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The difficult market conditions in the PVC industry forced EVC's turnover down 7 per cent in the first half of this year, to NLG 1,112·8 million. A volume decline of 12 per cent was only partially compensated for by a price rise of 2 per cent over last year's first half. Despite a reduction in raw material prices, gross profit fell NLG 16·0 million. Exchange rates helped increase operating costs with the overall result that the group's operating profit fell from NLG 23·7 million last year to NLG 4·7 million, resulting in a net loss of NLG 3·9 million against a profit in last year's first half of NLG 17·0 million.
Hard coated PC film for insert moulding July 30, 1998
GE Structured Products and Autotype International have firmed up discussions started last autumn and are to cooperate in the production and marketing of hard-coated polycarbonate films, with the emphasis on in-mould decoration for markets such as automotive, telecommunications, appliances and consumer electronics.
The two companies are claiming a lead in this field with deep draw ratios, which they say should enable films to be mouldable up to a depth of 100 mm without degrading the hard coating surface. Initially three products are offered with progressively deeper draw ratios from 2·5 times film thickness to 200 times film thickness.
Bayer expands PC to meet 10 per cent growth rates July 29, 1998
The next phase of Bayer's US polycarbonate expansion comes on stream next month with the commissioning of another 40,000 tonnes at Baytown in Texas. This will push Bayer's worldwide PC capacity to 500,000 tonnes.
The company plans further expansion to 700,000 tonnes by 2002. This will come via a new plant in Thailand, which will have capacity for around 110,000 tonnes, and de-bottlenecking moves at its European facilities.
In addition to this polycarbonate expansion, Bayer is increasing its capacity for bisphenol A (the raw material for polycarbonate) with an additional 160,000 tonnes at Baytown scheduled for April 1999, and 100,000 tonnes at its Map Ta Phut plant in Thailand which will be ready by 2001.
Bayer anticipates an overall 10 per cent annual increase in polycarbonate demand over the next few years. The traditional electrical/electronic sectors it sees as growing some 7 - 8 per cent/year, while it anticipates above average growth in CD/DVDs and headlamp lenses.
Ticona gears up for Topas production July 28, 1998
Start-up of a commercial plant for the production of Topas cycloolefin copolymers in Germany has been scheduled for mid-2000. Ticona is to build the 30,000 tonnes plant independently from its development partner Mitsui Chemicals Industries at the Ruhrchemie works at Oberhausen, where it also has a 30,000 tonnes ultra high molecular weight polyethylene plant.
Cycloolefin copolymers (COCs) are made by copolymerising norbornene with ethylene, the norbornene having been obtained by splitting dicyclopentadiene into cyclopentadiene and then reacting this with ethylene. The process was moved from the lab to production through the use of metallocene catalysts which gave high product purity and low waste.
Characteristics of COCs include optical clarity, excellent dielectric strength, moisture barrier, high water vapour resistance and high temperature resistance compared with many polymers. Potential applications are seen in pharmaceutical blister packaging film, capacitor films, lenses, medical and laboratory devices, as a binder for coloured toner in printers and copiers, and in glass reinforced injection moulded parts.
To achieve their food contact and medical potential Topas materials have undergone testing and met USP Class 6 requirements. An FDA Drug Master File number has been obtained, a dry food petition has been filed with the FDA, and work is well advanced on wet food contact.
FMC bagmakers now Hudson-Sharp again July 28, 1998
The FMC line of bag making machines is once more to be known as Hudson-Sharp. FMC's film converting equipment business was started by Hudson-Sharp Machine Company, and sold to FMC in 1957. The division has now been bought back by Hudson-Sharp, and will continue with its current machine range under the Hudson-Sharp name.
Hudson-Sharp, which has manufacturing sites in the USA, Belgium and Brazil, is part of The Riverside Company, a specialist in management and leveraged buyouts.
