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A small Devon town has become the first in Britain to ban plastics bags - or at least its 43 shopkeepers are volunteering not to give them away.
In Modbury, population 1,553, shoppers can take their own plastic bags into shops, but if they want a bag they will have to buy one from a range of recycled cotton bags priced between £1.50 and £3.95 or paper and biodegradeable corn starch bags from 5 to 10p.
The bag ban was started by Rebecca Hosking, a local wildlife photographer, after seeing albatross chicks in the Hawaiian island of Midway that had died after swallowing discarded plastic bags. She showed a film of the effects of marine rubbish to local traders and it shocked them into deciding on the ban. The ban starts tomorrow and will run for at least six months. The re-usable bags on sale in Modbury are being imported from Mumbai in India and printed in Britain with water-based ink. They have organic and fairtrade certification, something which appears to have bitten Sainsbury's in its PR department. After the supermarket chain's celebrated designer 'I'm not a plastic bag' bags were stalked by 3 am queues of fashion investors who put them on sale on eBay for reputedly 50 times or more the £5 they paid for them, it was revealed that instead of 'making a difference to the world' as the bag was billed, it may have been making a somewhat different impact. For it was neither organic, not fairtrade, having been made in China where cotton picking and garment manufacture have poor reputations for child labour and sweat shop wages. And the bags had been shipped half way round the world, raising questions about their real carbon footprint.
Acrylics the next target for bio-sourcing April 30, 2007
Bio-sourcing for acrylic polymers is to be researched by Rohm and Haas in co-operation with energy crop company Ceres in the USA. The two companies, working with a $1·5 million research grant from the US Department of Agriculture, will investigate the potential for producing methacrylate monomers alongside cellulosic ethanol from energy crops.
Molecular biologists and biochemistry experts at Ceres say that some plants naturally produce compounds similar to methacrylate monomers, but do not necessarily accumulate them in extractable forms or quantities. They believe it may be feasible to alter the way plants produce these compounds so that they can be extracted from the dried stalks, stems and leaves before these are fed into biorefineries producing ethanol from cellulose.
Making methacrylate monomers as a by-product would be an extra incentive to companies to invest in biorefineries capable of producing ethanol from cellulose.
Web site tells students about the energy efficiency of plastics April 30, 2007
PlasticsEurope, the association of European plastics manufacturers, has set up an educational web site - FuturEnergia - to help raise students' awareness about energy efficiency and sustainable energy solutions. It is intended to reach 56,000 schools and 1,500,000 students across 34 countries between the ages of 11 and 18 and is part of PlasticsEurope's participation in the EU's Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign. The interactive web site, which is being used as a teaching aid to supplement national curricula, highlights steps to reduce energy consumption as well as many of the 'energy preserving' and 'energy providing' benefits of plastics.
Ticona to make long fibre reinforced compounds in China from next year April 30, 2007
Following the confirmation of a site for its Chinese ultra high molecular weight polyethylene plant, Ticona is to build the other new Chinese plant that it announced last year at Chinaplas alongside. The 2,000 tonnes Celstran long fibre-reinforced thermoplastics compounding facility will be built at the Celanese integrated chemical complex in Nanjing and will be operational early next year. It will push Ticona's global capacity for Celtran LFRT, made at Kelsterbach, Germany, and Winona, Minnesota, USA, up to 35,000 tonnes.
Ashland plans epoxy vinyl ester expansion April 30, 2007
Ashland Composite Polymers is expanding production of epoxy vinyl ester. Over the next two years it will be 'adding the necessary capacity in the Americas and elsewhere' to meet growing demand for its Derakane and Hetron resins, which are used to manufacture corrosion-resistant equipment for waste water treatment, chemical processing and mining industries. They are also used to make wind turbine blades.
New director at BASF April 30, 2007
Changes to BASF's supervisory board see Dr Friedrich Wirsing replace Dr Karlheinz Messmer on his retirement today. Dr Wirsing is a plant manager and the deputy chairman of the Committee of Executive Representatives of BASF.
Caps and plugs moulder to add Chinese plant April 29, 2007
MOCAP, a manufacturer of standard sealing plugs and caps with plants in Telford and in Missouri, USA, is to open a third factory, in China. The 75,000 ft² plant near Hong Kong International Airport will have injection moulding and PVC dip moulding facilities. It will also have in-house mould making, and the company plans to make 200 - 300 moulds annually to support the introduction of a new series of injection-moulded plugs.
The company is offering its Chinese-built moulds for free or at minimum cost to customers for bespoke products, and to shorten lead times will ship them to whichever of its plants is the most geographically suitable.
Intermediates expansion planned by Rhodia April 29, 2007
New plants for nylon intermediates and silica fillers are to be built by Rhodia.
A Eur 30 million expansion of phenol and acetone production capacities by 25 per cent and cyclohexanol by 43 per cent at Paulinia in Brazil will strengthen Rhodia's position in the regional intermediates market and reinforce its upstream integrated polyamide chain.
The 220,000 tonnes sodium silicas plant will be built as a joint venture with Qingdao Haiwan Group and Qingdao Dongyue Sodium Silicate Company at Qingdao in China. Sodium silicate is an intermediate for precipitated silica manufacturing. The new facility will supply Rhodia's Asian silica manufacturing plants in Qingdao, China and Incheon, South Korea, which make high performance silica used in low rolling resistance tyres.
Both plants will come on stream next year.
GE confirms plastics division sale later this year April 25, 2007
General Electric's chief executive Jeff Immelt has gone on the record to shareholders that GE Plastics will be sold in the second or third quarter of this year. He told the company's annual meeting today that GE had received 'significant interest' in the plastics business. There are no direct clues yet from whom, but most commentators point to reports that Sabic of Saudi Arabia is putting together a bid of as much as $12 billion. Early speculation when the sale of the company was mooted in January valued it at nearer $10 billion.
