This page is an archive of news and news background stories. Stories are placed here when they expire from the news pages and are filed in date order, most recent on the top. Go to the most recent or browse through the headline links.
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DuPont plans commercial bio-manufacture of PTT January 31, 2003
DuPont expects later this year to announce plans to switch production of its Sorona PTT from a petrochemical source to a biopolymer process.
The company has been working with Genencor International for a number of years to make 1,3 propanediol (PDO), a key building block of PTT, using a fermentation process based on corn, and on February 14 Dr Scott Nichols of DuPont will present the latest findings at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting. DuPont currently uses a petrochemical process in Kinston, North Carolina, to produce Sorona, and says it expects to announce transition plans to the new bio-based process later this year.
PTT is a thermoplastic polyester with a use mainly in fibres, where DuPont pitches Sorona. It is also made by Shell as Corterra, again as a fibre material but Shell has also pushed it as an engineering plastic.
DuPont describes the properties of Sorona as coming from a semi-crystalline molecular structure featuring a pronounced 'kink'. When stress is exerted on the molecule, strain deformation occurs first in its crystalline, lower modulus regions. As stress is released, the crystalline structure locks in, allowing a complete recovery to the initial shape. Sorona fibres are also said to offer additional advantages over both polyester and nylon: they have a softer feel and support easier, more versatile dyeability with excellent washfastness and UV resistance.
Amcor bottle-to-bottle expansion reaches 21,000 tonnes capacity in France January 31, 2003
Expansion of the PET recycling plant at Beaune in France, set up by Schmalbach-Lubeca and now run as part of Amcor PET Packaging Europe/Asia, has been completed. The expansion, started towards the end of 2001, has cost some Eur 18 million and brought the plant's capacity up to 21,000 tonnes of pellets a year from more than 30,000 tonnes of post-consumer PET, equivalent to approximately 600 million PET bottles.
Within this, the capacity of the SuperCycle food grade resin process increases from 6,000 to 15,000 tonnes per annum and Amcor has installed further capacity for 5,000 tonnes of NuCycle PET for non-food applications.
A new wash line has been installed together with warehousing to store the PET flake, around 80 per cent of which will be processed on the three recycling lines at Beaune, while the remainder will be sold on to other users.
Expansion of the plant followed improvements to the SuperCycle process to make it more cost efficient by combining two previously separate functions into one continuous operation. The post-consumer PET material is dried and cleaned of any organic impurities in a primary extruder and moves immediately to a continuous solid state polycondensation process. Combining these two functions increases output and reduces both energy consumption and production costs.
According to Bruno Vincent, general manager of Amcor PET Recycling France, the original use of reclaimed PET - fibre production - is limited. 'The largest end-use for PET is beverage bottles, whereas fibre in Europe is only 25 per cent of total PET usage.' As recycled PET production is expected to increase by 30 per cent in the coming years, it is simple, environmentally sound logic that recycled PET becomes part of the PET supply for beverage bottle production, he added.
Legislation is pressing manufacturers to include recycled materials in their products, and for example the new Eco-Tax in Belgium, which comes into effect on March 20, will be avoided if the packaging contains at least 50 per cent recycled content.
Amcor PET Packaging has 51 plants operating in 20 countries, two of which are bottle-to-bottle recycling plants.
British masterbatch producer plans Far East investment January 31, 2003
Masterbatch and colour compound producer Matrix Plastics is planning to build a factory in Thailand in a £900,000+ investment alongside a further £250,000 investment in improving its Slough facilities.
The 17,500 sq ft Thai plant will initially run four extruders to supply the Asia Pacific market, and Matrix has started procurement, pending approval by the Thai Board of Investment which would give it immunity from import taxes. Production is expected to start in January 2004. It will be built in Rayong Province, in an area marked by a large number of vehicle factories and key export facilities. As well as the automotive business Matrix will be aiming to secure sales in food packaging and closures, white goods and telectronics.
The Slough investment, which will include three new twin screw extruders, four injection moulding machines and improved colour control equipment, will in part increase capacity and improve colour match lead time, and will also replace an extruder nearing the end of its life. The Slough plant saw a 26 per cent increase in fourth quarter sales over 2001, much of the increase going for export - particularly to Europe, although the company describes UK sales as having 'reasonable growth'.
Matrix does have rest-of-world sales from the UK, primarily following existing customers which open plants in the Far East and are looking for continuity of material quality. But these contracts tend to be short-lived as the moulders switch to local suppliers. Hence the Thai factory which Matrix sees as enabling its European customers to maintain consistency of standards in colorant supply.
