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Acrimony abounds as Tool-Temp and GWK switch UK representation April 30, 2002
PTA Precisa-Therm UK has become UK agent for the Swiss-made Tool-Temp range of fluid temperature controllers and Tool-Temp has bought shares in the UK distributor. Spaceminster, which sold TT controllers through its Tool-Temp UK subsidiary, is to take over distribution of GWK temperature controllers. GWK UK is be integrated into Spaceminster, and its former managing director Nigel Hallett is understood to be starting a new business. Telephone calls to GWK's Harold Hill offices are being transferred to Germany but will soon be picked up by Spaceminster. As yet there has been no comment on the future of the other agencies held by GWK UK.
PTA Precisa-Therm will continue to sell the PTA-branded controllers. It brought these on to the market a year ago with an aggressive pricing policy and some people have regarded them as cut-price Tool-Temps. Indeed, Spaceminster says the machines are - or were - built in the TT factory, and managing director Philip Staniford commented 'the units only vary by the label. This is a clear breach of the exclusive agreement between TT and Spaceminster.' PTA's UK managing director Craig Robb, at one time also managing director of Spaceminster, says that PTA and Tool-Temp are completely separate companies - although they are next door neighbours.
Tool-Temp controllers will be sold with the same pricing philosophy as applies to PTA, and are going on sale at a substantial discount on their previous UK price. A new model based on the TT157E, to be called the TT157ES, will be on sale from May 13 at £680.
Companies who bought Tool-Temp units from Spaceminster are being offered continued spares and service support and Spaceminster says it will also honour all warranties and continue to provide Planned Maintenance Contracts.
Spaceminster's new deal with GWK comes after six months evaluating alternatives to Tool-Temp, following a prior six months of fruitless discussions with Tool-Temp over the appearance of PTA on the British market - and during which Tool-Temp says it experienced 'a significant drop in market share in the UK'. GWK is said to have a much wider range of heaters than Tool-Temp, and in its standard chiller series 15 of the 30 models cover the same range as five Tool-Temp chillers. Technical aspects of the heaters include multi-circuit control and maintenance-free, zero-corrosion operation.
Dow Europe is raising the price of its Styron polystyrene by Eur 150/tonne for monthly contracts, effective May 1, and has increased its quarterly contract price by Eur 300 over the first quarter contract reference price to reach Eur 925/tonne. The monthly contract price increase applies across the grade range - general purpose, high impact and Styron A-Tech higher performance PS. It was last increased, also by Eur 150/tonne on April 1.
The quarterly contract reference prices being set by Dow are the company's attempt to define a realistic market price on which to base negotiations dependant on the level of business, and to move away from the market instability caused by monthly 'spot' buying.
Top management changes at injection machine suppliers April 29, 2002
The managing director of Engel UK, Stephen Davies, is planning to retire in June. He will be succeeded in October by Graeme Herlihy, who until recently was sales director of Demag Hamilton. It is understood that Demag Hamilton will be seeking a replacement from outside the company.
These changes at the top of two major injection moulding machine suppliers follow close behind the departure of Stephen Learney from Krauss-Maffei UK, where the management structure has been revised such that each of the company's divisions now reports directly to Germany, making a UK managing director unnecessary.
Automotive target for cyclic PBT development April 29, 2002
A research co-operation has been set up in the USA to develop automotive applications for a low viscosity, low moulding pressure form of PBT. CBT - cyclic butylene terephthalate - is described as 'essentially bits of PBT in a ring shaped cyclical form'. As well as needing only low moulding pressures, it has no exotherm, no VOCs and no need to cool the mould to release the part.
The co-operation is between the CBT specialist, Cyclics Corp, and Dow's Automotive Division. The development activities will be focused on structural composites, including vertical and horizontal body panels and truck boxes.
CBT is solid at room temperature, melts to a water-like viscosity at around 150 degC and then, in the presence of a catalyst, becomes solid again at 200 degC to form PBT, which has a melt temperature of 225 degC. Cyclics supplies it as a pre-catalysed material or as a two-pack, and says it can be converted by a wide range of processes including injection moulding, compression moulding, RIM/SRIM/RTM, pultrusion, extrusion, rotational moulding, and if processed into sheets, by thermoforming.
Dow's side of the co-operation is to liaise with its existing automotive clients to identify potential applications. One benefit envisaged for the material is that it is recyclable - including a chemical route back to CBP - and could replace some current thermosetting composites to help meet recyclability obligations.