Now Sidel starts up in China July 28, 1998
Following the opening of a Moscow branch earlier this year Sidel has opened an office in Shanghai, China. The French PET stretch blow machine specialist has been selling machines in China since 1983 and has some 30 PVC or HDPE machines and 80 PET machines installed there. The new Shanghai centre includes a laboratory with an SBO 1 machine capable of making bottles from 0·2 to 5 litres.
Vita buys ABS compounding company from DSM July 28, 1998
British Vita has taken a step up in engineering polymers with the purchase of DSM subsidiary JGP of Washington, Tyne & Wear, which compounds ABS to the tune of around £9 million a year. DSM has a strategy to concentrate on ABS production with compounding close to its main facilities to keep costs down. The deal with British Vita includes a contract for the long term supply of ABS.
Guide to the major players in injection moulding July 27, 1998
The top 50 injection moulding groups in Europe have been catalogued in a new report from Applied Market Information. The companies were selected through a combination of the value of injection moulding to their business and their polymer throughput, based on 1996 figures.
Together the 50 groups operate 362 injection moulding plants in Europe (including Eastern Europe) and process more than 1 million tonnes of polymer. Total turnover was just over DM 13 billion. AMI comments that despite trends towards consolidation, the injection moulding business remains largely fragmented, and that while the top 50 injection moulding groups account for some 15 per cent of total Wester European polymer consumption for injection moulding, the top 50 blow moulding groups account for 45 per cent of blow moulding polymer consumption, and the leading polyethylene film extruders some 60 per cent.
Of the companies reviewed, half their business was with the automotive industry, 31 per cent in packaging and 14 per cent in consumer products.
The top 10 custom injection moulding groups according to 1996 turnover
Company
European injection moulding turnover (DM million)
World headquarters location
Plastic Omnium
1,560
France
Sommer Allibert
1,263
France
Peguform
800
Germany
Dynamit Nobel
606
Germany
Linpac
478
UK
Becker
412
USA
Crown Cork & Seal
387
USA
MGI Coutier
376
France
McKechnie
345
UK
Superfos Packaging
326
Denmark
Corporate performance and ownership among custom injection moulders - a review of Europe's 50 leading players is the second edition of the report, is a 132 page A4 paperback, and costs £350.
An engineering materials and TPE compounder with a just-in-time capability for special grades has started operations in Germany. Bada Plast in Bühl/Baden has around 9,000 tonnes capacity, and makes PA6, PA66 and copolyamides under the Badamid brand name; SEBS and SBS TPEs as Badaflex; PBT as Badadur; and acetal as Badaform.
A & K Plastics now extrudes sheet from reclaim July 27, 1998
Recycler A & K Plastics of Heckmondwike has completed the circle by buying a complete rigid PVC sheet line from Amut. Until now the company has bought skeletal waste and reground it for resale. The new sheet line has a BA 100 20:1 twin screw extruder with a horizontal flat die and three-roll calender. It produces sheet up to 820 mm width in thicknesses of 0·2 to 1·3 mm at rates up to 300 kg/hr.
Coex hose process 'gives significantly better adhesion between layers' July 27, 1998
A dual layer co-extrusion tubing head for rubber automotive hose has been introduced by Davis-Standard. The company says co-extrusion hose technology has been tried many times, but only by modifying existing cross head, tubing head and plastics coextrusion designs. It is claiming 'a completely new approach' for its new head, which it says is 'optimised specifically for the purpose of extruding a two-layer rubber hose, with or without a supporting mandrel'. The tubing head starts by producing two concentric rubber flows, which are gradually reduced in area until they reach a specified wall thickness, and are bonded together under pressure just before the die exit. It is the bonding of the two layers under pressure which Davis-Standard says gives an adhesion which is significantly better than that achieved by the multiple-stage process. It is also said to overcome materials incompatibility problems.
Promotions at Fischer-W Müller Blasformtechnik July 27, 1998
Two managers at Fischer-W Müller Blasformtechnik have been appointed directors. Dirk Wehrens, head of the technology unit, takes control of technology, management, purchasing and personnel and Jürgen Hegedorn, head of sales, takes a wider role as director of marketing and sales.