Plastics cushioned as Dow Chemical takes a heavy fourth quarter hit January 31, 2003
Dow Chemical suffered a dramatic downturn in the fourth quarter last year, recording a loss of $1·1 billion, compared with a profit in the same quarter of 2001 of $144 million. This was despite a sales increase of 9 per cent at $6·9 billion. Dow says a 6 per cent increase in prices in the quarter was not enough to offset a 35 per cent increase in feedstock and energy costs compared to the same quarter last year, and 'highlights the urgent need for a more disciplined and focused approach to cost control and the continued requirement to increase prices to offset higher feedstock and energy costs', according to CEO William S. Stavropoulos.
However, much of the poor performance was in sectors other than plastics, and pre-tax earnings for performance plastics products actually improved compared with a year ago, while 'modest price improvements' in polyurethanes and epoxies, and better results in licensing, combined to offset higher costs.
Overall during the quarter earnings from plastics were about level with the 2001 figure as higher price and volume helped mitigate the sharp rise in feedstock costs. Volume gains were particularly strong in Asia Pacific and Latin America, with over 15 per cent growth in both regions, says Dow.
Year on year the company's sales fell 1 per cent to $27·4 billion, giving a pre-tax profit of $86 million, and net loss of $338 million.
Mr Stavropoulos expects the first quarter of this year 'to be particularly challenging due to rising feedstock and energy costs'.
More Italian packaging in compostable biopolymer January 30, 2003
Italian food packaging producer Ilip is the latest company to adopt Cargill Dow's NatureWorks biopolymer. It has added NatureWorks PLA alongside PET and PP for a range of clear, rigid packaging for fresh produce to be sold across Europe. Last year another Italian company, supermarket chain Iper, adopted NatureWorks packaging for thermoformed containers with heat sealable film overlays, and later Amprica also in Italy, began to offer thermoformed packaging to the bakery and convenience food markets.
Ashland gets extended territory for Borealis PP January 30, 2003
Ashland has been given additional distribution rights for Borealis' polypropylene. It began as a Borealis distributor in 1997 supplying PE and PP to small and medium sized plastics processors in Western Europe and to the automotive and appliance industry in Scandinavia.
Now the agreement has been extended to include the supply of polypropylene to small and medium sized automotive and household appliance customers in the Benelux countries, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Ireland and the UK.
Nova drops back in olefins and styrenics January 30, 2003
Nova Chemicals saw a drop in income in the fourth quarter 2002 compared to Q3, with the olefins/polyolefins business reporting a $4 million profit compared with $8 million, and styrenics increasing the third quarter loss of $19 million to $33 million. These figures were, however, substantially better than the equivalents from a year ago when olefins/polyolefins lost $28 million and styrenics lost $48 million.
Year on year the olefins/polyolefins business did marginally worse than in 2001 with a $5 million loss compared with a $2 million, and styrenics, while losing $102 million on the year, turned in a better performance than 2001's $181 million loss.
Atofina to double Asian PS production with Chinese buy January 30, 2003
Atofina is to more than double its Asian polystyrene capacity by buying a 100,000 tonnes polystyrene plant in Sanshui, Guangdong Province, China from China Offshore Oil Sanshui Chemical Industry.
Atofina already makes polystyrene in Asia, at a 70,000 tonnes plant in Singapore, and also has two compounding plants, in Thailand and in Singapore.
Basell to increase film sealing layer prices January 30, 2003
Basell is to increase the price of its Adsyl grades of sealant polymers on March 1 by Eur 100/tonne worldwide to recoup falling margins. Adsyl is a material in Basell's Advanced Polyolefins range which is used in coextruded film to add a sealing layer.
Eastman increases polyester prices
January 30, 2003
Eastman Chemical is increasing the price of its Spectar 14471 copolyester worldwide by $0·11/kg on March 1.
Unusually Eastman is not clawing back increased raw material costs, but says that two factors influencing this price increase are a need 'to bring the price closer to the value delivered by Spectar 14471 copolyester and the services Eastman provides to the marketplace' and because the company 'continues to reinvest in facilities, technology and services in order to better serve the needs of its customers and the end users'.
Spectar 14471 is used to make heavy-gauge sheet for applications such as point-of-sale displays, store fixtures, signage, vending machine faces and in industrial applications.