Basell to resurrect US polypropylene plant April 25, 2007
An inactive polypropylene plant at Basell's Bayport plant in Texas, USA, is to be restarted after six years idle. The company currently operates two Spheripol process plants at Bayport with a combined capacity of 530,000 tonnes. The plant to be restarted also uses the Spheripol process and has a capacity of 220,000 tonnes. It will be fully refurbished and upgraded before start-up which is scheduled for the second quarter of 2008.
The company said that while the North American market has experienced little or no growth over the last two years, its own capacity is sold out and its plants are fully loaded. Restarting the Bayport plant 'is an extremely cost effective way to add capacity'. In addition, synergies from operating multiple production lines at the same site will reduce unit fixed costs for all three lines.
Amcor unveils plans for job cuts and plant closures in European flexibles April 24, 2007
The 'comprehensive restructuring' of its European flexible packaging business announced by Amcor in February is to begin with a cull of 900 jobs from the 7,600 employed across Europe. The job cuts are in addition to jobs shed in plant closures still to be announced.
Amcor has 38 plants in 15 countries. Seven are in Southern Europe and one each in Poland and Russia. One objective of the restructuring plan is to 'increase weighting in lower cost regions, particularly in Southern and Eastern Europe' and eventually a third of the company's European manufacturing sites will be in these countries. Where the axe is to fall is still under discussion and Amcor says plant closure proposals will be prepared by local management.
In operational terms Amcor envisages a substantial reduction in the number of extrusion plants. In its conversion operations there will be 'a significant reduction in the number of sites with flexographic or gravure printing'. Across the business, it says, there will be a smaller number of larger plants with an improved technology or market segment focus.
Amcor is planning to invest Eur 40 million over two years to buy new equipment and move major equipment between plants. It is also spending Eur 26 million on a plant in Poland to supply PepsiCo with snack food packaging.
With its announcement of the rationalisation in February Amcor also put its European PET container business up for sale.
Taking flame retardants out and recycling 'is better than dumping WEEE scrap' April 24, 2007
The research into recycling scrap electrical/electronic equipment started two years ago by WRAP has confirmed the original conjecture that components containing brominated flame retardants are better treated and recycled than disposed of in landfill, incineration or other recycling options.
The research programme, carried out by Axion Recycling, tested the Creasolv and Centrevap solvent-based methods of removing brominated flame retardants. Both methods were shown to be more financially viable than landfill or incineration. The Creasolv process, initially devised by the Fraunhofer Group but further developed by WRAP, was more successful at removing BFRs, but the WRAP-developed Centrevap was also able to remove other insoluble impurities from a range of polymer types.
Axion concluded that a combination of the best features of the Centrevap and Creasolv processes has potential to produce a process which can remove not only the majority of BFRs but also the majority of other fine particulate contaminates. The new methods provide a substantially better financial and environmental option for producing new high grade polymer, with both processes consuming less than 20 per cent of the primary energy used in the virgin polymer production process.
WRAP says that although further development is required, it believes that BFR polymer treatment processes could be deployed commercially throughout the UK in as little as two to four years. WRAP and Fraunhofer have entered into a technology sharing agreement which will make the Creasolv process technology available for license in Britain through WRAP.
Nova Innovene names leadership team April 24, 2007
Three of the senior executives who will run the expanded Nova Innovene polystyrene joint venture have been named. Kevin McQuade, currently chief executive of Ineos Styrenics will be chief executive. Martin Pugh, who is managing director of Nova Innovene becomes managing director, Europe of the enlarged company. And Nova Innovene finance director Chris de la Camp becomes chief financial officer. The other two members of the team, the vice president, purchasing & supply chain and the vice president of operations, will be named in the coming weeks.
Eastman uprates non-wovens technology April 24, 2007
A new family of materials for non-woven applications has been introduced by Eastman Chemical. The company has combined 'years of development activity by Eastman chemists and engineers to deliver the next generation in non-wovens technology' - its EastONE brand.
First to market is EastONE S85030 water dispersible polymer intended for micro-fibre non-woven textile, filtration and flushable/dispersible applications. This is a copolyester which enables the use of sustainable processes to produce micro-fibre structures without requiring the use of a potentially damaging chemical wash process: in traditional spun-bond or melt-blown non-wovens manufacture, chemicals are used to separate the bicomponent fibres, but the water-dispersible EastONE copolyester uses water to separate the component strands. The EastONE processes also enable the recovery of dispersed polymers.
End use benefits claimed include light weight, high strength, enhanced durability and breatheability in fabrics, improved air and liquid filtration performance, and high wet pick-up in wiping applications.
Fluoropolymer colorist added to ColorMatrix group April 24, 2007
The specialist colour supplier ColorMatrix has been augmented with a Swiss manufacturer of specialist colorants. ColorMatrix, which reckons to be the world's largest manufacturer of liquid colorant and additive concentrates, is owned by American investment company Audax Group. Audax bought US-based ColorMatrix in May 2006 and went on to buy another liquid colorant specialist, Dosicolor of Argentina, in February this year. Now Audax has bought Colorant-Chromatics Group of Switzerland, which makes colorants for high performance thermoplastics, with an emphasis on fluoropolymers.
Colorant-Chromatics will continue to operate from its existing locations - it also has facilities in the USA, Finland and China.
Russian plastics demand grew 15 per cent last year April 24, 2007
A new report from AMI analysing the plastics industry in Russia and the CIS countries makes a stark contrast to the recent MBD report on plastics in Britain. According to AMI Russian and CIS demand for thermoplastics grew 15 per cent last year on 2005, and has doubled since 2000. It was nearly 3·3 million tonnes in 2006, and still has vast potential for growth. AMI puts per capita consumption at 23 kg compared with more than 80 kg for the EU.
Since the financial crisis of 1998 greater political and
economic stability has led to increased investment in plastics processing which has resulted
in substantial growth for some sectors, such as building and infrastructure and food
packaging which between them account for two thirds of thermoplastic demand in Russia. More than 97 per cent of demand is in commodity polymers, with the greatest increase since 2000 in PVC and EPS, driven by growth in building products. Investments in food processing and the growth of supermarket shopping are responsible for the other major growth area, food packaging, and there have been substantial investments in BOPP film, PET preforms and bottles and polyethylene stretch films.
