Catalyst for change Campine

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.

Campine 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 Campine 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

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for the PET industry, Campine NV takes its environmental responsibilities seriously.

Mr Krekel said, “During the last ten years we have worked hard to bring the company to a new level of efficiency and sustainability, enough to see us through the next 100 years of production and trading. We have made significant improvements in site infrastructure, operational processes and facilities that put us in place to further develop our innovative chemical processes and move towards optimal sustainability. Today our antimony processing plant is the biggest in the world outside of China and we plan to maintain our leadership position in this area. Our antimony business depends on world market prices which have gone up dramatically in the last five years so we can’t look at sales in financial terms alone.”

“Antimony production is the largest business sector in our group and although our Lead division processes more than 45,000 tons of products every year and our Antimony division processes only 12,000 tons per year, the turnover for the Antimony division is much bigger.”

Mr Krekel went on to say, “Our plastics unit makes master-batches for industries and creates further commercial synergy within our sphere of business activities. Our main customers are in the PVC industry for flame retardants and also for other flame retardant applications such as the construction industry and for infrastructure projects. This is in addition to our other customers whose main focus is the automotive, packaging and transportation industries. We also supply companies involved in the electronics industries who produce cables and other electrical components. We develop special products with unique properties for more than 50 per cent of our customers and this figure is growing as more and more of our clients require custom-made products. We have our own testing facilities inhouse and work in close collaboration with the research departments of leading universities in Belgium, Germany and other countries.

“Our customer base is spread worldwide and we are achieving better representation in key areas such as South East Asia and the Middle East. We have a network of partners, many of which have been working with us for over 40 years, who are able to provide products and services that meet the local needs of our customers. So we are, as they say, a globally focused company but with local expertise and services. In addition, sustainability is very much a priority for us, as it has been in Belgium for many years now, and our production processes are being continuously monitored and upgraded in order to meet our ongoing programme of environmental improvement.”

In the area of recycling, the company produces a full range of lead alloys and soft lead products manufactured from residues. By doing so, the Campine Recycling NV division works to keep the environment safe from discarded and scrap batteries and other spent lead residues by recycling them with best available technology into new applications such as batteries, cable sheathing, roofing, sanitary products and glass. n