Amcor adds more European film companies April 29, 2002
Amcor, which recently bought two British film conversion and production companies, is now to buy a Spanish company with three plants making flexible packaging for the pharmaceutical, healthcare and cosmetics markets. Tobepal has combined sales of Eur 74 million and is said to be particularly strong in extrusion-lamination.
The three plants will be integrated into Amcor Flexibles Europe as Amcor Flexibles Tobepal Burgos, Amcor Flexibles Tobepal Logroño and Amcor Flexibles Tobefil.
Global sales co-operation for new nucleating agent April 29, 2002
A nucleating agent for polymers, developed by Asahi Denka Kogyo, is to be sold globally by ADK and Ciba Specialty Chemicals. Under the co-marketing agreement the material will be sold as Irgastab NA 11 by Ciba and as Adkstab NA-11 by ADK.
Ciba anticipates producing customer-specific blends that allow easy handling and accurate dosing of the final additive package. The company also plans to develop formulations with other additives to meet specific application requirements.
Borealis has brought forward plans for increased XLPE capacity to meet demands from the wire and cable industry.
The expansion programme is designed to achieve a 50 per cent capacity increase overall in addition to the rises in production already brought on-line last year.
Work to extend the company's XLPE production plant has already started at Stenungsund in Sweden, and the new capacity will come on-stream in phased increases between now and the first quarter next year.
BASF is planning a major expansion in tetrahydrofuran and polytetrahydrofuran, used in elastic fibres, as an intermediate in thermoplastic polyurethanes, and in thermoplastic polyetheresters, polyetheramides and cast elastomers. It is to build an integrated plant in Shanghai, China, to produce 80,000 tpa of THF and 60,000 tonnes of PolyTHF, making it the biggest PolyTHF plant in the world. The plant will use new BASF technology to convert butane directly to THF, eliminating the 1,4-butanediol intermediary stage.
In addition to the Chinese plant, which will come on stream in 2004, BASF has started an expansion of its Luwigshafen, Germany, plant to 56,000 tonnes which, together with other capacity in Japan and Korea and the new Chinese plant, will give the company a worldwide capacity of 184,000 tonnes.
...to sell its Australian compounder... April 23, 2002
BASF's search for operating economies has led to the disposal of its engineering compounds plant in Australia. On June 1 it is selling its Melbourne plant to Engineering Polymers, a subsidiary of its distributor in Australia and New Zealand, Marplex Australia.
Engineering Polymers does not sell product, its compounds are distributed by Marplex. BASF will continue to sell materials directly to major customers.
...and increase nylon compound prices April 23, 2002
The sharp increase in base polymer prices is forcing BASF to increase the price of its Ultramid nylon 6 and 66 compounds in Europe. The price goes up Eur 200/tonne on May 1.
Thermoset moulding compounds produced in Europe by Bakelite were increased in price by Eur 250/tonne on April 15 because of a long term erosion of profit margins.
Ethylene elastomer expansion underway April 23, 2002
Work has started on the expansion of the ExxonMobil Chemical metallocene ethylene elastomer plant at Baton Rouge in Louisiana, USA. This will add more than 90,000 tonnes of capacity for EPDM, plastomers, and new products based on Exxpol metallocene technology, which ExxonMobil says will give it 'the broadest product portfolio of any ethylene elastomer producer'. The expansion is expected to go on line in the third quarter of 2003.
ExxonMobil is in the process of buying out its 50:50 partner in Advanced Elastomer Solutions, Solutia.
Biodegradable bag production draws closer April 23, 2002
The collaboration between Environmental Polymers and Anwil of Poland to make biodegradable plastic film, bags and heavy duty sacks in EPG's depart PVOH has come on another step and the two companies are anticipating starting production in Poland 'very soon after agreements are signed later this year'.
Negri Bossi buys BM Biraghi April 22, 2002
Consolidation in Italian injection moulding machinery manufacture has taken another step with the purchase by the Sacmi Imola group, through Negri Bossi, of a majority share in BM Biraghi. This brings under one roof the brands of Negri Bossi, Oima and now BM Biraghi.
The consolidation trail started in November when a majority of Negri Bossi's shares were sold on the stock exchange, ostensibly to raise cash to buy a German machine company and one in Italy. The strategy was to increase the size of the company to make it more competitive with other European majors, to increase its machine size range, and to acquire a bridgehead into Germany - a notoriously difficult country for non-German manufacturers to sell into.