The oil and gas reserves in the area support a production capacity of more than 4 million tonnes of commodity plastics, of which around 3 million tonnes are in Russia. But AMI says much of this capacity is old and in need of updating - Russia only gained capacity for linear polymers in 2005. New plants are being planned, and Russian capacity could double by 2010.
The report costs Eur 575.
Buss scores biggest ever order with cable compounding lines April 24, 2007
The biggest-ever order for Buss compounding equipment has been placed by 'a multinational cable manufacturer' for seven cable compound lines, bringing in production that was previously outsourced. The Eur 10 million order is for Quantec and MKS kneader equipment which will be delivered throughout this year and fully commissioned in three plants by March 2008.
The lines will be capable of processing PVC, halogen-free flame-resistant cable compounds, cross-linkable polyethylene, black masterbatch, and black polyethylene jacketing compounds.
Major investment by German toolmaker April 24, 2007
German hot runner and mould maker Männer has opened a Eur 12 million, 7,600 m² production facility at its Bahlingen headquarters. It brings together machining operations such as milling, grinding, jig grinding, and hardening into a single area. A special unit carries out mould optimisation, rapid prototyping, replacement parts manufacture and service. The plant includes a large-scale test centre equipped with 80 to 450 tonne injection moulding machines for sampling and test runs.
O-I enters two joint ventures April 24, 2007
Owens-Illinois has entered two packaging joint ventures in Mexico. Its O-I HealthCare Packaging de Mexico has linked with Pavisa Industries in O-I Pavisa to make plastic healthcare containers and with Bepensa Industries in O-I Mega, making compression-moulded carbonated soft drink closures.
PHA plant to come on stream next year April 23, 2007
The Telles joint venture between Metabolix and ADM in the USA is firming up plans to commercialise its Mirel Natural Plastics with production due to start up in 2008 at the 50,000 tonnes plant at Clinton in Iowa. Mirel is a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) made from corn sugar and other agricultural products using proprietary fermentation technology developed by Metabolix. Metabolix' partner in the venture, ADM - Archer Daniels Midland Company - is one of the world's largest processors of soybeans, corn, wheat and cocoa into biodiesel, ethanol, soybean oil and meal, corn sweeteners, flour and other food and feed ingredients.
Mirel can be used in injection moulding, paper coating, cast film and sheet, blown film, and thermoforming. Metabolix says it is currently working with more than 40 prospective customers on more than 60 applications, including consumer products, packaging, single use disposables, and products used in agriculture and erosion control.
Radici makes nylons in China April 23, 2007
Italian engineering plastics manufacturer Radici Novacips has opened a plant in China. It has set up Radici Plastics (Suzhou) Co at Suzhou in Jiangsu province, about 80 km from Shanghai. The new company will produce polyamide compounds (Radilon PA6 and PA66). Other products, such as Raditer PBT may be added in the future. Radici expects the average growth rate of polyamide consumption in China to be 13 per cent from 2003 to 2008.
New MD at Illig UK April 23, 2007
New managing director of Illig UK is Geoff Brooks, who has taken over from Joe Dilley following Mr Dilley's retirement earlier this month. Mr Brooks has been sales engineer responsible for the South and West for the past seven years. Illig will be demonstrating its third generation thermoforming machinery at an in-house exhibition in Biggleswade on June 5 and 6.
BNL buys Cobb Slater April 23, 2007
Bearing manufacturer BNL (UK) has bought injection moulder Cobb Slater, which is also prominent in the plastics bearing business. Cobb Slater, which employs around 60 people at Darley Dale near Matlock in the Peak District, is being closed and the staff made redundant. Some equipment is expected to be transferred to BNL's factory at Knaresborough in North Yorkshire.
LDPE process hits 50th license April 23, 2007
The 50th licence to use the Basell Lupotech T process to make LDPE has been bought by Qatar Petrochemical Co for a 250,000 tonnes plant to be built in in Mesaieed, Qatar, for 2011 start up.
Lupotech T is a high pressure tubular reactor process for the production of LDPE homopolymers and EVA copolymers used for more than seven million tonnes per year.
Solutia and Honeywell expand nylon production April 20, 2007
Two American nylon producers have streamlined production to increase capacity. Solutia has added 40,000 tonnes capability for its Vydyne and Ascend PA66 at Pensacola in Florida as a second stage to a series of capacity increases that began in 2006 and is expected to continue through next year. And Honeywell Resins & Chemicals has increased its Aegis PA6 capacity by 10 per cent at Chesterfield in Virginia.
The latest Solutia expansion brings the additional capacity up to 72,000 tonnes at what the company describes as the world's largest integrated PA66 manufacturing plant. The increases are in response to growing demand, in particular from China and other Asian countries. Vydyne is used primarily in injection moulding and extrusion and has been in demand from Chinese automotive suppliers. Ascend is used primarily in the textile, carpet, and industrial fibre markets.
Alongside Honeywell's nylon 6 production capacity increase the company has also freed up supplies of higher viscosity nylon for packaging applications by terminating a swap arrangement with BASF. The agreement dates back to 2003 when Honeywell exchanged its engineering plastics business with BASF's nylon fibre business.
Honeywell Resins & Chemicals was formed in 2005 following the sale of Honeywell's nylon carpet fibre business to Shaw Industries Group. Resin & Chemicals supplies caprolactam to Shaw under a long-term supply agreement, and also sells merchant-grade caprolactam to other customers in molten or flake form. It also sells basic grades of nylon 6 for injection moulding and extrusion applications.
Sainsbury's 'Bags for Life' day expected to cut 900 tonnes of film disposal April 20, 2007
As the first step in a series of one-day 'Make the Difference' environmental and social demonstrations on April 27 supermarket chain Sainsbury's is to give its customers re-usable carrier bags instead of the normal single-use disposable bags. In its 'Bags for Life' day the company expects to give away 7 million bags, which it normally sells for 10 p with the proceeds going to charity. It says this will be the equivalent in one day of nearly two years normal sales (and will be bags that it would not normally expect to sell, so the charities won't lose out). It will still give disposable bags to customers who prefer them.