Zytel helps the dog tag become the chip tag July 27, 1998
The metal identity tag worn by members of the US armed forces - the 'dog tag' - may be brought into the information age with a new computer chip version. The US Department of Defence is testing a device from Data-Disk Technology which consists of a flash memory chip surface mounted on a circuit board, and encapsulated in DuPont's Zytel glass reinforced nylon 612. The chip, currently with a capacity of 20 MB but 40 and 80 MB versions are under development, is placed in a standard PCMCIA reader to read and update the wearer's personal information such as complete medical history, allergies to medication, dental records etc.
One characteristic of Zytel benefitting this application is its suitability for slow, low-pressure mould filling, which is needed to avoid damage to the circuitry.
A buyer has finally been announced for L & H Polymers, Wellington Holdings' loss-making rubber processing division. It is to be bought by Blugilt Holdings, a division of Tournax plc, which plans to continue the company's operations at its Northampton site and has earmarked capital investment for the company. The purchase price is £2·8 million in cash.
The decision to sell L & H was made earlier this year, when Wellington revealed that the flooring products company had undermined its other moves to improve financial profits. The acquisition of Dynamic Seals of the USA, and consolidation of its Hatcham Rubber compounding business had seen turnover rise to £60,188,000 (1996 £57,779,000) but the poor performance of L & H Polymers undermined a slight rise in operating profit to yield £5,941,000 (1996 £6,227,000). L & H lost £115,000 on sales of £7·8 million. Tournax, which also owns Melton Medes, will see annual sales rise to £180 million after the acquisition.
Akzo Nobel to own 100 per cent of Akcros July 23, 1998
Akzo Nobel is buying out its partner in the Akcros business. It is to purchase the 50 per cent held by Elementis plc. Among the main Akcros products are polymer additives, notably for PVC, UV/EB curing chemicals, polysulphide sealant chemicals and a range of speciality surfactants. It has a turnover of around £200 million and has its headquarters in Eccles, near Manchester, with manufacturing plants in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and the USA. The Akcros name will remain unchanged, and the company will become a distinct unit within Akzo Nobel Chemicals.
PS price rise July 23, 1998
Elf Atochem has put up the price of polystyrene in the UK, continuing a pan-European trend of price rises of around 5 per cent.
Montell quits PP film July 23, 1998
Montell is pulling out of polypropylene film in Europe and Australia. It is to sell its business, which includes plants at Brantham in the UK; Terni, Battipaglia, San Gimignano and Lamezia in Italy; Liege in Belgium and Wodonga in Australia, to AET of the USA for around $220 million because 'in the light of the global restructuring taking place in the film industry, there was a better future for our downstream film business when it is combined with AET's film activities'.
Egyptian PE plant due on stream in 2000 July 23, 1998
An ethylene/polyethylene production complex is to be built by Sidi Kreir Petrochemicals (SIDPEC) at Alexandria in Egypt. It is described as the first of its kind in Egypt, and is expected to come on stream in 2000.
Amoco increases European PP and PTA capacity July 23, 1998
Amoco Chemical has increased capacity for polypropylene and purified terephthalic acid (the chemical intermediate for the production of polyester) in Belgium. It has de-bottlenecked its gas phase impact copolymer PP plant at Geel to increase its capacity from 200,000 tonnes to 280,000 tonnes, bringing total PP homopolymer and copolymer capacity on the site to 490,000 tonnes. A third PTA unit has been added, increasing capacity at Geel by 500,000 tonnes to 850,000 tonnes.
Uniroyal expands nitrile production July 14, 1998
Uniroyal has doubled production of Paracril NBR in Mexico. The plant at Industrias Negromex in Tampico, which has been making NBR with Uniroyal's technology since 1996, now has a capacity of 12,000 tonnes. The extra capacity is intended for sale in North America, Latin America and Europe.