The Italian acquisition followed soon after the flotation when Negri Bossi bought a 70 per cent stake in Oima. And hard on the heels of that acquisition came a declared interest from Sacmi Imola, whose plastics interests are primarily in compression moulding equipment for bottle caps, who is also involved in beverage packaging, but whose main income is from ceramics processing equipment.
Sacmi completed the Negri Bossi takeover in February. It does not wholly own the company, some 14 per cent still being retained by Ridgeway Investments, the Luxembourg company which bought Negri Bossi from Kvaerner in 1999 via Private Equity Partners, and another 26 per cent is held by other investors including the company's management.
In the latest move Negri Bossi has bought 70 per cent of BM Biraghi, the balance remaining with the Biraghi family. Like the Oima takeover, the intention is to continue to run BM Biraghi as an autonomous company, and Marco and Giovanni Biraghi continue as managing directors.
While the primary objective is to increase the strength of Negri Bossi, to improve its purchasing power and make it more competitive with other European manufacturers, there is a further strategy in the BM Biraghi takeover in that Biraghi makes machines for PET bottle preforms, which stack up well against Sacmi Imola's present position as a supplier of equipment for beverage packaging and its leadership in the compression moulded cap equipment business.
The restructuring of the Sidel Group, started last year has resulted in an integration of the group's operations, concentrating on the core business of packaging food liquids. All of the companies in this business, including Sidel, Gebo, Rafale, Alsim, Rémy, Héma, and Girondine, are to be managed as a single entity under the Sidel name.
There will be three product divisions: the Blowing & Coating Division, based in Le Havre, France, is responsible for blowing machines and Actis barrier treatment systems. The Filling Systems Division, in Parma, Italy, includes the four filling companies and Combi product operations. From its head office in Strasbourg, France, Packaging Systems will oversee Sidel's PET line operations and all of Gebo's business.
A single Sales and Services Division will be responsible for customer relations and technical support at the local level. Sidel has operations in some 20 countries, and each international company will sell the full range of Sidel products and services.
A new management team has been set up with half comprising executives who have already held top positions at Sidel, and the rest managers recruited from outside the company.
French automotive moulder Mecaplast has taken over control of the struggling Neyr Group, also French. Together they form a Eur 600 million group with some 5,500 employees in 15 countries. Neyr has a moulding plant in Peterlee.
New head of sales for Krupp rubber machinery April 18, 2002
The new global sales director for Krupp Elastomertechnik is Claus Biernoth, who has been with Krupp in its rubber machinery division all his working life, latterly as sales manager at Krupp Rubber Machinery in the USA.
BASF increases styrenics prices April 16, 2002
BASF has increased the European price for SAN and ABS by Eur 200/tonne, back dated to April 1. Styrene prices have risen dramatically and there have been supply difficulties in recent months. Earlier this year BASF shut a 410,000 tonnes styrene plant in Germany, blaming 'a worldwide drop in demand for styrene and styrenic polymers'.
GE to to buy Chinese PC sheet manufacturer April 16, 2002
GE Plastics is planning to buy a Chinese polycarbonate multi-wall sheet manufacturer. After the purchase Zhongshan Plastech Sunsheet Co will be renamed GE Plastech Sunsheet (Zhongshan) Co. GE estimates that the polycarbonate sheet market will grow at 15 per cent annually in China with the development of building and construction, agriculture and advertising industries.
Basell technology for Chinese LDPE plant April 15, 2002
Basell's Lupotech T technology is to be used for a new 200,000 tonnes per year LDPE plant to be built in Daqing, Heilongjiang Province, China.
The plant, for PetroChina Company, is scheduled to start up in 2004.
The Lupotech T high-pressure, tubular reactor process is capable of producing LDPE homopolymers and EVA-copolymers.
Vita buys Metacol masterbatch April 15, 2002
Vita Thermoplastic Compounds has bought the solids colouring business remaining after Metacol's liquid colouring business was bought last month by ColorMatrix. VTC is moving Metacol's four masterbatch extrusion lines to its Silvergate Plastics plant in Wrexham.
