Novel Plastic Lands $6M In Chelmsford
FRX in Chelmsford hopes to market a "greener" flame-retardant plastic.
FRX Polymers of Chelmsford recently received $6 million in venture capital to commercialize its new environmentally-friendly, flame-retardant plastic.
"In the world of flame-retardant plastics, there is a sea change going on," said Marc Lebel, president and CEO of FRX. That "sea change," he said, will provide a big market for the company's new technology once it's ready for production.
Traditionally, many flame-retardant plastics contain bromine. But the European Union banned bromine's use in new materials beginning in 2006, saying it was hazardous and contributed to pollution. As a result, many manufacturers are looking for alternative flame-retardant plastics, and FRX hopes to fill that need.
Path To Funding
FRX was created in 2007 and is a spinoff from Chelmsford-based Triton Systems Inc., a research and development company focused on new materials.
The $6 million in VC funding came from Belgium-based Capricorn Venture Partners and Israel Cleantech Ventures. The money will be used in part to build and run a plant in Switzerland as part of a joint agreement FRX inked earlier this year with the German engineering company Uhde Inventa-Fischer, a division of ThyssenKrupp Technologies.
FRX has the exclusive right to use that facility for five years and owns the equipment, while UIF retains ownership of the real estate, according to Lebel. FRX also has pilot plants in Chelmsford.
Lebel is also working with one of the largest global flooring companies, which wants to use the company's polymer in one of its carpet lines.
Potential customers like the carpet company have helped the company raise investment money, Lebel said.
"It's a world-wide movement," he said. "Canada just adopted the same regulations and so has California. Once the EU does something, then OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) that make TV sets, connectors and many other products take it from there because they want to make global products."
The FRX plastic is also attractive to manufacturers because it can't catch fire or burn unless there is an abnormally high percentage of oxygen in the air, which wouldn't happen under normal conditions, Lebel said.
"Flame retardancy is a key environmental problem, with many governments banning bromines due to their very nasty, toxic properties," said Joseph B. Peeters, managing director of Capricorn Venture Partners of Belgium. "There is no real good alternative material available, and we believe that FRX has developed a technology and a product that is non-toxic and has excellent flame-retardant qualities."
FRX's business plan includes partnering with some of the largest plastics companies in the world instead of going it alone. Peeters said speaking with Capricorn's contacts in the plastics industry has proved to the venture capital firm that there is a strong interest in the new polymer.
"We're very excited about our involvement with the company," Peeters said. "FRX is addressing a significant and global unmet need."
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