The chemistry between bakelite and drives

Proud to produce in Pernis (Rotterdam)

Momentive's special materials constitute the main components in automobile technical and mass transportation applications. We use these everywhere in everyday life.

We rarely pay attention to the raw materials, of which products that we use every day, are made of. Bakelite, epoxy resin, silicone. Quite common, but at some time these were first developed. Who invented the world's first plastic, Bakelite®? And who developed the first epoxy resins and silicone for commercial use? It was Momentive, global leader in special resins and chemicals.

Bakelite resulting from a chemical process

The current Momentive was formed in 2010 from the merger of the parent companies of Momentive Performance Materials Inc. and Hexion Specialty Chemicals Inc. the American conglomerate has 118 production facilities and 10,000 employees, 400 of whom work in Pernis, in the Rotterdam port area.

The special materials of Momentive form the main components in automotive and mass transport applications. We use these among other for lighting, motors and fire-resistant composite materials. But we see materials of Momentive all around us: they can be found in buildings, cars, electronics to cosmetics.

The company operates in Pernis out of a former factory of Shell. Here from the propene basic substance raw materials are processed to the basic commodities diphenylolpropane (DPP) and epichlorohydrin (ECH). Synthetic resin (epikote) is the final result. It has a wide field of applications. It is used in road construction, in concrete (which is made flexible by it), in paint, in moulds for windmills, in space (heat shields) and in powder coatings, f.e. for refrigerators. The resin comes in liquid and solid form. Solid turns again into liquid by adding solvent. Therefore Momentive Pernis has two kinds of storage tanks, depending on the resin’s viscosity.

Project examples

Pernis area

Pernis area
Pump application drive

Pump application drive
Driving pump application

Driving pump application

Explosion-proof drives

Seven loading pumps are used to transfer the resin on drums and trucks. These pumps have been running on drives from SEW-Eurodrive for years now. In the past, all kinds of drive brands were to be found in the company, but today the vast majority of drive technology is supplied SEW-Eurodrive.

Peter van der Mast, maintenance foreman W: "Reasons for this are the good opportunities of standardization and quality. In the past two years, six of the seven pumps were provided with new SEW-Eurodrive drives, still one to do".

The drives, type R97 AM160/II2GD DV160L4/II3GD, of the loading pumps are suitable for use in ATEX, zone 2. That means that the probability of presence of an explosive gas mixture is very low. Not surprisingly: In chemistry no risk is taken, not even in the field of drive technology.