US-based flat die manufacturer Extrusion Dies Inc has realigned its European support service, and sold its European subsidiary back to the company it bought it from. Extrusion Dies Service was a long time agent for EDI in Germany, and was bought in 1998 to reinforce European support. Extrusion Dies UK was set up last year for UK support, and EDI has also increased its agency representation in Europe. So now its German subsidiary has been sold to become once again a sales agent and rework centre, with a territory from the Netherlands to Poland.
Ethylene shortage hits LLDPE supply April 12, 2002
Basell has hit supply problems for LLDPE. A shortage of ethylene from Shell's cracker in Moerdijk in the Netherlands is limiting production, and Basell does not know how long the shortage will last.
A shortage of styrene monomer from Moerdijk caused Nova Chemicals to declare force majeure on polystyrene last week.
Sidel settles with Milacron in a quid pro quo April 12, 2002
The last of the current round of
patent suits by Milacron against companies using personal computers to control plastics machinery has been settled. Sidel has made a one-off payment to purchase a licence. Unlike the previous list of companies sued by Milacron, however, Sidel has got something in return. It has sold Milacron a non-exclusive royalty-bearing licence to make parts compatible with its US patented mould designs for blow moulding.
Curv now available in commercial quantities April 9, 2002
BP has started up a commercial line for the production of Curv self-reinforcing polypropylene composite sheet at its fabrics and fibres division site at Gronau in Germany. Curv is produced by a process called hot compaction in which polypropylene fibres are partially melted and then compacted into a sheet, retaining around 80 per cent of the fibre properties. This creates a thermoformable sheet material with stiffness and strength in the area of that of glass mat thermoplastics, but without the downside of glass incorporation such as weight and recyclability.
Initial capacity at Gronau is 5,000 tonnes. It augments a pilot line that has been supplying material for the past year for product development to companies primarily in the automotive sector but also in personal protective equipment, sporting goods and transport cases. An announcement is imminent on the first commercial applications for Curv, which will be non-automotive and will be based on the material's impact resistance.
Along with the production plant, BP has also bought a commercial-scale thermoforming machine for application development in its technology and development centre in Gronau. The company is also currently considering the setting up of Curv production lines at other fabrics and fibres division sites around the world, starting with the USA.
The fabrics and fibres division was one of the businesses put up for sale in January last year. Because of the world economic slump it was taken off the market last November, so BP is not actively seeking a disposal. Although when the economy picks up it is likely to be put up for sale again.
Alliance to develop new thermoplastic composites April 9, 2002
Johns Manville Europe has joined with Comfil of Denmark to develop thermoplastic composite systems for structural applications. Johns Manville makes glass and polyester materials while Comfil, a spin-off from the former Hoechst Trevira-Neckelmann company, is involved in polyester fibre systems and hybrid yarns.
The initial focus will be on polyester hybrid yarns for structural and semi-structural applications in automotive, industrial and consumer products. Later development will bring in fibres of polypropylene and nylon.
Secondhand and reconditioned machinery dealer Plasplant Machinery has been restructured, slimmed down and has moved house. After a month-long stock clearance sale Plasplant Machinery Ltd has ceased to trade, and the business has been revamped as Plasplant Ltd. The company has moved to Unit 4, Oakhanger Farm, Oakhanger, Bordon, Hampshire, GU35 9JA. Telephone and fax numbers are unchanged.
Ancillary equipment supplier Conair has extended its European penetration with the appointment of agents in Poland and Ireland. Last year it opened offices in France and Germany. The Irish agent is Technical Marketing Services of Portmanock, Co Dublin.
Dow Corning expands in thermoplastics with compounder buy April 6, 2002
Dow Corning is to buy French compounder Multibase as part of a strategy to move beyond the market for silicone-based materials into other 'performance enhancing solutions' such as thermoplastics. The complementary product lines of the two companies will be sold under the Multibase brand.
Multibase has production facilities in France, the US and India and sales offices in Brazil and China. It has a large number of proprietary polymer compound products including MultiFlex thermoplastic elastomers, Multibatch mineral filled polyolefin masterbatches and Multi-Pro polyolefin compounds.
Dow Corning also has a line of thermoplastic elastomers - TPSiV - based on proprietary technology that combines the high temperature elastomeric performance of silicone rubber with the melt reprocessability and thermal and chemical resistance of engineering plastics.
DSM to sell petrochemicals businesses to SABIC April 6, 2002
DSM has taken a big step in its Vision 2005 strategy to transform itself into a speciality chemicals company by agreeing to sell its petrochemicals businesses to Saudi Basic Industries Corporation - SABIC. The deal will escalate SABIC from 22nd to 11th in world petrochemicals production, and make it third in the world in polyethylene and fourth in polypropylene.
