Ticona

Ticona is an international manufacturer of engineering polymers. The company's head office has been located at the Ticona/Celanese-Plant in the German town of Kelsterbach near Frankfurt since 2002.

Company history

The Kelsterbach plant was founded in 1961 as a joint-venture between Celanese, an American corporation, and Hoechst AG of Frankfurt. Following the 1999 merger of Hoechst AG with the French pharmaceutical company Rhône-Poulenc (which formed Aventis), Ticona GmbH was attached to Celanese AG as a separate company. Ticona represents about 17% of Celanese AG.

Since its creation in 1961 Ticona's main business is the production of "Hostaform", a brand of POM for high performance applications.

On January 1, 2006 the former Ticona business unit, "TOPAS", which manufactures and sells cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), was sold to the Japanese companies Daicel and "Polyplastics" (a joint-venture of Daicel and Ticona) which created the new company, "TOPAS Advanced Polymers".

The location of the Kelsterbach plant, with its approximately 1,100 employees, is close to the Rhein-Main-Airport which has given rise to regular disputes with Fraport AG which runs the airport. The conflicts are about the safety of the plant and its proximity to future airport expansion. The company has recently announced an agreement with Fraport to relocate the Kelsterbach operations elsewhere in Germany within the next few years.

Brands

Ticona offers a wide range of engineering polymers:
* polyacetal: Celcon, Hostaform and Duracon (POM)
* liquid crystal polymer: Vectra, Vectran (LCP)
* long glass fiber reinforced thermoplastics: Celstran, Compel (LFRT)
* nylon: Celanese Nylon 6/6 (PA 6/6)
* polyphenylensulfide: Fortron (PPS)
* thermoplastic polyester: Celanex, Duranex, Impet, Riteflex, Vandar (PBT)
* ultra high molecular weight polyethylene: GUR (UHMW-PE)

External links

* [http://www.ticona.com/ company website]
* [http://www.ausbau.fraport.com/cms/default/rubrik/2/2227.htm Fraport: information on airport expansion]
* [http://www.topas.com/ link to TOPAS Advanced Polymers]