To address consumer expectations and strengthen its competitive advantage, natural-based chemicals producer Emery Oleochemicals (Shah Alam / Malaysia; www.emeryoleo.com) has opened a new technical development centre in the German city of Loxstedt, south of port city Bremerhaven. The producer, which has an overall investment of EUR 20m in the site, said the technical facility serves as the company's global centre of excellence for its green polymer additives business – see Plasteurope.com Web of 22.08.2012. The company also explained that some of the investment has also gone into the expansion of its manufacturing facilities as well.

"Once complete, our expanded production facility will offer dust-free products with improved flowabity, making us one of the few plastic additive producers to be able to do so," stated Azuddin Rahmann, a company senior vice president.

The new centre employs 20 researchers specialising in various areas and has dedicated labs for product development, application testing and quality control. It also has the capacity for training and co-research infrastructure activities.