Negromex is now able to make grades which were previously only produced at Uniroyal's Painesville, Ohio, USA plant, as well as 'clean' grades new to the market.
New record for German machinery production and exports July 14, 1998
Germany's plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers exceeded their 1990 record output last year while driving exports to even higher levels. 1997 production (excluding moulds and dies) reached DM 6·75 billion, 13·4 per cent up on 1996. Exports passed the DM 5 billion mark for the first time at DM 5·19 billion - 12·5 per cent up on 1996. Exports now account for 77 per cent of production.
The greatest increase in production was in injection moulding machines, which grew 30·8 per cent to DM 1·69 billion. Production of blow moulding machines was up 13·6 per cent at DM 422 million and extruder/extrusion system production increased 6·7 per cent to DM 1·29 billion. More injection moulding machines were exported than in the previous year (up 12·2 per cent) while exports of extruders increased only slightly by 0·8 per cent and blow moulding machine exports dropped by 1·9 per cent.
Most of Germany's machine exports went into other European countries. Despite the financial crises which saw a decline of 8·1 per cent, Asia is still the second major market for German machinery, taking 22·4 per cent of exports. The largest single market in Asia is China, although exports there fell by 18·2 per cent. The USA remains the biggest single national market for German machinery.
Production capacity for DuPont Dow Elastomers' Tyrin chlorinated polyethylene has been increased at the Stade plant in Germany to more than 20,000 tonnes. Tyrin is also made at the Plaquemine, Louisiana, USA plant.
Hoechst to sell Hostalen to Elenac July 13, 1998
Elenac is to take over Hoechst's polyethylene business, Hostalen. At present the companies are at the letter of intent stage, but assuming approval from the relevant monopolies watchdogs, the sale should be completed this year.
Hostalen has a capacity of around 500,000 tonnes of HDPE in Germany and in Spain. Elenac has some 400,000 tonnes of HDPE in its total PE capacity of 1·4 million tonnes.
The announcement of the sale of Hostalen is the latest step in Hoechst's departure from the industrial chemical business, as it focuses itself on the health and nutrition 'life sciences' sector.
Ellis & Everard buys Performance Polymers July 13, 1998
Ellis & Everard has bought its way into the US polymer distribution market. It has acquired Performance Polymers of the USA for £23 million (£8 million plus debt provision of £15 million), with a profit-related potential to pay a further £9 million.
E & E distributes chemicals for a range of industries, its polymer interests being grouped together as Distrupol. Performance Polymers is one of the largest independent polymer distributors in the USA, with around 1,800 customers and a turnover in 1997 of $170 million. Among the companies it represents are Dow, BASF, Epsilon, Nova, Cyro and Ticona, none of whom appear on Distrupol's supplier list. With E & E's 'involvement and assistance' PP has just signed up to distribute Dow's polyethylene.
E & E's principal reasons for buying PP are to give it the basis of a national US distributor, which it intends to focus more on engineering thermoplastics as it has done with its European distributors and to 'exploit commercial synergies with its existing European polymer business'.
The announcement of the PP purchase was made as part of E & E's results statement for the year to end April 1998. Pre-tax profit was up 8 per cent at £32·1 million on a sales increase of 13 per cent to £732 million.
BASF spins nylon 6 from new caprolactam process July 13, 1998
BASF has taken another step in its commercialisation of the process to make caprolactam from adiponitrile which will be used in its Chinese joint venture with DuPont to make nylon 6 (April 4).
The process is being tested in a 1,000 tpa demonstration plant at Ludwigshafen in Germany, and nylon 6 made from caprolactam monomer produced in the plant has been successfully spun into textile fibres at the BASF plant at Anderson, South Carolina, USA. The new route to caprolactam has lower raw material cost and lower investment than traditional methods, and has no ammonium sulphate or other by-products.