The 'Bags for Life' - which average 20 uses but are replaced free when they wear out, so are 'for life' - are made from 100 per cent recycled material. Sainsbury's standard bags are made from a blend of 55 per cent virgin and 33 per cent recycled polyethylene, with 10 per cent chalk filler.
Sainsbury's reckons that re-use of the bags it gives away next week will cut 90 million bags from its consumption this year to add further to its claim to give away fewer bags than other major supermarkets. It says that Tesco gives out 4 billion carriers bags a year, ASDA 1·8 billion and Sainsbury's 1·6 billion. Total UK carrier bag consumption is around 13 billion a year, according to the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP). Taking out disparity in shopping volume, the company says that Tesco gives away one bag per £8·18 of sales while Sainsbury's gives away one bag per £10·19.
All three supermarkets have signed up to the plan to reduce the environmental impact of plastic carrier bags by 25 per cent by 2008, while Sainsbury's says it aims to reduce the environmental impact of its carrier bags by more than 50 per cent by the end of 2008 through reduced use of virgin material: this year's target is to reduce carrier bag usage by 5 per cent. Its in-store recycling facilities last year collected 100 million (1,000 tonnes) carrier bags.
GE expands Asian compounding April 20, 2007
GE Plastics is expanding compound production in the Far East. Its LNP high performance compounds subsidiary is now making Faradex EMI shielding compounds at GE's Moka plant in Japan. GE says that by producing in Asia it can supply its customers more quickly and offer local technical resources for application development, testing, and process optimisation. Japanese production will not just be for Far East consumption, however. GE has just introduced a PC/ABS Faradex compound providing flame retardance without the use of brominated or chlorinated additives that is produced at Moka and available globally.
Dow puts another pin the Middle Eastern map April 20, 2007
Coincidental to Dow Chemical's North African tie up with Libya's National Oil Corporation, it has opened a polyurethane systems market development and prototyping laboratory in Cairo, Egypt. Earl Shipp, president of Dow's Basic Chemicals business, said 'Dow is committed to establishing facilities and state-of-the-art petrochemical complexes with strategic local partners. The Middle East, India and Africa are strategically vital to Dow's growth and the expansion of our site in Egypt is an essential part of our growth strategy and plans'. Dow has had an export office in Egypt for 30 years and opened Dow Mideast Systems in 1997. In addition to this and the newly announced Libyan joint venture, it has manufacturing plants or petrochemical joint ventures in Kuwait, Oman and Dubai.
Dow to make plastics in Libya April 18, 2007
Dow Chemical is to link with Libya's National Oil Corporation in a petrochemicals joint venture which will produce polyethylene and polypropylene. The move continues Dow's Asset Light strategy of joint ventures which it has committed to expanding during this year. And it continues the rehabilitation of the once-rogue state of Libya following its apology in 2003 for involvement in the bombing of airliners over Lockerbie in 1988 and Niger in 1989. America resumed full diplomatic relations with Libya in May 2006 and several US oil companies have since said they will resume work there.
The Dow/NOC joint venture will focus on the Ras Lanuf petrochemical complex on the Mediterranean coast which was built in the 1980s. The site currently has a naphtha cracker and two polyethylene production facilities producing around 80,000 tonnes each of HDPE and LLDPE. The project will include refurbishment and expansion of the existing units, followed by construction of an ethane cracker and additional polyethylene and polypropylene facilities. Later phases will include construction of further hydrocarbon, plastics and chemical production facilities based on natural gas.
This latest move from Dow follows major speculation and real news which has linked the company in an unconfirmed joint venture with Reliance Industries of India, a planned pooling of polystyrene assets with Chevron Phillips, and rumours of a buy-out of the company which were not only strongly denied, but led to the sacking of two senior executives last week for allegedly negotiating to sell the company without authority.
Slow growth predicted for plastics in Britain April 18, 2007
Sales of plastics in Britain increased 2 per cent in 2006 over the previous year according to research by Market & Business Development. MBD says volume reached 5·3 million tonnes which it values at £6,882·7 million. The 2006 figures compare with a peak annual growth rate over a five year period of 7 per cent in 2002.
Sales of plastics products rose 3 per cent in 2006 to reach around £15 billion. The report attributes the growth to building products, packaging, and imports, and notes that over-capacity and competitive pricing have forced some businesses to relocate or source overseas, and that energy costs also restricted growth in 2006.
Looking forward MBD predicts an annual 2 per cent rise in the volume of raw material sales to reach 5·9 million tonnes in 2011. Again the building and construction sector is seen as the major spur to growth, with emphasis on pipe replacing traditional materials. However, 'stronger growth is expected to be hindered by intense price competition, increasing energy costs and scarcity of scrap due to demand from the Far East', says the report.
The report costs £550.
Vinyl 2010 doubles PVC recycling again April 18, 2007
Recycling of PVC in Europe by the Vinyl 2010 organisation doubled in 2006 for the second year running to reach 83,000 tonnes. Vinyl 2010 is the ten-year voluntary programme on sustainable development across the whole PVC industry and includes a number of projects, initiatives and research studies primarily concerning environmental protection and resource management.
Among these schemes, the Recovinyl Waste Collection programme which recovers PVC mainly from building products such as scrap window profiles and pipes but also from other post-consumer waste, was extended to France and Germany. Recovinyl, which is administered by European Plastics Converters, does not recover and recycle material itself, but consolidates the work of other agencies. The PVC recovered under the scheme rose from 16,000 tonnes in 2005 to 44,690 tonnes in 2006. In Britain the PVC recovered rose from 8,000 tonnes to 16,836 tonnes.
Sheffield research to improve biopolymer packaging April 18, 2007
Sheffield Hallam University is working as part of the European Sustainpack project to develop improved bio-sourced packaging materials. Sustainpack combines the work of 36 research institutes in 13 countries in a four-year programme to encourage the wide use of traditional natural-based packaging products by producing easily degradable, renewable and recyclable packaging based on biopolymers, paper and board.
