Emerald Kalama Chemical Appoints Moolenaar Sales Manager, EMEA for K-FLEX Plasticizers, Coalescents

Emerald Kalama Chemical, a business group of Emerald Performance Materials, has appointed Huub Moolenaar as sales manager, EMEA, to develop new customers and markets for K-FLEX low-VOC, non-phthalate plasticizers and coalescents in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Moolenaar, whose experience includes more than 30 years in various marketing, business development and technical roles in the specialty additives and materials industries, joins Emerald from Eastman Chemical Company, where he most recently served as manager, marketing and strategy, EMEA. Previously, he also held positions with Linde Gas, Pfizer and Dow. He obtained an M.S. in chemical engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, Netherlands.

“Huub has established himself as an effective and intuitive leader with the skillset and insight to implement successful strategies for growth. I feel he will be an important asset in helping us to meet our continued goals for expansion in the region,” said Hans-Dick Terhenne, Business Director, K-FLEX EMEA. “The group has made a number of recent major investments to expand the international reach of the K-FLEX value-added platform, both in the EMEA region and globally. Most recently, we announced a multi-million-dollar investment in a new benzoic acid finishing process, which will greatly support K-FLEX additives as downstream products.”

K-FLEX benzoate technology has a proven track record of more than three decades for delivering performance, providing a highly effective alternative that eliminates the health and environmental concerns of increasingly regulated phthalate plasticizers and high-VOC coalescents. The REACH-compliant K-FLEX platform provides a range of low-VOC, non-phthalate, non-SVHC products, including those with certain clearances for use in food-contact applications.

In recent years, the company has focused on product innovation to deliver benefits to an expanding range of adhesives, sealants, caulks, paints, coatings, graphic arts and plastisol and vinyl applications. For example, in adhesive and sealant applications, K-FLEX products are known for enhancing film formation and adhesion, processing characteristics and improving the resistance of the end-products to oil, grease and water. Other important benefits include improved scrub resistance and gloss retention in paint and coatings.  In vinyl applications, performance can be greatly enhanced by blending the fast-fusing K-FLEX plasticizers with many other general purpose plasticizers to increase line speed and/or lower processing temperature, as well as improve stain resistance and toughen wear layers in plastisols.

Emerald Kalama Chemical also produces sodium and potassium benzoate, benzoic acid and intermediates, and specialty flavor and fragrance ingredients, which the company sells globally through its distribution partners. The business has manufacturing operations in Kalama, Wash. and in Rotterdam, Netherlands.