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Volume
4, Issue
2
April 20, 2006
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Bravura
Performance
Through
acquisitions and internal growth,
Performance Fibers is on the fast track
to becoming Richmond's next $1 billion
company - and the region's largest
independent specialty fibers
manufacturer.
by
Peter Galuszka
Imagine
a scene a few years from now: A massive offshore oil drilling platform floats in
what the oil patch calls “ultra-deep” water off the coast of Angola in
southwest Africa. With crude oil prices approaching $100 a barrel, drilling for
oil in the ocean floor more than a mile down is now economically feasible but
also technically challenging.
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Greg
Rogowski
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The
rig, a masterwork of offshore engineering, carries a price tag of $1.5 billion.
Holding the precious platform in place are thousands of feet of mooring cables
strengthened by high-strength fibers. The polymer-based strands can handle the
weight of the long lines of cable better than steel-based ones used commonly in
shallower waters. Those fibers are developed by Performance
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Fibers Inc., a
specialty fiber company, headquartered in downtown Richmond.
Today,
Performance, along with a group of graduate students at Virginia Commonwealth
University and the University of Richmond, is studying just that possibility.
The team, which includes VCU business students and UR law students, is on a
marketing hunt for global sites where ultra-deep offshore drilling might open
sales opportunities for the maker of high-tenacity fibers. Besides the west
coast of Africa, other promising areas include the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea
and tracts off Asia and Australia.
“Offshore
mooring has been a huge market and is growing rapidly,” says Gregory S.
Rogowski, president and CEO. Once an obscure unit of the giant Honeywell
conglomerate, Performance Fibers is transforming itself through internal growth
and global acquisitions into the largest independent player in high-performance
fibers based in the Greater Richmond region and doing business globally.
The
company, which manufactures industrial fibers for use in products as varied as
tire cord, safety belts, high-pressure hoses, timing belts, marine and industrial
ropes and fabrics for awnings and tarps, moved its headquarters from a manufacturing facility in
Colonial Heights to downtown Richmond earlier this year. The
company had considered Raleigh as a candidate for the headquarters because
Performance has a manufacturing facility and a research laboratory near there.
But the company decided upon a headquarters location that was separate from its
factories. More.
The
Softer Side of Spectra
Honeywell's
super-strong Spectra Fiber, renowned for
its use in body armor, has been adapted to
make prosthetic limbs more comfortable.
Spectra
fiber manufactured by Honeywell in the
Greater Richmond region is being used to
make prosthetic limbs more comfortable and
last longer.
Comfort
Products, the first U.S. provider of
knitted orthotic and prosthetic products,
uses Honeywell’s high-performance
material in its SpectraCarb, a Spectra and
carbon composite, for orthotic and
prosthetic laminations, and in the
custom-designed Spectra Sock which
protects the inside of prosthetic limbs.
Spectra
is one of the world’s strongest and
lightest fibers. It has the highest
strength-to-weight ratio of any synthetic
fiber, including nylon, polyester and
aramid. Pound-for-pound, Spectra fiber is
10 times stronger than steel, yet is soft
enough to be used in clothing, protective
gear and other products designed to be
worn for prolonged periods.
“Spectra
fiber’s strength has made it a material
of choice for military armor, protective
gear and high-performance ropes,” said
Elizabeth Parrish, global marketing
manager for Honeywell’s Advanced Fibers
and Composites business. “These same
characteristics make it ideal for
prosthetics, where improvements in
strength, resiliency and weight can make
all the difference.”
Traditionally,
prosthetic limb manufacturers used carbon
to add strength. However, its rigidity
often created razor-sharp edges that could
damage suspension sleeves — an aid that
partially covers the prosthesis and the
patient’s exposed skin — and the
prosthetic’s external casing. These
edges can cause discomfort for users.
More than 1.2 million people in the
U.S. are missing extremities, according to
the industry’s leading trade
association. (March 7, 2006) More.
Taking
a Crack
at
the Oil Shortage
Albemarle
Corporation has launched a new family of
petroleum catalysts that will make it
easier to refine lower quality petroleum.
Albemarle
Corporation has partnered with Petrobras,
the Brazil oil company, to launch the
ReVolution family of fluidized catalyst
cracking catalysts.
Increasingly
stringent regulations on fuel sulfur
content and the ever-growing demand for
transportation fuels in expanding markets
such as China pose significant challenges
for refiners worldwide. The depletion of
higher quality oil reserves, combined with
today's high oil prices, make the
utilization of lower quality crude sources
more and more prevalent, and in some
cases, even a necessity for refiners.
The
ReVolution family of FCC catalysts will
help refiners process these lower quality
crude oils efficiently and economically
due to the catalysts' outstanding ability
to trap vanadium, one of the most common
and destructive contaminant metals found
in these crude sources. (Feb. 6, 2006)
More.
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