The Sheffield Hallam team from the university's Materials and Engineering Research Institute is working on nanoclay additives to improve the barrier properties and mechanical strength of biopolymer films and coatings. One of the more unusual modifiers being used to make the nanoclays more compatible with biopolymer films to repel water is a molecule called chitosan which is derived from the shells of crustaceans.
Arkema restructures Vinyl Products business and optimises EVA April 17, 2007
Arkema is reorganizing its Vinyl Products business segment by splitting its chlorochemicals and PVC business unit into two separate operations: chlorine/soda and PVC. The other two business units, vinyl compounds and pipes/profiles (Alphacan), remain unchanged.
Group president of the PVC business unit will be Frédéric Marot-Achillas who moves from being managing director at perfume bottle manufacturer Saint-Gobain Desjonquères and industrial director for vinyl products sector will be Gérard Robert, previously senior vice president manufacturing at Arkema's American subsidiary. Arkema is also making changes to its Evatane ethylene vinyl acetate product range. Alongside price increases to overcome rising raw materials, energy and transport costs, it is to cut out grades with insufficient profitability. The first to go will be Evatane 24-03HFN, originally developed for high frequency welding and used primarily in multilayer packaging film.
The company is continuing to add grades as well. It has under test an EVA combining high vinyl acetate content - 40 per cent - and a low melt flow index (MFI <3) - two parameters which Arkema says are difficult to combine. The new grade, currently dubbed Evatane X0601, is scheduled to be commercialised at the end of 2007, targeted at oil-resistant crosslinked cable and flexible cable.
Arkema says that standard 40 per cent EVAs normally have high fluidity but do not meet the minimum thresholds for elongation at break and tensile strength demanded by the cable market. The new grade, when blended with other products, will help produce a cable with sound mechanical properties and very good resistance to oil, says Arkema.
Esterform sold to private equity firm April 17, 2007
A majority share in PET bottle producer Esterform has been bought by Gresham Private Equity for more than £30 million. The capital injection will fund growth, one prong of which is the development of a plastic beer keg to replace steel kegs, for which development and commercialisation are said to be 'well progressed'.
Esterform has two plants in Tenbury Wells and Leeds, employing more than 200 people. It was founded in 1998 to make 38 mm neck PET bottles for fruit juices and juice drinks. In 2001 it bought Able Industries, which had 20 years of experience in PET processing, and the two companies were integrated at Able's Tenbury Wells site. In 2005 Esterform took over Alcan's Pet Plas Packaging business, also a specialist in PET.
Esterform now says it is the largest independent converter of PET in Britain and a market leader in 38 mm neck bottles for the juice sector in Europe, with revenues approaching £50 million.
Cartel office objections spike DuPont filaments purchase April 17, 2007
DuPont's on-off purchase of an insolvent German fibres manufacturer is off. The plan was for DuPont Filaments to buy Pedex in 2005. In March last year the German Federal Cartel Office stepped in and prohibited the sale to DuPont. In December last year the Düsseldorf Appeal Court overruled the FCO. The FCO has since appealed this ruling. Now the insolvency administrator acting on behalf of the Pedex creditors has said that it will find another buyer because it will get the company sold quicker.
Alastian adds more grades and pushes hard at Eastern Europe April 17, 2007
Alastian, the no-frills on-line sales business for Basell polymers, is to increase the number of Basell grades that can be bought on the internet from 50 to 80. This will mean that most of Basell's high volume grades will be available on-line from early June.
Alastian was set up three years ago to sell polyethylene and polypropylene in bulk with no technical support in order to keep prices down. Last year its European sales grew 45 per cent and it expanded into the CIS countries in October. To promote sales in the area Russian and Polish language versions have been added to the portal. Basell has also opened a sales office in Moscow to support customers who 'are not so confident yet about doing business over the Web as they are in Western Europe'.
Horners Award open for entries April 17, 2007
Entries are now invited for this year's Horners Award for innovation in plastics design and manufacture or in the processing of plastics, run jointly by the Worshipful Company of Horners and the British Plastics Federation.
The award is thought to be the oldest award for plastics in the world, dating back to 1947 when it attracted some 14 entries.
The deadline for entries is Friday, August 10.
BASF is planning a shake-up of its nylon materials in Europe. It currently sells nylon under three brand names - Ultramid, Capron and Miramid. Ultramid is BASF's long-standing nylon brand. Capron was bought from Honeywell in 2003 - and before that was AlliedSignal - and Miramid is a range of nylon compounds bought with the Leuna-Miramid business in 2005.
The Capron brand name was killed off in the USA three years ago, and now is to be all but removed in Europe. Performance nylons currently branded as Capron will be rebranded as Ultramid - or in some cases Miramid. The Capron range also includes general purpose nylons and these are to remain as Capron, but BASF is withdrawing them from its distributor network and will handle sales directly after a transition period of around six months. BASF says all existing contracts with Capron distributors have been terminated, although this is not as draconian as it sounds as performance Capron business will be switched to Ultramid, and the standard business is mainly large volume and already handled direct by BASF.
The Miramid brand remains to cover small volume speciality materials and customer-specific options: it is the only brand of BASF nylon that can be ordered in colour, for example.
High pressure LDPE plant planned for Venezuela April 11, 2007
A 300,000 tonnes polyethylene plant is to be built in Venezuela using Basell's Lupotech T technology. The Polinter plant will start up in 2011 and is said to be the first new high pressure LDPE plant in the Americas for more than a decade.
Dow and Phillips plan to pool styrene businesses April 10, 2007
Dow Chemical and Chevron Phillips Chemical are contemplating pooling their styrenic business in the Americas. They have signed a memorandum of understanding on a joint venture which could lead to them combining their polystyrene and styrene monomer assets in the second half of this year.
Dow has committed to extending what it calls its Asset Light strategy during this year. This involves linking with other companies in joint ventures under which Dow can reduce its asset base while still earning revenue from those assets through the joint venture.
The 50:50 joint venture which Dow says 'is expected to establish the competitive model for an integrated producer of polystyrene in the Americas' would follow hard on the extension of the Innovene/Nova Chemicals polystyrene joint venture to North America.