DSM's original declared intention was to find a partner with which to merge its petrochemicals businesses. It took the first step at the beginning of last year when it merged its polyethylene, polypropylene and hydrocarbon businesses into DSM Petrochemicals. The outright sale to SABIC will yield Eur 2·25 billion which DSM will use to make acquisitions in speciality chemicals. Half the money will be paid on closing the deal - expected to be at the end of June, depending on agreement by the European Union and other competition bodies - with the balance paid in four and half years from closure. Last year DSM Petrochemicals sold around 2·6 million tonnes of polymers for Eur 2·4 billion.
As well as the petrochemicals production activities in Europe and the USA, the sale includes supporting facilities such as the DSM Pipelines north west Europe pipeline grid, the Stamicarbon licensing department, the petrochemicals-related activities of DSM Research, and the sales and support facilities for petrochemicals across Europe.
Welsh rigid PVC film producer doubles capacity April 6, 2002
G-Plas, which describes itself as the fastest growing supplier of rigid packaging film to the UK market, has commissioned a fourth production line that doubles its capacity. The expansion forms part of a £3 million investment at the Crumlin plant which is operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week producing 1,000 tonnes of rigid film a month. Turnover is £10 million and is anticipated to rise to £15 million within the next 12 months.
The company was set up three years ago, and last year Klöckner Pentaplast bought a 51 per cent stake in it. This investment provided the support and finance to go ahead with a 100 per cent expansion of the factory and installation of the new production line.
VIP becomes latex distributor April 6, 2002
Vita Liquid Polymers, a custom compounder of liquid polymer systems including PVC plastisols, natural and synthetic latex compounds and ancillary dispersions, has now become a latex distributor. PolymerLatex of Germany, which is jointly owned by Bayer and Degussa-Hüls, has appointed VLP to distribute its latex throughout the UK and Ireland. VIP says this is the first time that an independent latex compounder has been chosen to distribute latex.
PolymerLatex has its own UK subsidiary, which recently invested £2·1 million at its Bromsgrove plant.
Bayer to buy Danish PU company April 6, 2002
Bayer is to buy a PU systems house in Denmark. The acquisition of Tectrade covers a technical centre in Otterup and a formulating plant in Randers. Tectrade will become an independent company after the acquisition and will be integrated as a subsidiary company into the Bayer Norden Group.
Tectrade makes rigid polyurethane systems for thermal insulation marketed under the name Tecfoam. It also supplies polyurethane formulations for solid polyurethane moldings, sandwich materials, integral skin foams, CASE applications and cold-cure mouldings.
EVC holds on against PVC price slump April 6, 2002
The 25 per cent fall in average selling prices for S-PVC was mainly responsible for EVC's 9 per cent drop in turnover last year to Eur 1,071·6 million. And the weakness of the market has continued into this year with further volatility in prices.
Group operating loss was Eur 23·8 m - a slight improvement on the Eur 31 million of 2000.
EVC's compounds and films businesses fared rather better with only a 2 per cent decline in turnover and an improvement in gross margins - thanks to the fall in prices that hit the polymers business.
Dow is to expand its worldwide capacity for Magnum ABS by 75,000 tonnes by the end of this year with the addition of a second production line at its plant at Terneuzen in the Netherlands. Once on stream the new line will increase Dow's global capacity by around 14 per cent. Dow will use the new capacity to produce materials with its mass-ABS technology.
Dow currently makes approximately 317,000 tonnes of Magnum ABS annually at Terneuzen and in three plants in the USA - Allyn's Point in Connecticut, Hanging Rock in Ohio and Midland in Michigan.
Dow says annual demand for mass-ABS products in the past 10 years has grown at annual rates two to three times higher than the average global gross domestic product, while emulsion ABS consumption has declined or remained static.
Milacron buys German extruder manufacturer April 6, 2002
German parallel twin-screw extruder manufacturer Compounding Processing Machinery has been bought by Milacron and added to its Extrusion Tek business. CPM will become CPM Milacron and will be marketed globally from both the USA and Europe. CPM founder Dr Ernst Krueger will continue with the business.
CPM's customer base throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia gives Milacron sales opportunities for its single screw and high output twin screw extruders and Milacron's after-market barrel and screw business Wear Technology gains access to CPM's design technology.
