Croda

Croda is a world leader in natural based speciality chemicals which are sold to virtually every type of industry. The company has approximately 3400 employees, working at 43 sites in 34 countries with activities broadly classified into two divisions: Consumer Care and Industrial Specialities

Within the Industrial Specialities division, Croda Polymer Additives is a world leader specialising in additives for surface modification of plastics, including friction reduction, anti-blocking, anti-static, anti-fogging / wetting, dispersion technology and nano-particulate UV absorbers. The Crodamide™ and Atmer™ product lines play a vital role in modern packaging, from optimising polymer processing and handling during manufacture, to improving part performance and aesthetics in end applications.

In all aspects of their business, there is a constant focus on sustainability, process safety, process efficiency and a desire to continually improve.

In order to improve reactor utilisation at their Hull manufacturing site, Croda recently undertook a project to understand the variability in batch time observed with one of their reactors.

Faced with a large number of interlinked process variables - any one of which could have been the cause for the variability, the Technical Engineering Team at Hull enlisted the help of AJM Consulting.

Analysis of a dataset collected over a four week period highlighted a number of factors for batch cycle time variability. Most significantly, the use of MS2 allowed the team to focus on one key process variable

Adjusting identified process parameters has led to a reduction in the batch cycle time variability and an increase in the output from the site’s main reactor.

“Without the use of MS2, it would have taken the team considerably longer to identify the process variable most affecting cycle time variability. The improvement in reactor output has more than paid for the investment.”