Higher feedstock prices are, however, blamed for another polyester price increase being applied by Eastman in the USA. Unsaturated polyesters - and vinyl esters - go up $0·09 - $0·11/kg on February 10.
K-M acquires reinforced pipe technology January 27, 2003
Krauss-Maffei has acquired the technology for extruding reinforced thermoplastic pipe from Kuhne, which will no longer make reinforced pipe equipment but will concentrate on sheet and film plant.
Fibre-reinforced pipe, developed for the oil and gas industries, can withstand burst pressures up to 600 bar with diameters currently up to 400 mm. Its weight advantage over conventional steel pipe makes it easier to handle and lay, and it is totally resistant to corrosion. Krauss-Maffei sees RTP technology expanding the potential for its high-performance single screw pipe production lines in markets where RTP pipe is a viable alternative to conventional steel pipe.
Dow to shut PET plant because it's too small January 27, 2003
The downturn in the global economy has forced Dow Chemical to shut down its PET plant at Pisticci in Matera, Italy, which will be closed by the end of the first quarter this year. Dow says that it needs to concentrate on facilities that offer optimum efficiencies and world-scale capabilities. The plant in Pisticci has a capacity of 60,000 tonnes while the average capacity of newer plants is more than 150,000 tonnes. Dow's worldwide PET capacity is 280,000 tonnes at plants in Schkopau, Germany and Ottana, Italy as well as the Pisticci plant.
Materials distributors back on the Magic Roundabout as changes are confirmed January 26, 2003
The shake up in European materials distribution, started last September when BASF sold its distribution companies to the Ravago Group and Albis, has continued with a new round of announcements affecting distribution majors Ultrapolymers, Distrupol and Resin Express - although much of what has been announced is little more than confirmation of what had been anticipated.
The changes made by BASF were broadly followed by Basell, but at the time of the initial announcement no firm decisions had been made as to how Basell's materials would be distributed in the UK, France, Scandinavia and Greece. Now these decisions have been taken.
In the UK, distribution of all Basell's products moves to the new Ravago company Ultrapolymers. In its former guise as BASF's Ultra Polymers subsidiary the company already handled Basell's polyethylene, and the new arrangement sees the polypropylene, Catalloy process resins, and PB-1 polybutene agencies moving from Distrupol in a phased transfer over the first half of this year. The transfer of the PP compounds business will be made during the second half.
In Ireland Distrupol will remain Basell's exclusive distributor until June 30, when transition to Ultrapolymers will begin. From January 1, 2004, Ultrapolymers will be Basell's Irish distributor for all products.
And in Scandinavia Distrupol will remain a Basell distributor during 2003 while Ultrapolymers and Albis will also be distributors for Basell's PP and PE.
Other changes in Basell distribution across Europe are in France where Chimidis, now part of Ultrapolymers, will continue to distribute Basell PP and PE products, but the PP compounds business is being moved from Chimidis to KDF France, a new affiliate of K D Feddersen, which handles PP compounds in Germany.
In Italy, Comital is the exclusive distributor for PE, and distribution of PP has been rationalised regionally with Comital, Cortiplast, and the Arcomax Group. There is no change to distribution of Basell Advanced Polyolefin products. For the rest of Europe, the distribution network remains unchanged.
While Distrupol is losing the Basell polypropylene business, it still has PP in its portfolio with the Solvay (now BP) Novex and Eltex products.
It has not been all bad news for Distrupol as it has also been on the receiving end of exclusive business as part of a further shake-up, seen by some as related to Ravago's takeover of Ultra Polymers which placed engineering plastics competitors DuPont and BASF within the same overall distribution group. DuPont very publicly fired Ravago's other distribution arm Resin Express last October. In subsequent cooler considerations Resin Express was left able to continue selling DuPont materials until the end of last year, although DuPont left the situation in no doubt by appointing Distrupol as exclusive distributor in October. The two companies have now signed the contracts which give Distrupol exclusive sales rights for all DuPont's engineering plastics, which include Crastin PBT, Rynite PET, Delrin acetal, Zytel nylons, Minlon mineral reinforced nylons and Hytrel thermoplastic polyester elastomers.
Resin Express has already acted to plug the gaps, and has now expanded its engineering plastics range with Vydyne nylon 66 from Solutia, Leona nylon 66 from Asahi, Capron nylon 6 from Honeywell - now given an extra anchor within the Ravago empire through BASF's takeover of Honeywell's engineering plastics business a couple of weeks ago - Tenac copolymer and homopolymer acetals from Asahi and DSM's Arnitel thermoplastic polyester elastomer.