Assuming the joint venture goes ahead, Dow would put in its styrene monomer plant in Brazil, three polystyrene plants in the US and one each in Colombia and Brazil. Chevron Phillips would contribute a styrene monomer plant and a polystyrene plant, both in the USA. Last month Dow was at the centre of rumours of a major joint venture with Reliance Industries of India. It has also been the target of much speculation that it is about to go through a buy out - speculation that brought a robust denial from chairman and chief executive Andrew Liveris in a statement on Monday that 'the Company has had no discussion about a leveraged buyout.'
German investment in British drum blow moulding April 10, 2007
German blow moulder Schütz is pitching at the British market for 220 litre multi-layer tight-head drums, and is installing a new line at its subsidiary Schütz UK in Worksop. It aims to have the line in production by the second quarter of this year. According to Schütz 'the UK market is ready for a new producer of tight-head drums that stands for absolutely reliable delivery and first-class quality while at the same time placing the emphasis on economic and ecological aspects'.
The Worksop site was established in 1992 and makes IBCs at the rate of several hundred thousand a year. The 5,000 m² production area has been more than doubled to accommodate the new line.
Web-based materials distribution focused on Britain April 10, 2007
A polymer distribution web site serving the UK has been set up by Hardie Polymers managing director Fergus Hardie and Ken Marshall, who has worked in the plastics processing business for more than 20 years.
Polymerhouse.com aims to succeed where earlier distribution sites such as Omnexus failed, by keeping its start-up costs better controlled. Polymerhouse.com has its own distribution centre near Livingston and other warehouses in Europe. Distribution and storage is handled by UK-wide logistics group MRS.
The web site is offering a 'no-frills approach to polymer procurement'. 'We will be selling many of the most commonly-used grades and potential buyers can see our price structure because it is completely transparent', said Mr Hardie.
PolymerHouse.com will offer a range of engineering and commodity thermoplastics. It is sourcing materials from a range of producers with some grades being branded under the Polymerhouse.com label 'to offer extra value'. Prices for all products are shown on the site. The company says a number of moulders have already registered to set up accounts while a number of suppliers have contacted PolymerHouse.com to have their own product ranges included on the site.
Thermally-conductive plastic is bio-sourced April 10, 2007
NEC Corporation's continuing search for bio-sourced plastics for its electronic equipment components has brought it into the area of heat conductivity. The company has formulated a PLA composite with carbon fibres that it says has heat conductivity higher than that of stainless steel.
The material uses a specially developed binder to link the carbon fibres within the PLA matrix, enabling a 10 per cent fibre loading to give heat conductivity equivalent to that of stainless steel, while a 30 per cent loading doubles it.
Using a heat conductive plastic improves on the use of metal components in some aspects of equipment manufacture. As portable computers and mobile phones have got smaller, the heat which needs to be released has increased in relative terms, partly because smaller fans and heatsinks move less heat. Sheet metal can dissipate the heat, but does so unevenly. Heat transmits more rapidly through the thickness of the sheet than along its length, causing apparent overheating near high heat-generating components. Plastics made conductive with conductive fibres conduct heat along their length and are less likely to transmit heat rapidly through their thickness, so preventing this localised overheating.
NEC says that other heat-conductive plastics have been difficult to mould, and because they contain more than 50 per cent of heat-conductive fillers such as carbon and metal fibres or other particles they are dense and expensive.
Borealis and partners to expand melamine capacity April 10, 2007
Borouge is planning to take over a melamine plant being built at Ruwais in Abu Dhabi by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and AMI Agrolinz Melamine International (AMI). Borouge is owned jointly by ADNOC and Borealis, and in December last year Borealis announced that it was to take over AMI, which was previously a half-sister with Austrian national oil company OMV as one of the parents of both companies.
The new plant at Ruwais will have a capacity of 80,000 tonnes.
The front end engineering and design phase has begun and it is expected that production will start following the completion of Borouge 2, a major project in train to triple Borouge's polyolefin production capacity.
Buy-out at plastic staking equipment company April 7, 2007
Hot stake assembly systems manufacturer Phasa Developments has been bought by a management buy out team comprising of Terry Elvidge, Dietmar Schafer (Germany) and Tony Woods. Phasa was a subsidiary of Flexible Lamps, which was bought last year by US-based Truck-Lite Co. The emphasis in the takeover was Flexible Lamps' business in LED lighting, and the plastic staking equipment business was not a good fit with Truck-Lite's core activities.
The company will now trade as Phasa Ltd and is planning to move in the next couple of months to a purpose-built 560 m² office and manufacturing site near to the Cambridge Science Parks.
Bioepoxy plant starts up April 5, 2007
Solvay has started up its glycerine-to-epichlorohydrin plant at Tavaux in France. The plant uses the Epicerol process to make epichlorohydrin - used in the manufacture of epoxies - from the glycerine derived from biodiesel production. Dow Chemical also recently announced the site of a glycerine-to-epicholorhydrin plant it is to build in China. The Dow plant will have a capacity of 150,000 tonnes, while Solvay's plant in France is a more modest 10,000 tonnes - although designed to be easily expandable. And Solvay is in the planning stage for a 100,000 tonnes plant in Thailand for 2009 start-up.
The Epicerol process was developed by Solvay and has 22 pending patent applications. It allows the direct synthesis of dichloropropanol, an intermediate product, from glycerine and hydrochloric acid. A second step - dehydrochlorination - generates the final product, epichlorohydrin. The process has a lower specific consumption of chlorine and water than the existing process of reacting propylene with chlorine, reducing chlorinated effluents. Approximately 100 kg of glycerine is produced with every 1,000 kg of biodiesel.
Lanxess rewards employees for 2006 profits April 5, 2007
Alongside paying its first dividend to shareholders Lanxess made so much money in 2006 that it is giving all its employees worldwide a bonus. It has set aside more than Eur 50 million to be divided among its 16,500 employees - that's more than Eur 3,000 each on average. The 8,200 employees in Germany get nearly Eur 30 million between them - around Eur 3,500 each.