CPM has focused primarily on the development of new parallel twin screw extrusion systems for pipe, window and technical profiles, foam, sheet and pelletised products. In addition, the company supplies new and refurbished barrels and screws for all competitive conical and parallel machines, along with special wear-resistant components, auxiliary machinery and consulting services.
Rexam sells flexible packaging plants April 6, 2002
Australian-based packaging producer Amcor is buying Rexam's Ledbury and Thetford flexible packaging plants for Eur 17·9 million. The plants had combined sales of Eur 68 million in 2001 and combined net assets of Eur 24 million at the end of the year.
The two plants will fit with Amcor's existing European flexible packaging business, Amcor Flexibles Europe. Thetford makes high barrier vacuum metallising and coating products and Ledbury complements existing AFE positions in the UK, notably in the produce and bakery markets. They will be renamed Amcor Flexibles Camvac and Amcor Flexibles Ledbury.
Star Automation Europe and Fanuc have reached an agreement giving Star the authority to use Fanuc robots in its automated systems for handling and assembly of injection moulded parts, adding six-axis capability to Star's own ranges of traversing robots.
Erratic supplies of styrene monomer have caused Nova Chemicals to declare force majeure on the supply of polystyrene, expandable polystyrene and its own styrene monomer production. The company says it has been forced to take this action because of the failure of several feedstock manufacturers to supply sufficient styrene monomer - notably Shell Chemicals, which also declared force majeure on the supply of SM from its Moerdijk plant in the Netherlands on March 25. An allocation plan is being developed for European customers.
Nova says that there are also styrene supply problems in the USA, and that the global market for styrene derivatives is very tight. It increased its European prices for polystyrene in February.
New technology EPDMs go into production April 4, 2002
DuPont Dow Elastomers is to expand the performance envelope of EPDM with a new series of gas phase metallocene products to be branded as Nordel MG. Their production using metallocene technology applied to a gas phase process is said to be a first in EPDM.
The first Nordel MG grades will become available in the next few months and will give up to 20 per cent improvement in mixing cycle times due to their granular form, as well as 5 - 10 per cent increased mixer fill factor and reduced power consumption.
DuPont Dow is already making metallocene catalysed EPDMs, the Nordel IP series which has improved yield and scrap reductions and brought greater cleanliness. Initial Nordel MG grades will be aimed at roofing, hose and custom mixing applications. Additional grades planned for the second half of this year will 'break new ground for EPDM with some very interesting characteristics and benefits'.
Parkside Flexibles to buy BP's Performance Films business April 4, 2002
BP Chemicals has found a buyer for another part of its Plastic Fabrications Group, which it decided to divest a year ago to concentrate on its core chemicals business. It is to sell its Performance Films business to Parkside Flexibles, which was formed in 2000 from a management buy-out at British Polythene Industries. The sale includes plants at Darton, near Barnsley, and Zlotow in Poland.
The Darton plant has a capacity of some 18,000 tonnes a year of polyethylene film. The Zlotow site produces flexible packaging using several substrates for the Polish and Northern European markets and has an annual capacity of around 3,000 tonnes. Approximately 350 staff are employed at Darton and 85 at Zlotow.
The acquisition will approximately double Parkside's size, bringing turnover up to more than £70 million. The company produces stand-up pouches, shrink sleeves, laminates and plastic labels with options of gravure or flexo printing at two sites - Normanton near Wakefield and Stoke. It was the first OPP shrink sleeve converter in Europe and pioneered wrap-round labels and water-based inks.
BP Performance Films produces polyethylene-based flexible packaging for a range of consumer products such as bread, paper tissue, diapers, frozen food and snacks. The business employs four core process technologies: film extrusion, lamination, printing and conversion.
BP rationalises American polypropylene April 4, 2002
BP is cutting its North American polypropylene capacity by 466,000 tonnes. It is closing two older plants in an optimisation measure following the acquisition of Solvay Polymers' 780,000 tonnes Deer Park, Texas, plant towards the end of last year which pushed capacity up to 1·5 million tonnes.
The two plants being shut are the Cedar Bayou facility in Baytown, Texas, and one of four polypropylene units at Chocolate Bayou, Texas, which has already been turned off.
The 25 year old 261,000 tonnes Cedar Bayou plant will cease production in June. The PP1 unit at Chocolate Bayou was built in 1971 and produced 205,000 tonnes a year until it was mothballed in November last year.