Borealis is planning to increase its research - by making major cuts. The company plans 'to initiate a geographic consolidation and to implement an enhanced innovation process to accelerate the time-to-market and ensure higher value output from the innovation pipeline'. This will involve a '25 per cent reduction of technical resources across the group, while increasing the share of innovation-led business in the polyolefins portfolio'.
The company has not further defined what 'technical resources' are or where the cuts are to fall, but says its plans will impact staffing at many of its European locations and that consultation with the affected groups will begin immediately.
Engel combines Austrian operations January 26, 2003
Engel has merged all its Austrian injection moulding machine and robot companies into a single entity to simplify communications between them, and to take advantage of changes made after the floods at its Schwertberg factory towards the end of last year which led to greater integration with the other Austrian plants.
Engel Vertriebsgesellschaft of Schwertberg, Engel Maschinenbau of Schwertberg, St Valentin and Steyr, and Engel Automatisierungstechnik of Dietach are all merged into Engel Austria, with its headquarters at Schwertberg. It is run, as before, by a four-man team comprising the general managers of the former individual companies, with Dr Peter Neumann as their spokesman.
Shell and Sumitomo research Singapore ethylene plant January 26, 2003
Shell Chemicals and Sumitomo Chemical are extending their Far East co-operation with a feasibility study into a world-scale ethylene plant in Singapore. Sumitomo and Shell Eastern Petroleum have been cooperating through a joint venture company, Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore.
The envisaged ethylene plant would be located on Bukom Island, Singapore, with an ethylene production capacity of 1 million tonnes per year. If the feasibility study results in a decision to proceed, the plant is expected to start up in 2007, depending on supply and demand.
HIPS pitched as ABS replacement January 26, 2003
A new impact-modified polystyrene is being pitched by Nova Chemicals as an easier-to-process alternative to ABS for small appliances and housewares. It has high melt flow characteristics, can be coloured on-machine and does not need drying.
The company says that its FX550 provides high-gloss, toughness, scuff resistance and environmental stress crack resistance at a lower total cost than ABS. Because is easier to process, there are said to be consequent lower material, energy and labour costs.
The first applications of FX550 are refrigerator shelves and office supplies.
Conair Europe is to cease UK manufacture as part of a move to improve its costs and pricing. The company makes Churchill temperature controllers at its Wokingham premises but much of the remaining manufacturing is devoted to assembling and Europeanising equipment built in America.
Conair plans to sub-contract out its current manufacturing and assembly work, and for the Wokingham site to be the centre of a distribution network. As part of the change the company anticipates expanding its range and emphasising an 'aggressive pricing policy'.
GE Plastics has a new president and CEO. John Krenicki has been president and CEO of GE Transportation Systems since June 2000, and before that held a number of management positions within GE Plastics, Silicones and Structured Products. These included general sales manager for GE Plastics Structured Products and European commercial director for GE Silicones. For two years from 1997 he was CEO of GE-Bayer Silicones.
Former president of GE Plastics, Yoshiaki Fujimori, is now president and CEO of GE Asia, based in Tokyo.
Nortest gets Anter agency... January 26, 2003
Nortest is now UK agent for Anter Corporation of Pittsburgh, USA, which makes thermophysical test instruments for measuring thermal properties such as diffusivity, conductivity, specific heat and thermal expansion using a variety of transient and steady state techniques. Anter also runs a contract-testing laboratory for companies with only small testing programmes.
Included in Anter's range are two instruments for determining the thermal properties of engineering materials by the laser flash technique.
Following the retirement of Geoff Turner of Geoff Turner Machine Sales,
Dipre of Italy has appointed Trendpam to represent it in the UK
and Ireland for its range of granulators, dryers, dosing
units, and central vacuum conveying systems.
...Edlon takes on Hosokawa Alpine... January 26, 2003
The sole agency in the UK and Ireland for blown film extruders, film winders and film orientation lines built in Augsburg, Germany, by Hosokawa Alpine has been granted to Edlon Machinery by Hosokawa Alpine or Runcorn.
Alpine can supply complete systems for the manufacture of single- or multi-layer (up to seven layers) barrier films for packaging and industrial applications and has a newly developed range of mono-axial orientation lines.
