Surface Engineered Products Announces Largest Order to Date

Surface Engineered Products Corp., a subsidiary of The Westaim Corporation, announced the signing of an order for CoatAlloy coatings for a furnace re-tube with Westlake Petrochemicals Corporation, a large ethylene producer.

"We are coating more than 7,500 feet of tubes and fittings for Westlake, our largest order ever," said Ted Redmond, President of Surface Engineered Products Corp. "Westlake is the third ethylene producer to re-order our CoatAlloy coatings for a furnace re-tube, and is the first of several customers that we expect repeat orders from in the coming year."

"We placed this second order based upon the favorable assessment of the financial benefits of the coated furnace tubes that have been in service since the spring of 1999 and that we are currently testing," said John Yoars, Senior Vice-President Olefins, Westlake Chemicals. "The performance guarantee provided by Westaim was a factor in our decision. Surface Engineered Products' commitment to the success of their product provided a win-win relationship."

Surface Engineered Products develops, manufactures and markets proprietary products and services which reduce operating costs and increase productivity in high-severity operating environments found in the petrochemical and other process industries. Its first coating product, sold under the brand CoatAlloy, targets the ethylene industry, which loses $2 billion in annual production due to the build-up of coke (carbon) in ethylene furnace tubes.

CoatAlloy coatings for tubes and fittings reduce the rate of coking in ethylene pyrolysis furnace tubes by up to 90 per cent and increase the throughput of ethylene plants by 2 to 8 per cent, leading to lower unit- production costs and increased profitability for ethylene producers.