After the restructuring BP will have an annual polypropylene production capacity of 625,000 tonnes at Chocolate Bayou and another 386,000 tonnes at Deer Park. The company also has majority ownership of a 200,000 tonnes polypropylene venture at its Carson, California refining complex.
New process for fluoropolymer production April 4, 2002
A new technology for the manufacture of fluoropolymers has gone into production at DuPont Fluoroproducts. Traditional water-based polymerisation has been replaced by a process based on supercritical carbon dioxide.
According to DuPont this produces materials with enhanced performance and processing capabilities while generating less waste. The new products are being manufactured at the company's Fayetteville, North Carolina, plant in a $40 million facility that started up in late 2000.
The new process is first being used to make melt-processible products for applications such as wire and cable insulation, flexible tubing and industrial films. It can also be used to make other fluoropolymers such as PFA which is used in high purity fluid handling components in the semiconductor and pharmaceuticals industries. DuPont Fluoroproducts has also completed a $50 million global capacity expansion program in its PTFE business that has increased capacity by 30 per cent since 1999.
The expansion programme was primarily focused on Teflon fine powder and dispersion resins. Most of the investment was directed towards the DuPont facility in Parkersburg, West Virginia, the largest fluoropolymer manufacturing facility in the world. Upgrades were also implemented at the DuPont fluoropolymer manufacturing sites in Dordrecht, the Netherlands and Shimizu, Japan.
More money for plastics recycling research April 4, 2002
The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) is inviting proposals for projects aimed at increasing the use of recycled materials in the UK. The organisation has a £10 million rolling R & D programme to fund research into recycling over the next two years, and this second call for R & D proposals covers four material streams: wood, paper, plastics and glass.
In the first round of funding, announced earlier this year, WRAP approved £3·6 million for 21 R & D projects investigating new recycling technologies and market opportunities for recovered materials.
In this second round, WRAP is again interested in receiving proposals to research new applications for recycled materials, and is also looking to fund innovative projects. In plastics it is looking for research into the weather resistance of recycled plastics and plastic composites, and defining what level of performance is required; and an evaluation of how this performance can be achieved and certified.
The deadline for applications is April 26.
High level European appointments at GE and DuPont April 4, 2002
Charlie Crew, appointed earlier this year to head GE Plastics Europe, is now to become president and chief executive officer of LNP Engineering Plastics which GE bought at the end of last year.
The new president of GE Plastics Europe is Andre Horbach, previously CEO of GE Bayer Silicones. He heads up GE Polymerland and is also responsible for the European operations of GE Structured Products and GE Polymershapes.
Björn Hedlund is the new European marketing director for DuPont's Engineering Polymers business. He replaces David Mays in Geneva, who is retiring after more than 33 years in the polymer industry.
For the last three years Mr Hedlund has been based at DuPont's headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, where he has led the Zytel business in the Americas.
Perrite takes on DSM HDPE April 4, 2002
JGP Perrite, a division of Vita Thermoplastic Compounds, is now distributing DSM's Vestolen and Stamylan high density polyethylene for blow moulding and injection moulding.
Syscon moves April 4, 2002
Process monitoring software specialist Syscon-International has moved to 118 Rowantree Road, Killamarsh, Sheffield, S21 1SP. Telephone: 0870 4670729, fax 0870 4670597, e-mail mickt@syscon-intl.com.
BASF raises prices for nylon 6 and acrylic monomer April 4, 2002
BASF has increased its European prices for caprolactam by Eur 200/tonne because of higher prices for benzene. As caprolactam is a feedstock for nylon 6, prices for BASF's Ultramid B and Ultramid BS have been increased by a corresponding 15 - 20 per cent.
BASF has also increased its prices for acrylic monomers worldwide by Eur 70/tonne.
British Vita Group polyurethane elastomer and coatings system manufacturer Hyperlast is investing £1·5 million in increased manufacturing capability through new plant operating techniques and on-site logistical services.
New chairman for DSM April 4, 2002
Cor Herkströter is the new chairman of the supervisory board of directors of DSM succeeding HHF Wijffels. Mr Herkströter has been on the DSM supervisory board since April 1, 2000.
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DuPont Fluoroproducts has also completed a $50 million global capacity expansion program in its PTFE business that has increased capacity by 30 per cent since 1999.