Emerald Kalama Chemical Creates New Position of Director, Product Commercialization

Daniel Tsai appointed as a director of Emerald Kalama Chemical

Emerald Kalama Chemical, a business group of Emerald Performance Materials, appointed Daniel Tsai to the new position of director, product commercialization, to drive continued growth for the group’s line of K-FLEX low-VOC, high solvating plasticizers and coalescents. In this role, Tsai will provide leadership for the commercial development process as the business expands its range of products and applications.

Tsai has more than 25 years of experience in advanced materials, including leadership roles in operations, R&D, marketing, business development and commercialization. Prior to joining Emerald, Tsai founded Novana, Inc., a polymeric materials firm, where he also served as CEO. He has also held a variety of technical, marketing, and strategic planning roles at Imerys, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. and Nan-Ya Plastics Co.

Since 2011, new growth strategies for K-FLEX have resulted in expanded R&D capabilities to support the development of new products, as well as more than double the U.S. capacity for the line. A second reactor train was added at the group’s Rotterdam, The Netherlands, facility last September to increase capacity for benzoic acid and related benzoate products, including K-FLEX. The group also completed several other expansion projects in 2013 to support K-FLEX operations in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and in Kalama, WA/USA.

K-FLEX benzoate technology has a proven track record of more than three decades for delivering performance, providinga highly effective alternative that avoids 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.