Georgia-Pacific to distribute Bitrez Curaphen specialty phenolics across U.S., Canada and Mexico

Bitrez Ltd. (Wigan, U.K.), manufacturer of specialist polymers and chemicals, has announced the appointment of Georgia-Pacific Chemicals (Atlanta, Ga., U.S.) as exclusive distributor for its Curaphen specialty phenolics across the United States, Canada and Mexico. The appointment extends to all but a small group of existing Bitrez customers.

Georgia-Pacific Chemicals, a subsidiary of Georgia-Pacific LLC (Atlanta, Ga., U.S.), has experience in coatings and other markets and manufactures its own portfolio of phenolic products, including FRP resins, air dry and thermosetting systems, aqueous dispersions for lower VOC as well as crosslinkers for powder coatings.

The low free monomer Curaphen portfolio is a series of phenolic polymer resins that includes specialist grades offering low free phenol and some with formaldehyde contents of less than 0.1%.

The Curaphen product line is also gaining traction in other businesses across the globe including aerospace, rail and construction where it is favored as a matrix resin. As well as being flame retardant with good smoke and toxicity properties, its light weight and good mechanical and structural strength, reportedly make it well suited for interior components in aircraft, trains and buildings.

Paul Jones, managing director of Bitrez Ltd., says, “We already export across Europe so it’s great news that Georgia-Pacific Chemicals will help us extend our reach in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Creative chemistry is our lifeblood and it drives us to develop innovative solutions to fill the gap provided by products that have been withdrawn from the market due to regulatory reform.”

“The addition of the Bitrez products to our North American offerings augments our ability to help our customers address regulatory challenges,” adds Robert Schlager, manager of Georgia-Pacific Chemicals coatings business. 

Bitrez manufactures a wide range of high-performance synthetic resins and matrix systems used by world-class companies across the globe. Market sectors include specialist protective coatings, aerospace, defense, automotive and construction. Georgia-Pacific Chemicals manufactures and markets a broad range of high-performance products for industries including aerospace and transportation composites, asphalt, adhesives, building products and other specialty applications.

Bitrez’s manufacturing plant, which is COMAH [Seveso] and ISO 9001/14001/18001 compliant, comprises of numerous reaction units from 3000 – 30,000 litre capacity, along with cooling facilities to accommodate high reactivity resins.