20 October 2011

AGC Chemicals Europe were proud to achieve finalist status in the category 'Environmental Best Practice for Large Companies' at the Lancashire Business Environment Awards. Representatives from across the business who made significant environmental contributions in areas such as production, maintenance, commercial, HR, SHE, finance, research & development and senior management attended the prestigeous presentation night at Ewood Park, Blackburn.

Employees from across all areas of the business representing AGC Chemicals at the Lancashire Business Environment Awards, Ewood Park, Blackburn on 20 October 2011

9 September 2011

Following the use of Fluon® EFE Film to construct both the Allianz Arena in Munich and the Water Cube in Beijing, Fluon® ETFE Film has been used for the prestigeous Forsyth Barr multi-purpose stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand. It is the only permanently covered natural turf stadium in the world and will host 4 matches in the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Activities planned for the stadium include rugby league, rugby union, football, netball, basketball, concerts and exhibitions.

25 May 2011

AGC Chemicals to increase ETFE production capacity by 50% - see Press Release

21 March 2011

Latest news from AGC following the Japan disaster.

Press releases are available on Head Office's website (www.agc.com) and will be posted here as the latest situation is communicated.

Impact of the Tokohu Kanto earthquakes on AGC

Earthquake recovery donation from AGC

March 2011

AGC’s Fluon® PTFE is free of PFOA

AGC has launched a new range of PTFE products, the Fluon® PTFE E-SERIES.

Applications of the Fluon® PTFE E-SERIES include wire and cable insulation, hose and tube and non-stick coatings.

The E-Series production process does not use ammonium salts of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) as a polymerisation surfactant. Conventional PTFE manufacturing uses PFOA in its process but there have been concerns expressed about its persistence and widespread presence in the environment.

AGC has completely converted its PTFE range to Fluon® PTFE E-SERIES.

This announcement of further investment into Fluon® PTFE  product development and manufacturing at the Hillhouse site in Thornton Cleveleys (UK) follows the recent £20 million construction of an ETFE manufacturing plant alongside the existing PTFE production facility.

Fluoropolymer and fluorotelomer manufacturers were invited in January 2006 to participate in a programme to voluntarily reduce and ultimately eliminate facility emissions and their product content of PFOA, PFOA precursors and related higher homologue chemicals. AGC is one of 8 companies in this global stewardship programme.

Since concerns about PFOA were raised, AGC has worked to reduce PFOA emissions in the environment and has developed a new high-performance surfactant as an alternative to PFOA. This new surfactant is being registered in the EU under the REACH programme.

AGC will convert all its fluorinated products, including the water and oil repellent Asahi Guard®, into PFOA-free products (free of PFOA at or above detection limits) by 2012.

Glossary

PFOA – PFOA is used as a polymerisation aid in the manufacture of fluoropolymers and is present in trace quantities as impurities in fluorinated water and oil repellents

Surfactants

Surfactants are wetting agents that lower the surface tension of a liquid. They can reduce the interfacial tension between oil and water by absorbing at the liquid-liquid interface.

Precursors

Precursors are substances that change into other substances via decomposition. In this case, those chemicals that decompose to generate PFOA and/or related higher homologue chemicals.

The Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany - made from Fluon®  ETFE foil cushions

AGC is proud to have supplied the ETFE film used in the construction of the Allianz Arena, Munich.

History of the construction of the Allianz Arena football stadium:

On 20th October 2002 the groundbreaking took place and construction started.
At the end of May 2005 the Allianz Arena was officially opened.
Between May and July 2006 FIFA took over the stadium.
The stadium is home to the 2 football teams FC Bayern & die Löwen (the Lions).
It is the biggest ETFE membrane in Europe consisting of 2760 cushions manufactured from
Fluon® ETFE foil from AGC. These cushions can be illuminated red, white and blue.
The World Cup was played in the stadium in 2006.

 Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. has supplied the fluororesin ETFE foil for the roof of the National Stadium   and also for the National Aquatics Center in Beijing.

The National Stadium used about 50,000 square metres of Fluon® ETFE foil. The National Aquatics Center (NAC) used about 300,000 square metres of the ETFE foil. This makes it the largest and most complex ETFE project in the world.

Over recent years in Europe Fluon® ETFE foil has been used increasingly as a construction material. Another example is as illustrated above, the Allianz Arena football stadium in Munich, Germany.

The ETFE membrane, film or foil has some unique features, such as transparency with high light transmittance, is lightweight so ensures the cost of its supporting structure is reduced, is durable guaranteeing a long service life and is flexible which allows architects to come up with innovative designs. Another element of the design flexibility is that it is possible to print on the surface of the foil which also makes it possible to control heat and light in stadiums. Coloured foil can further enhance the design. For the National Stadium of Beijing printed foil was selected and for the National Aquatics Center a combination of coloured and printed foil was the preferred option