CATALYST FOR CHANGE Campine NV is a European leader in the field of fire retardants and lead recycling. Philip Yorke talked to Geert Krekel, the company’s managing director, about its response to changing market forces and its recent investments in new production capabilities and innovative new products and services.
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ampine NV was founded in Beerse, Belgium in 1912 when it established its chemical plant on the canal DesselTurnhout-Schoten. This is still the same site from which the company operates today, exactly 100 years later. Initially antimony metal produced by the company was used as a hardener for lead but in later years it focused more on the application of antimony oxide for flame retardants and PET production. Following an intensive programme of tests and process improvements, in the late 1990s a special team developed a range of new catalyst grades known universally today as Campine C grades. The Campine group consists of three business units: Antimony, Plastics and Lead Recycling. In 2002, the company was split into two divisions, Campine NV and Cam-
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pine Recycling NV, with all the assets and services relating to lead recycling activities transferred to Campine Recycling NV. Today this is a fully owned subsidiary of Campine NV. The company’s BU Antimony transforms non-ferrous metal sources into products designed to improve the performance of consumer and industrial goods in the area of flame retardants, pigments and catalysts. In its Plastics business unit Campine NV produces ready-to-use flame retardant master-batches and compounds for the plastics industry. These masterbatches are supplied in granular form for easy and dust-free dispensing at customer premises. In addition, the company’s BU Plastics also installed a modern and highly efficient twin-screw plastics extruder in order to increase capacity and productivity as well as to improve its product
range. Campine Recycling NV processes spent lead batteries and lead-containing waste such as cable sheathing, roofing and old pipes. From this waste Campine Recycling NV produces a whole range of useful applications such as lead alloys and soft lead. Campine NV is a member of the Hempel Group of Germany, which is involved in the area of commodities in traded metals, alloys and cast iron in Europe and worldwide. Today the Hempel Group has a turnover of more than €700 million and is represented throughout Europe and on the Asian continent.
Efficiency and sustainability As one of the world’s leading semi-integrated companies involved in the production of antimony oxide mainly used as a synergist for the flame retardant industry and as a catalyst