Tricool bought out of administration April 4, 2007
Chiller supplier ICS Cool Energy has bought competitor Tricool Engineering, which went into administration on March 27. ICS sells chillers from Climaveneta and MTA and also has its own bespoke manufacturing service. Tricool has a manufacturing operation that ICS sees as extending the potential of its own. Tricool also has a joint venture with British company HL Cooling which manufacturers chillers in China.
Polyscope SMA goes on sale April 4, 2007
Sales of styrene maleic anhydride from the former DSM plant at Geleen in the Netherlands have started with the introduction of the Xiran series. The plant was revived by a new company called Polyscope last year.
Two series of Xiran have been commercialised so far. The SM grades are general purpose materials and the SG grades are glass fibre reinforced. As well as pitching for existing SMA business, Polyscope says Xiran has potential to replace nylon, long glass fibre polypropylene, PP/EPDM or ABS blends in automotive interior applications such as instrument panel retainers, air ducts and finishing trim. In recent tests for an automotive application, Polyscope says Xiran gave a significant weight saving compared to glass reinforced nylon, as well as a considerable decrease in cycle-time.
Xiran general purpose injection moulding grades have a Vicat B heat resistance between 117 and 135 degC and are suggested for windscreen demisters, front grilles and bezels, side strips, chrome plated logos, lamp housings and reflectors, fan motor housings, ventilation grilles, air inlets, decorated dashboard parts (with wood trim), instrument housings and safety belt clips. Polyscope is also aiming them at applications in the electronics equipment, leisure, appliances, communications and lighting industries including white goods frames, microwave oven doors and panels, electric motor housings, chrome plated sanitary parts, camera components, car and mobile phones, kitchen appliances, laptop computers and office equipment, and at electromechanical components such as connectors, junction blocks, bobbins and switches.
The glass fibre reinforced SG grades are made with glass loadings between 10 and 40 per cent, with Vicat B50 heat resistance from 125 to 150 degC and are said to be suitable for painted mirror housings, windscreen demisters, front end carriers, rear appliques, air intake grilles, underbody shields, and sunroof frames among others.
Chemtura is to restructure its operations from six business units into four, focused on industry end use. The new divisions will be Polymer Additives, Performance Specialities, Consumer Products and Crop Protection.
The Polymer Additives business unit will include the former Plastic Additives and Flame Retardants business units. Performance Specialties will include the former Petroleum Additives, Urethanes, Optical Monomers and Fluorine Specialties.
Streamlining the structure in this way will lead to a work force reduction of 620 jobs - around 10 per cent - including some managers of the previous business groups, and an annual saving of around $50 million.
Basell strengthens agreements with Albis and Ultrapolymers April 4, 2007
Basell has extended its distributorship arrangements for polyethylene, polypropylene and advanced polyolefins with Albis Plastic of Germany and Ultrapolymers of Belgium into Central and Eastern Europe. Both companies distribute Basell's PE and PP in Britain.
Basell says the new agreement helps it to 'consolidate our distribution network in Western Europe, but also extend our presence and increase Basell's visibility in the fast-growing Central and East European markets as well as in Turkey.'
Lati sells US compounding plant April 4, 2007
Italian performance materials compounder Lati has sold its American plant in Summerville, South Carolina. The plant, opened in 2002 with a capacity of 9,000 tonnes, was closed in 2005 and Lati's US business in nylons, PBT and acetal compounds was bought by BASF. The new owner is a manufacturer of armoured vehicles.
Lati continues to sell compounds in North America sourced from its Italian plant.
Canadian mining town beats SF to North American bag ban April 3, 2007
Internet watchers on things plastic cannot help but to have noticed in recent weeks that San Francisco in the USA is to ban plastic grocery bags. This latest step in the worldwide move to ban or punitively tax plastic bags for a variety of ecological reasons has received much publicity as befits the actions of a major city, set to lead its nation as the first city to take up arms against a sea of plastic bags, and by opposing, end them.
But San Francisco's thunder has been stolen. A mining town in Canada with a population of only around 600 has become the first municipality in North America to ban plastic bags. Leaf Rapids, about 975 km north west of Winnipeg, has made it an offence for stores to give away or sell single-use plastic bags. They risk a C$1,000 fine if they do.
Town administrator Bond Ryan is quoted in one report as saying 'Leaf Rapids has always been an environmental community. It's a relatively new community, built in the 1970s, and it was built with the environment in mind.' But apparently not enough of an environmentally-minded community for its residents not to litter the streets with plastic bags.
Environmentally-minded though the burghers of Leaf Rapids may be, the ban took a little old-fashioned commercial interest to kick start. There is already a 3 cents levy on plastic bags, introduced last year, which has halved the 50,000 annual consumption of bags (and presumably brought in a useful C$750). But last autumn an Ontario-based manufacturer of reusable shopping bags approached the town about introducing a total ban on single-use plastic bags and offered to set up education programs in local schools. Leaf Rapids has since given away about 3,000 reusable polypropylene bags. The recipients of the free shopping bags are said to have been supportive of the ban.
Lanxess plans to optimise EPDM production April 3, 2007
Lanxess is planning to increase its EPDM rubber capacity to 140,000 tonnes through a series of production optimisation and modernisation processes such as improved process control. The optimisation process will build on earlier measures taken at the Marl, Germany and Texas, USA sites which are now taking effect, and will be 'small-scale' says the company. The capacity expansion is expected to be achieved by the beginning of 2008.
Last year Lanxess restructured its EPDM business in Germany, splitting it between Lanxess Buna in Marl which handles marketing, research and production while sales and technical remain with the Technical Rubber Products business unit. In the USA Lanxess has recently set up a separate company called Lanxess Buna for its EPDM operations. Lanxess says it is the only EPDM producer to use both the solution and slurry processes, producing a broad range of crystalline, amorphous, branched and linear products.
Mattec gets more ERP back-up April 3, 2007
CMS Software, the Canadian company that took over plastics manufacturing execution software developer Mattec last year, has joined with a British enterprise resource planning software company, XKO Software. The transaction is described as a merger, with the businesses continuing to trade under their own identities 'pending a review of operations'.
