History

History  

Kenrich Petrochemicals, Inc. provides products for the Polymer Industry. We are a world leader in organometallic Ken-React® coupling agents with over 200 global patents having been filed over the past four decades covering titanate, zirconate and aluminate technology to create better sustainable products for our customers. The brighter flat screen on your laptop or the OLED on your PDA. The toner that prints your documents. The TITANIUM golf ball core and its cover that give longer drives and more durability. The longlasting makeup or sunscreen you see on store shelves. The fracking that creates low cost alternate energy. The energetic and advanced composites used to defend the free world. All of these products have one thing in common - they use Ken-React® coupling agent technology for more efficient use of raw materials developed by Kenrich Petrochemicals, Inc.

Ken-React® products come in three forms. For example, 100% active liquid coupling agent Ken-React® LICA® 12, 65% active coupling agent powder Ken-React® CAPOW® L® 12/H, and 20% active coupling agent pellet Ken-React® CAPS® L® 12/L.

In addition to Ken-React® organometallics, Kenrich also produces Ken-Stat® MZ-100, a transparent, permanent, non-blooming and non-moisture dependent antistatic agent based on bipolar layers of dissimilar trineoalkoxy zirconates. Ken-Stat® N100 is titanate based where transparency is not an issue. Ken-Stat® is also offered as a 60% active powder called Ken-Stat® KS MZ60S or Ken-Stat® KS N60S and 60% active water emulsifiable grades called Ken-Stat® KS MZ60WE or Ken-Stat® KS N60WE.

Established in 1945, Kenrich Petrochemicals, Inc. obtained its name from three graduate scientists from the University of Kentucky who planned to get rich making a dimethylnaphthalene oligomer polymeric plasticizer with a 79°C melting point called Kenflex® A. Kenrich liquid forms called Kenflex® L and Kenflex® N evolved for latex and plasticized polymer systems. Kenplast® G, a non-reactive diluent for epoxy and secondary aromatic monomer plasticizer for PVC, was added in the '60's. A cumyl phenyl acetate plasticizer called Kenplast® ES-2HP was commercialized in the '80's.

The success of Kenflex® A in Neoprene® and Hypalon® wire & cable led to the development of a complete line of rubber chemical masterbatches:

  • Drimix® - Liquids converted to powders;

  • Dryspersion® - Powder dispersions of rubber chemicals;

  • Kencolor® - Pigments dispersed in silicone fluids and gums;

  • Kenmix® - Paste dispersions of rubber chemicals;

  • Kenlastic® - Elastomeric dispersions of rubber chemicals;

  • Ken-Mag® - Bar dispersion of MgO;

  • Ken-Zinc® - Bar dispersion of ZnO.

Please see our Product List for a full description of available Kenrich products.

Oscar and Eric Spiegelhalder, owners of Sunhill Corporation and Holloway Sucrochemicals, Inc. bought the license for Kenflex manufacture in the 1950’s and produced the resin as an adjunct plant to their sucro chemical production in Maspeth, NY. Upon approval by * DuPont®, a 10,000 lb./day manufacturing plant was constructed in Bayonne, NJ in 1961. The 6.5-acre site was purchased by Kenrich Petrochemicals, Inc. in 1978 where it operates today as a three-generation family owned business.

Salvatore J. Monte joined Kenrich Petrochemicals, Inc. on April 1, 1966. The Ken-React® product line was invented in 1973 by Monte in an effort to come up with a better way to disperse Zinc Oxide in naphthenic oils to make the Ken-Zinc® product. Investigation into other inorganics and fillers such as CaCO3 moved Kenrich beyond just elastomers and into the wider polymer industry. Since 1973, Kenrich has written over 375-ACS CAS Abstracted Works that have appeared in Patents, Technical Papers, and Technical Trade Journal and Newspaper Articles.

Recent R&D developments by the company are in the area of: reclamation of oil-contaminated materials for construction; anaerobic biodegradation of conventional petroleum based polymers according to ASTM D-5526; transparent, non-blooming, non-moisture dependent and permanent ESD for polymers; non-exothermic and bubble free cure of MEKP unsaturated polyesters; new ways to sulfur cure elastomers; and hundreds of other ongoing raw material and composite developments with customers worldwide – often under our standard NDA policy agreement.

*DuPont is a registered trademark of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, which is not in any way related to Kenrich Petrochemicals, Inc.