Spanish petrochemical giant Repsol (Madrid / Spain; www.repsol.com) continues to reap the fruits of its decade-long research into phthalate-free block copolymers. With the introduction of a new line of the alternative polymers, the company said it has now completed the commercial range of polypropylene grades based on this technology that was developed in collaboration with customers in the personal care sector and commercialised in 2009 for use in non-wovens.

Repsol began looking into alternative recipes for manufacturing PP using phthalate-free catalysts more than a decade ago and in 2006 built a pilot plant at Tarragona / Spain, to test the technology before beginning to market a full range of polypropylene products meeting the requirements of all the applications and market segments.

In 2012, the Spanish company began full-scale manufacture of random copolymers with phthalate-free catalysts for injection and high-transparency blow moulding applications, as well as for film applications. Supported by the experience acquired in commercialising phthalate-free homopolymers and random PP copolymers, Repsol now is extending its range to include block copolymers for all segments of injection applications as well as for selected applications in extrusion.