Natural oils, such as rape-seed, are easily replenished and use low levels of energy in their conversion to polyols. Consequently, with over 7 million tonnes of polyurethane chemicals being used annually in a wide variety of applications, natural oil polyols have a real ability to make a significant environmental impact.

“IFS is a major supplier of polyurethanes for use in sealing and protecting  international oil and gas pipelines” said Dr Barrie Colvin, Managing Director of IFS Chemicals. “In my experience, producers of oil, petroleum and gas are very conscious of their environmental responsibilities, and I believe that using polyurethanes manufactured from natural oil polyols in their huge pipeline  development programmes will affect  their choice of  development  companies and equipment suppliers.”

IFS Chemicals has already licensed manufacturing plants around the world which use indigenous varieties of oil and fat-yielding vegetation to produce  polyols, which in turn are used to manufacture polyurethanes.  The company continues to lead the way in international environmental awareness associated with the chemical formulation of polyurethane materials.