Clariant renames flame retardants July 13, 1998
Clariant has gone back to the Exolit name for its flame retardant range. After the combination of the Hoechst and Sandoz additives businesses the company's flame retardants continued under their original Hostaflam and Sandoflam trade marks. Now the naming convention is being tidied up with the reintroduction of Exolit (discontinued in 1992). The three product families are:
Exolit AP - ammonium polyphosphate.
Exolit OP - organophosphorus.
Exolit RP - red phosphorus.
Testing takeover July 13, 1998
Two German rheological testing equipment companies have combined with the 100 per cent acquisition by Gebrüder Haake of SWO Polymertechnik. The takeover gives SWO's products worldwide distribution through Haake's marketing network, and gives Haake the benefit of SWO's R & D capacity.
Gneuss names UK agent for compounding July 13, 1998
Buss Waeschle has become UK agent for the Gneuss Kunststofftechnik melt filtration systems for use in thermoplastics compounding.
Demag predicts increased moulding machine sales July 10, 1998
The injection moulding business across Europe is set generally for a buoyant period this year if investment in machines can be taken as an indicator. Figures compiled by Demag Ergotech show that last year there were 13,400 machines sold in Europe, up considerably on the 12,200 in 1996 and almost at the 1995 level of 13,500. This upward trend seems set to continue and the company is predicting total European sales this year of 14,000. The greatest increase in sales, says Demag, will be in Germany and Belgium where growth will be around 20 per cent. In the rest of Europe growth will range from 18 per cent in Spain, 9 per cent in the Netherlands and 8 per cent in the UK to no growth in France and a slight fall in Italy. Scandinavia is also seen as a flat market for moulding machines. Outside Europe Demag predicts an 11 per cent growth in Japan and a slight fall in the USA.
Last year, says Demag, 55,000 injection moulding machines were built worldwide, the same as in the previous year. Some 28,000 were built in Asia, and 18,000 in Europe. Machine sales in Asia nearly matched production at 27,500, while in Europe there was a production surplus of some 4,600. In simple terms sales of the excess European and Asian machines were accounted for by the USA, where imports exceeded domestic production as sales of 9,000 were matched by production of only 4,000.
Demag's own machine sales have followed the trends it has monitored. In 1997 it sold 1,908 machines - 26 per cent more machines for 35 per cent more money than in 1996. An interesting spin on the apparent decline in US machine makers' domestic sales is that of the 4,000 machines built, 250 of them were shipped from Demag's associated Van Dorn company for sale in Europe. This year Demag estimates it will sell another 400 machines but that in 1999 sales are likely to stagnate as we enter another economic downturn.
One of the counters to sales stagnation is to expand into new territory, and Demag is planning to do this with a joint venture to build machines in China - it has previously sold some machines through agencies.
It is setting up a 60:40 joint venture company with a machine builder in Shanghai - not yet identified - to make machines to the basic German design to compete with the Japanese machines already sold in China. Prototypes have already been built, and Demag anticipates making the joint venture public by K'98, and to be building machines by the end of the year. Next year's output should be around 200, and Demag hopes to reach 600 a year by 2003.
By 2003 also Demag will have expanded its European production when its Wiehe small machine plant should be delivering 2,300 - 2,500 machines a year. This increase - the plant expects to build 1,500 machines this year - will come from a dual investment of an additional machining centre for castings and a second assembly line. Wiehe is also planning two new models: a 60 tonne machine is to be added to the series, and next year Demag will meet Arburg and Boy head-on with a 15 tonne machine.
Acrylic sheet enhances or reduces light transmission July 10, 1998
An acrylic sheet extruded with hollow internal channels to provide air/acrylic interfaces is being developed as a light enhancing or light reflecting glazing sheet. Researchers at Röhm have found that by sandwiching the special Plexiglas sheet between two sheets of glass or applying it to a heat-insulating glazing component and then installing the composite in a particular orientation to the sun it is possible to control the light entering a room.
The Plexiglas Daylight sheet works by causing total reflection of the light at the lamellar interfaces inside the sheet. Depending on the position of the sun, light is either directed into the room, or reflected. Hence the sheet can be used to intensify the daylight coming into a room, or restrict direct harsh sunlight.