The Hosokawa Alpine range fits at Edlon alongside printing machines from Fischer & Krecke and Kochsiek, and coating and laminating machines from Polytype.
Bandera agent RTS Associates has extended its remit by becoming UK/Ireland representative for Bandera's printing and bag-making equipment subsidiary BFM. RTS has represented Bandera's complete range of extrusion equipment since 1987.
Cookson waves goodbye to plastics - at last January 26, 2003
Cookson Group has finally left the plastics arena with the sale of its Precision Products businesses. A year ago the group sold off what was left of its plastics moulding companies, but the manufacture of engineered plastics components remained alongside the manufacture of electrical contacts and contact assemblies in the Precision Products part of its Precious Metals division. The other arm of this US-based operation was the manufacture of dental products.
Now the two parts have been sold, the electrical and engineered plastics manufacture going to a company controlled by The Jordan Company and the dental division to Sterngold Dental.
Moldflow buys French PMS supplier January 26, 2003
Moldflow has bought a French production monitoring systems supplier. Côntrole Processus Industriels has more than 170 installations, mainly in the French plastics, paper and printing sectors, and has a strong customer base in injection moulding, automatic cutting and stamping and assembly.
Initially Moldflow will sell and support CPI's products in the French-speaking regions only, but plans ultimately to translate the most recent product, CPI2000, into English and sell it in other regions. It may also incorporate parts of CPI technology in its own products.
Moldflow paid approximately $80,000.
Staniford leaves Spaceminster January 20, 2003
The managing director of machinery distributor Spaceminster, Philip Staniford, has left the company because, he said, the current tough market in the UK for plastics machinery meant that his position 'could no longer be justified'. He will not be replaced in the immediate future, his responsibilities being divided between technical director Dave Oakley, who will oversee sales of capital equipment - injection moulding machines built by Boy and Biraghi - and Dave Dennaford, who heads up sales of ancillary equipment from GWK, TRIA, Virginio and Plastek.
Dow to push up engineering plastics prices January 20, 2003
Dow Plastics is to increase all its European engineering plastics prices because of the worsening global economy. The price of Magnum ABS, Calibre polycarbonate, and Pulse and Emerge PC/ABS goes up by Eur 0·28/kg and Tyril SAN by Eur 0·30/kg on February 1. The reason given is the increasingly tight state of the petrochemicals market, particularly in the light of a possible war in the Middle East.
PolyOne ties up Transcolor takeover January 20, 2003
PolyOne has finally completed the acquisition of Spanish colour concentrates manufacturer Transcolor, which it announced 15 months ago. The existing Transcolor management team is remaining in place and the company has been integrated into PolyOne's European Color & Additives division.
Some production has already been moved from PolyOne's Saint-Ouen L'Aumone site near Paris to Transcolor's Pamplona base, freeing capacity and allowing the French plant
to focus on the production of colour and additive systems for local customers.
BASF and Honeywell swap plastics and fibres businesses January 15, 2003
BASF is to buy Honeywell's engineering plastics business, and in part exchange it is to give Honeywell its nylon fibres business.
With this deal BASF will reinforce its Ultramid nylon business with Honeywell's Capron nylon 6 and 66 and Nypel reclaimed nylon 6. It will also acquire Honeywell's Petra post-consumer recycled PET line.
By putting its nylon fibres business into the agreement BASF withdraws from fibres altogether, while Honeywell acquires a business worth about half that of its own nylon fibres business in sales, and in turn withdraws from a non-core business.
In value terms Honeywell's engineering plastics business showed sales in 2001 of approximately $350 million, as did BASF's nylon fibres business. Together with BASF's existing engineering plastics and nylon intermediates activities the acquisition would yield a theoretical 2001 sales figure of almost $2 billion.
The engineering plastics assets being acquired by BASF include polymerization and compounding facilities, research and development assets and sales and technical service locations in North America, Europe and Asia. The Honeywell business currently employs about 500 people.
Honeywell will get fibre and polymerization plants, research facilities and sales offices in North America and the BASF Hua Yuan Nylon Company in China which currently employ approximately 1,600 personnel. BASF's nylon fibres business includes carpet fibres; textile products including nylon yarns for apparel fabrics; automotive headliner fabrics; and solution dyed Zeftron 200 nylon for upholstery fabrics. BASF's fibre intermediates plants in Freeport, Texas, and Enka, North Carolina, as well as its related facilities outside North America (except the Hua Yuan nylon carpet fibres plant in Shanghai), are not included in the sale.
