Orbia's Fluorinated Solutions business, Koura, announces signing of fluoropolymer technology license agreement with PrimeStar Technologies & InnoVent Technology for battery grade materials.

BOSTON, April 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Orbia's Fluorinated Solutions business Koura, a global solutions leader in the fluorine and advanced materials space, announced today that it has signed a fluoropolymer technology license agreement with PrimeStar Technologies and InnoVent Technology. The agreement provides Koura with access to scaling technology for fluoropolymers used to manufacture solar panels, wind turbines and lithium-ion batteries. This agreement is the culmination of a collaborative partnership that began in 2021.

Koura owns and operates the world's largest fluorspar mine and works with industry partners and researchers to develop and manufacture a wide range of advanced fluorine materials including electrolyte salts, binders and high-performance electrolyte additives for lithium-ion batteries. Given Koura's unique "mine to market" vertically integrated position in the fluorine value chain, and coupled with expertise in fluorine technology, Koura is developing next-generation fluoropolymers that can deliver improved safety, performance and sustainability while securing lithium-ion battery supply chains in North America, Europe, and other key markets.

Gregg Smith, President of Orbia Fluorinated Solutions, said, "Our energy materials strategy is clear: we will invest in solutions that enable the world's rapid transition to renewables. We are excited to license and scale this technology to bring key fluoropolymer solutions to the market."

Over the past several years, PrimeStar Technologies has built a portfolio of technologies in fluoropolymers. Dr. Joshua Levy, PrimeStar's Chief Technology Officer, commented, "With a dedicated team of highly experienced chemists and engineers in this field, our company has the capability to provide process technologies for a diverse portfolio of fluoropolymers." 

Vibhu Sharma, CEO of InnoVent added, "We are excited to be part of this project and bring our expertise in process simulation, comprehensive engineering and automation solutions, and turnkey process plants. This project is an important step to providing customer focused solutions for a number of applications in the renewable energy space. We look forward to a successful execution and completion of this key step."

About Orbia

Orbia is a company driven by a shared purpose: to advance life around the world. Orbia operates in the Polymer Solutions (Vestolit and Alphagary), Building and Infrastructure (Wavin), Precision Agriculture (Netafim), Data Communications (Dura-Line) and Fluorinated Solutions (Koura) sectors. The five Orbia businesses and their commercial brands have a collective focus on expanding access to health and wellness, reinventing the future of cities and homes, ensuring food and water security, connecting communities to data infrastructure and accelerating a sustainable, circular economy with basic and advanced materials and solutions. Orbia has commercial activities in more than 100 countries and operations in over 50, with global headquarters in Boston, Mexico City, Amsterdam and Tel Aviv. To learn more, please visit www.orbia.com.

About Koura

Orbia's Fluorinated Solutions business Koura is a global leader in the development, manufacture and supply of fluoroproducts that play a fundamental role in enhancing everyday lives and shortening the path to a sustainable, circular economy. Koura's products are used in a vast range of applications including energy storage, urban and rural infrastructure, indoor climate management, food and medicine refrigeration and even in treating respiratory conditions. Headquartered in Boston, Koura has commercial activities across the world, with operations in the United Kingdom, Mexico, United States, India and Japan.

About InnoVent

InnoVent Technology LLC is a technology and consulting firm providing end-to-end solutions in process simulation, engineering, automation and complete turnkey process plants in the oil and gas, chemical and renewable energy industries. InnoVent was advised by Mayer LLP in this transaction.

About PrimeStar

PrimeStar Technologies specializes in assisting clients in the petrochemical, polymer, agrochemical and synfuels industries to identify, develop and implement process technology solutions to meet their needs. PrimeStar's subsidiary, Blue Planet Water Co., is introducing a highly energy efficient water production unit capable of generating unlimited volumes of potable water captured from atmospheric humidity. PrimeStar has established an NBR latex division to address the growing worldwide demand for rubber gloves in the medical and affiliated fields.