Britton Group Plastics, which became independent from ACX Technologies of the USA in April (see archived story) has bought Merlin Flexible Packaging of Louth. No purchase price has been disclosed.
Merlin, which produces plain and printed mono and co-extruded films and converted products mainly for the frozen foods, drinks, beverages, building and construction and courier and mailing sectors, has an annual turnover of around £35 million. The Britton Group now has a consolidated turnover of £120 million from 11 companies arranged into three operating groups, Britton Print and Conversion, Britton Film and Britton Security. The takeover of Merlin strengthens Britton's presence in shrink collation films and courier and mailing products, and opens the door into frozen foods packaging and building and construction membranes. Merlin was set up in 1964, and employs more than 350 people. Nigel Beaumont, divisional director of Britton Print and Conversions, takes over as managing director of Britton Merlin.
Montell organises innovation competition July 9, 1998
A worldwide competition is being organised by Montell for innovative uses of its materials. Awards will be made in four categories - consumer, industrial, transportation and packaging - and the worldwide winner in each category will be featured on Montell's stand at K'98. In addition, Montell will make a donation of $10,000 to each of the winners' choices of charities.
Fillmann becomes chairman of Krupp Kunststofftechnik July 8, 1998
Werner Fillmann, a member of the Krupp Kunststofftechnik management board, has been appointed its chairman following the retirement of Wilhelm Dalhoff. Burkhard Becker has joined the board from Krupp Hoesch Industries, replacing Hartmut Kehler who has left the company.
Indian PES now available in Europe July 8, 1998
Gharda Chemicals of India has appointed Sumitomo Corporation of France to handle sales of its materials in Western Europe. The company commissioned a polyether sulphone plant in the last quarter of last year, and is planning to add new grades to its Gafone PES range at K'98. It is also on the verge of making a PEEK.
Targor has rationalised the names under which it sells its polypropylene, which since the company's creation from the PP divisions of BASF and Hoechst in July 1997 have remained the original brand names. Now since July 1 the company's PP materials are being sold as:
Novolen - all homopolymers, block copolymers and random copolymers for injection moulding and extrusion.
Hostacom - speciality materials, covering mineral-filled and glass fibre reinforced compounds, PP/EPDM blends, high crystalline materials, and a number of homopolymers and block copolymers.
Metocene - the new tailor-made materials made with metallocene catalysts and destined mainly for injection moulding and extrusion.
The old Hostalen PP materials are now mainly included in the Novolen group, with a few in the Hostacom group. The old Procom materials are now Hostacom.
PU dispensing machines from Baxenden Chemicals July 7, 1998
Baxenden Chemicals has taken on UK representation for two ranges of urethanes dispensing equipment, from SAIP of Italy and Secmer of France. These machines will be sold by Baxenden's Isofoam division alongside the US-built Gusmer machines, enabling the company to supply packages of materials and machines.
The SAIP PU foam model range has 16 low pressure machines, programmable logic control or mechanical controls, with outputs from 1·5 to 300 kg per minute. The Secmer elastomer model range consists of 27 machines with outputs from 0·005 to 80 kg per minute.
Plasplugs has bought five Biraghi injection moulding machines from Spaceminster. The new machines, from 100 to 250 tonnes, join an existing 650 tonner, making products such as fixing plugs and components for tile cutters, knife products, tiling products, extension reels and electrical products.
Printing on curves a speciality July 7, 1998
A screen printing company specialising in printing on curved surfaces has been set up in Somerset. Revolver Screen Print has been spun off from Scaramanga, which for several years has operated a contract printing service for a variety of household items. Revolver's forte is said to be fast turn round from prototypes through pilot production to long production runs.
A glass reinforced polyester moulding compound that is heralded as the first snap-fit thermoset has been introduced by BIP. The new Beetle FMCs - flexible moulding compounds - have a flexural modulus up to 42 per cent lower than conventional BMC materials, yet are said to maintain excellent dimensional stability, and mechanical, electrical and heat resistant properties.