Honeywell expects increased utilization of its Hopewell caprolactam manufacturing facility that will supply nylon feedstock to the combined business. It is also anticipating 'significant economies of scale' and cost reductions. Honeywell will retain its nylon films business and all of its specialty chemicals operations.
Along with the exchange of assets, there is a cash adjustment in which BASF will pay Honeywell $170 million and a year after the transaction closes, Honeywell will pay BASF $80 million.
The deal is expected to be closed in the first half of 2003, subject to regulatory approval.
EC backs down on Tetra Laval and Sidel...for now January 15, 2003
The European Commission has reversed its veto of the Tetra Laval takeover of Sidel, following the ruling by the Court of First Instance in October last year. While this enables the integration of Sidel into Tetra Laval to continue, it is in fact not the end of the story.
The EC is to challenge the ruling at the European Court of Justice, but this appeal is likely to take several years, and so its outcome could have little practical influence on the Tetra/Sidel deal.
There is speculation, however, that the power struggle between Europe's legislature and its judiciary could ultimately have an effect on the rejected takeover of Honeywell by General Electric - although the specific interest to the polymer business has just been negated by BASF's purchase of Honeywell's engineering plastics business (see the preceding story).
One of the factors in the reassessment forced by the Court of First Instance is the position of the merged companies in the wider stretch blow moulding machine business rather than its original assessment by end use. The EC refers to a new stretch blow moulding technology being developed by Tetra and called Tetra Fast using an explosive chemical reaction instead of compressed air to blow bottles, which had not been analysed in its previous decision. There is a likelihood, says the EC, that 'in combination with Sidel's clear technological and other advantages, it seems to be capable of having a decisive impact on the merged entity's future positions on SBM markets'.
However, as Tetra has made a commitment to licence its Tetra Fast technology - which the EC has made a condition of its clearance of the takeover - has made further commitments regarding the assignment of proprietary SBM technology unrelated to Tetra Fast and has undertaken not to re-enter the PET pre-forms market for the next five years, the Commission 'could no longer conclude that the operation would create a dominant position, other than as related to the Tetra Fast technology'.
Kafit to buy Constab masterbatch plants January 15, 2003
Constab is planning to sell its Portsmouth and Rüthen, Germany, plants which make additive masterbatches for PE and PP to Kafrit International. Towards the end of last year Constab announced its was amalgamating its German and Czech Republic operations and moving production to the Czech Republic. This move sees Czech-based Constab subsidiary Silon taking over manufacture and sale of the Constab range of masterbatches for BOPP and other speciality PP-based materials.
Increase in GP/HI differential as Dow lifts PS prices January 10, 2003
Dow Europe is planning to increase the European price for all grades of its Styron polystyrene on February 1. General purpose grades will go up by Eur 150/tonne and HIPS by Eur 175/tonne. Styron A-Tech will also go up by Eur 175/tonne.
Dow blames a combination of increases in feedstock costs following recent rises in crude oil prices, the general tightness of the styrene monomer market and the continued high level of uncertainty in markets driven by instability in the Middle East.
Another factor is the need to restore the differential between HIPS and GPPS prices given the constant erosion over recent years combined with significant rises in butadiene prices.
Ticona to shut Telford compounding plant January 9, 2003
Ticona's compounding plant at Telford is to be closed and all the company's European technical polymer compounding operations are to be concentrated in Germany. Around 100 people are employed at Telford; 70 are expected to lose their jobs while the remainder continue in marketing and sales operations.
The shut down starts immediately and is expected to be completed by mid year. Ticona says the move is being made to improve the financial performance of its polyester business, and speed up deliveries to continental European customers.
Ticona has been compounding at the site for 15 years, and has a capacity there of 14,000 tonnes, the bulk of which is polyester compounds supplied to continental Europe.
Nova Chemicals has given a shot in the arm to its loss-making polystyrene business by buying market share in the USA. It has bought the customer base and associated technology for crystal polystyrene and methyl methacrylate-styrene copolymers from Deltech, whose plant at Troy in Ohio was capable of supplying around 2 per cent of North American capacity. Deltech is stopping PS and MMA/PS production this month to concentrate its resources on its speciality styreneic monomers and other materials.
Hounsfield Test Equipment is planning to change its name to that of its parent, Tinius Olsen, in January next year. Hounsfield was bought by Tinius Olsen of America in 1996, and is planning to make the name change to simplify branding in markets where both companies are active.
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