The CMS takeover of Mattec last year extended an existing co-operation which enabled seamless integration of Mattec's MES with the CMS ERP systems. XKO Software reckons to be the UK's leading supplier of mid-range ERP systems to manufacturers, distributors and merchants, with systems tailored to the needs of specific vertical markets. It has more than 1,000 users in the UK and Europe.
Pipelife buys Irish pipe systems company April 3, 2007
The Pipelife joint venture in plastics pipe systems owned equally by Solvay of Belgium and Wienerberger of Austria has bought Quality Plastics of Ireland. Quality Plastics makes speciality pipes and fittings with an emphasis on hot & cold applications. This is the fastest-growing segment of the pipes and fittings market in Europe, expanding through metal-replacement. Quality Plastics makes systems using cross-linked polyethylene (PEX), PEX multi-layer pipes, and polyethylene and polybutylene pipes, fittings and accessories. It operates two factories near Cork and had a turnover of Eur 42 million with 174 employees in its latest business year.
The Pipelife Group is one of the world's biggest plastic pipes and fittings producers, active in 29 countries and with 30 factories and 2,800 employees. Sales in 2006 were Eur 823 million.
Extra labelling needed for phthalate-containing medical devices April 1, 2007
Additional safety labelling could be required on flexible PVC medical products after adoption by the European Parliament after several years of a proposal to improve the safety of medical devices.
The term 'medical devices' encompasses some 10,000 types of product, ranging from simple bandages and spectacles, through life sustaining implantable devices, to the most sophisticated diagnostic imaging and minimally invasive surgical equipment.
The proposal calls for manufacturers to 'avoid the use of carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction substances used in medical devices'. The EC says that a total ban of these substances is not possible without banning many medical devices which are indispensable for the protection of health. But among improvements it foresees is that devices which could possibly release phthalates to the body of the patient should be labelled accordingly. The EC's statement adds that manufacturers should strive to develop alternative substances or products with a lower risk potential.
Biodegradable plastics are all at sea April 1, 2007
Biodegradable plastics development has so far been focused on land-based composting, but an American university is working on bioplastics that degrade in sea water. Researchers at The University of Southern Mississippi have produced plastics capable of degrading in as few as 20 days and producing by-products that are non-toxic to marine life.
The materials are polyurethanes modified by the incorporation of PLGA [poly (D,L-lactide-co-glycolide)], a degradable polymer used in surgical sutures and controlled drug-delivery applications. A range of mechanical properties have been achieved from soft and rubber-like to hard and rigid. When exposed to sea water the plastics degrade through hydrolysis. Depending on the composition of the plastics, the by-products may include water, carbon dioxide, lactic acid, glycolic acid, succinic acid, caproic acid and L-lysine, all of which can be found in nature.
Density of the new plastics is higher than that of sea water, so they will sink rather than wash up on beaches.
The focus of the research has been to find plastics that can be safely jettisoned at sea, but apart from the obvious risks of mixed plastics waste being dumped overboard, there is an overall legal hurdle to overcome as international maritime law forbids the disposal of plastics at sea.
Further research is scheduled before the materials could be commercialised.
More energy-efficient PET grades from Eastman April 1, 2007
A PET grade described as 'the first and only reheat-enabled PET for still-water bottles' has been introduced by Eastman Chemical. The new Aqualor is said to require up to 30 per cent less additional energy for reheating preforms, and its low intrinsic viscosity of 0·72 gives higher injection speeds and a better definition of embossed or engraved surface imprinting.
Unlike other reheat PETs, says Eastman, Aqualor is haze-free, giving 'unsurpassed neck and sidewall clarity'.
Aqualor has been introduced alongside two other improved performance reheat PETs in Eastman's Vorcalor series. Vorcalor CB11E for carbonated soft drinks and beer is said to need up to 60 per cent less reheat energy than other PETs and its IV of 0·82 improves stress crack resistance and reduces creep. It also makes it suitable as the basis of a blend with lower IV, recycled PET in bottle-to-bottle recycling.
New Vorcalor 9921W extends the processing and performance of Eastman's standard PET 9921W grade. Its IV of 0·80 gives fast injection speeds and in addition to PET bottles it is suitable for film and sheet.
DSM to triple engineering plastics compounding in India April 1, 2007
DSM is to triple its capacity for engineering plastics compounds in India with a new compounding plant in the Ranjangaon MIDC industrial zone about 60 km from Pune. The new plant will produce Akulon PA6, Arnite PBT and PET and Stanyl PA46 compounds. The plant is being designed for future expansion.
More robot capacity at Yushin April 1, 2007
Japanese robot manufacturer Yushin has opened its sixth plant for the production of beam robots. The four storey plant at its headquarters site in Kyoto City adds capacity to meet increased demand from the Japanese automotive industry, and for export to China. It reduces lead time for servo-driven beam robots by 30 per cent, and increases capacity by 50 per cent.
Dow names innovative Chinese epichlorohydrin site April 1, 2007
The 150,000 tonnes Chinese epichlorohydrin plant announced by Dow last August is to be built at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park alongside a 100,000 tonnes liquid epoxy plant. The epichlorohydrin plant will use Dow's glycerine-to-epichlorohydrin process which produces epichlorohydrin from the glycerine by-product of bio-diesel production.
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The re-usable bags on sale in Modbury are being imported from Mumbai in India and printed in Britain with water-based ink. They have organic and fairtrade certification, something which appears to have bitten Sainsbury's in its PR department. After the supermarket chain's celebrated designer 'I'm not a plastic bag' bags were stalked by 3 am queues of fashion investors who put them on sale on eBay for reputedly 50 times or more the £5 they paid for them, it was revealed that instead of 'making a difference to the world' as the bag was billed, it may have been making a somewhat different impact. For it was neither organic, not fairtrade, having been made in China where cotton picking and garment manufacture have poor reputations for child labour and sweat shop wages. And the bags had been shipped half way round the world, raising questions about their real carbon footprint.