As well as their enhanced design potential, these higher-flex BMCs can lower scrap rates. They are less likely to be damaged during de-flashing, and BIP quotes one moulder as having reduced reject rate from 11 per cent to less than 1 per cent.
There are grades in the range which can give an oxygen index rating of 55 per cent and achieve UL94 V0 below 1·5 mm. FMC can be pigmented, is available in nil and low-shrink grades, and there are also grades suitable for components requiring sound attenuation.
Ticona keeps up with rapid growth in PPS July 7, 1998
Ticona has increased capacity for Fortron PPS in the USA from 4,500 to 5,500 tonnes, and is planning a further increase to 7,000 tonnes by the end of next year. Sales reportedly grew by about 25 per cent last year in North America and Europe. Fortron is made by Fortron Industries, a 50:50 joint venture between Hoechst and Kureha; Ticona is Hoechst's subsidiary responsible for the engineering polymers business.
New European MD for Forsheda July 7, 1998
Eduardo Moraes has been appointed managing director of the Europe, Middle East, Africa region of Forsheda Polymer Engineering Group. He has been in the TI group since 1990, most latterly as president of Bundy, Latin America.
British group added to Belgian international extrusion operation July 7, 1998
Extrusion group Fairbrook plc has been taken over by Tessenderlo of Belgium. Tessenderlo has acquired 75 per cent of the group and is running it, through the existing management team, as part of its Plastics Processing Division, which already has five extrusion companies - Wymar in Belgium, Plastival and Profex in France, Chelsea Building Products in the USA and Extruco in Canada.
Fairbrook's main operating companies are Eurocell Profiles, which makes uPVC window systems and associated building products, HL Plastics which is a trade extruder, and Tarpey Harris, toolmaker and precision engineer. The group also has a division of six companies distributing plastics building products from 22 depots in the UK. Fairbrook turned over £25 million in 1997.
Tessenderlo is a publicly quoted chemical group which includes capacity for 435,000 tonnes of PVC. Its 1997 turnover was £1 billion.
Lack of incineration could force unwarranted plastics recycling - BPF July 7, 1998
Failure to embrace energy-from-waste technology could damage the recycling of plastics in the UK, according to British Plastics Federation director general Peter Davis. He told a recent blow moulding conference that the UK would have difficulty reaching the 15 per cent minimum packaging recycling target. 'We do not have the advantage of extensive energy from waste incinerator facilities enjoyed by many other European countries, which recover energy from difficult to recycle post-consumer waste. Unless there is greater public and governmental recognition of the benefits of EfW in the UK, we will have to recycle proportionally more plastics which may not always be economic or environmentally beneficial'.
ARCO quits rigid urethanes July 7, 1998
ARCO Chemical has sold its European rigid polyols business to Elastogran and pulled out of rigid urethanes. Its main urethanes interests are in slab and moulding polyols and TDI, and the reactor capacity freed by the disposal of the rigids business will be used for the production of diols and triols for slab and moulding foam and for coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers.
PVC merger planned by EVC and Norsk Hydro July 7, 1998
EVC International and Norsk Hydro are planning to merge their PVC interests to create a company which they say will be in the top four worldwide PVC producers. Total European production capacity would be 1·8 million tonnes of PVC and 1·9 million tonnes of VCM, with further expansion planned outside of Europe, notably in Asia.
The deal would bring in most of Norsk Hydro's Petrochemicals Division, with the specific exclusion of its ethylene cracker at Rafnes in Norway, and its fabricating activities. However, a joint statement from Hydro and EVC says: 'The companies will undertake a study of the future ethylene needs of the combined company including clarification of the future relationship between the company and Norsk Hydro's 51 per cent share in the Rafnes cracker'.
EVC International is the largest PVC manufacturer in Europe and the fourth largest in the world with production sites in the UK, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and India. It has a capacity of 1·3 million tonnes per year of PVC resin, which represents approximately 22 per cent of total West European capacity.
Norsk Hydro's Petrochemicals division has PVC/VCM plants in Norway, Sweden, UK and Singapore and further investments in Portugal, Singapore, China, India, Malaysia and Qatar. It has an annual capacity of around 435,000 tonnes of S-PVC, 70,000 tonnes of P-PVC and 170,000 tonnes of PVC Compounds. VCM capacity is 600,000 tonnes.
Integration of the two companies, subject to approval by their boards and by the regulatory authorities, should take place by the end of the year.
Hydro will own 45 per cent of the new company through a special issue of EVC shares in exchange for the agreed value of the assets of Norsk Hydro Petrochemical Division. EVC will continue as a publicly listed company. The management board of the new company will consist of two directors each from Hydro and EVC, with EVC's chairman Ettore dell'Isola proposed as CEO.
Who
brings what to the party
EVC
Hydro
Petrochemicals*
Production capacities (per
30 June 98) (1,000 tonnes)
Chlorine
-
250
Caustic soda
-
275
Ethylene
-
200
VCM
1,340
595
PVC
1,340
515
Compounds
240
170
Rigid films
153
-
Operating revenues
NOK
8,950
mill.
NOK
6,034
mill.
Operating income
NOK
94
mill.
NOK
469
mill.
Total assets
NOK
7,585
mill.
NOK
5,895
mill.
Number of employees
4,000
3,000
* Ethylene not included in the
proposed merger
DSM to increase nylon 6 production July 3, 1998
DSM is expanding nylon 6 production with a NLG 200 million investment. A new 85,000 tpa plant will come on stream at the Emmen, Netherlands, site in 2000, largely replacing the existing 75,000 tpa plant - which it bought from Akzo in 1992. A similar plant is already under construction at Augusta in the USA. As part of the investment DSM will also expand its engineering polymers compounding capacity.
Davis-Standard makes plans for Betol July 3, 1998
Davis-Standard Corporation has begun adapting Betol's Luton plant as a European manufacturing centre following its takeover of the company (see story June 2). Betol has now been renamed Davis-Standard Ltd, and plans have been set to build the D-S Thermatic extruder range and counter-rotating twin screw machines at Luton. Elements of Davis-Standard's Pawcatuck technical centre will be duplicated at Luton giving European customers closer access to both extruder technology and screw design, and the Betol range of laboratory equipment will be augmented by machines from the Killion series, including fibre, monofilament and cast/coating machinery.
The Thermatic extruders will be built at Luton in both air-cooled and water-cooled variants. The twin screw machines will be built in both GC conical and GP parallel formats, and will be sold either stand-alone, or in packages with downstream equipment including Floataire baths and dry calibration tables.
Included in the twin screw range is a new preheater for increasing output, and a conical extruder said to have twice the thrust and torque capacity of competitive models.
The GPH-160 parallel co-rotating pre-heater may be mounted on any extruder, and can handle powder, pellets, regrind and highly filled materials. It enables the feedscrew design in the main extruder to be changed to give higher output, increasing PVC throughput by up to 35 per cent.
The new GC-61 conical twinscrew has a nominal output of 270 kg/hr and is suitable for applications such as small window profiles, vertical blinds or capstock coextrusion. It can also be used in a laboratory role, for which its optional drive positioning increases flexibility.
Promotion for Elf Atochem's Roy Coldwell July 3, 1998
Roy Coldwell, site manager at Elf Atochem in Widnes, has been appointed industrial director with reponsibility for co-ordinating the management of all Elf Atochem's UK industrial activities.
New president for APME July 3, 1998
Dr Kees Linse, president of the Europe Division of Montell Polyolefins Company, has been elected president of the Association of Plastics Manufacturers in Europe in succession to Mike Buzzacott of BP Chemicals. The new vice president of APME is Arnaud d'Aramon, group vice president for polyolefins and polystyrene at Elf Atochem.
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