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As widely expected from press interviews at the Plast exhibition, Mannesmann Plastics Machinery has sold its French injection moulding machinery subsidiary Billion to the company's management. The sale had been hinted at some months earlier when MPM indicated that it would not invest in subsidiaries with less than an optimum sales turnover and that it intended 'to retain medium-term portfolio brands that achieve appropriate sales' - implying disposal of those that didn't. The announcement of the sale says that 'MPM will be concentrating on its four brands - Krauss-Maffei, Demag Plastics Group, Netstal and Berstorff'.
The new owners are headed by Billion's managing director Korbinian Kiesl and the buy-out is retrospective to October 1 last year.
Xarec takes over where Questra gave up February 26, 2006
Barely a year after Dow abandoned its syndiotactic polystyrene product Questra, Idemitsu Kosan Co of Japan, which developed the material and licensed it to Dow, has started making sPS in the USA and plans to sell it in Europe.
sPS has a high resistance to heat, chemicals and steam, has very good electrical properties, and is light in weight. But Dow failed to persuade users of engineering plastics to adopt it in sufficient volumes, and closed its plant at Schkopau in Germany last year. Idemitsu, on the other hand, was selling sPS under its Xarec brand in Japan and elsewhere in Asia, and says it achieved steady progress in applications which include automotive electrical components assembled with lead-free solder; heating units of home appliances like rice cookers, washers and dryers; and antennae and other electronic components.
With Dow out of the market, Idemitsu has decided to expand its sales globally. It started producing sPS compounds at DH Compounding, in Clinton, Tennessee, USA and selling them through its subsidiary, Idemitsu Chemicals USA in January. It is planning full-scale sales of Xarec in North America and Europe during this year.
Idemitsu says it was the first company in the world to synthesize sPS in 1985, using a metallocene catalyst to make polystyrene with a syndiotactic structure. It began supplying sPS in 1997 and then licensed the basic technology to Dow. The two companies have jointly developed technologies and markets.
Microbes could make bioplastics from waste polystyrene February 26, 2006
A biological process to convert polystyrene into a bio-degradable plastic is being researched at University College Dublin. A paper scheduled to appear in the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science & Technology by Dr Kevin O'Connor will describe experiments in Ireland and Germany with a pyrolitic process.
The researchers use pyrolysis - heating materials in the absence of oxygen - to convert polystyrene into styrene oil. This can be absorbed by a special strain of the soil bacterium pseudomonas putida which converts the oil to polyhydroxyalkanoates - or PHA - a long chain polyester which can be used as a plastic and has the ability to break down under composting conditions.
Coincidentally, in the USA plans are underway to build the first commercial plant to manufacture PHA. Agricultural processing company Archer Daniels Midland is linking with biotechnology company Metabolix to build a 50,000 tonnes plant to make PHA at one of ADM's sites. It will use a fully biological fermentation process to convert agricultural raw materials, such as corn sugar, into PHA using proprietary Metabolix technology.
ADM describes PHA as 'a broad and versatile family of polymers that range in properties from rigid to elastic, and can be converted into moulded and thermoformed goods, extruded coatings and film, blown film, fibres, adhesives and many other products'. They have excellent shelf life and resistance even to hot liquids, greases and oils, yet they biodegrade in aquatic, marine and soil environments and under anaerobic conditions, such as found in septic systems and municipal waste treatment plants. They can be both hot and cold composted.
Rexam plans pump buy and slims US acquisition February 26, 2006
Rexam is planning to buy a Dutch manufacturer of pump and aerosol dispensers. Through Rexam Plastics Nederland it is planning to acquire Airspray and add it to its Plastic Packaging sector. Rexam already has dispensing systems products and sees the acquisition as providing synergies in marketing, purchasing and manufacturing, with longer term potential to develop new pump products and ranges. Rexam is to close three of the 15 plants in the USA that it bought with Precise Technology towards the end of last year. Operations at the plants in North Versailles, Pennsylvania, and State College and St Petersburg in Florida will be transferred to other Rexam plants during this year.
Bottle barrier from South Africa February 26, 2006
An oxygen barrier coating for PET and polypropylene bottles has been developed by South Africa's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The Oxyplete coating is applied by spray or dipping after a surface modification step using oxyfluorination, corona discharge or plasma treatment. It is said to give barrier protection 30 times higher than untreated PET, and to be 'aesthetically attractive'. Oxyplete can be used for hot- or cold-fill containers and is said to have no adverse effects on recycling. The CSIR claims that Oxyplete 'performs better than any other passive barrier currently available' and is cost-competitive with other barrier technologies.
Rosti Group's Technical Plastics Division has opened its second plant in Poland. The 8,000 m² factory is located in Bialystok, the largest industrial city in North East Poland, where Rosti established Rosti (Polska) in 1999.
Rosti now employs 750 people in Poland and runs 70 moulding machines there, including a new 1,300 tonne machine.
Huntsman to buy textile effects business from Ciba and sell its US butadiene business February 26, 2006
Huntsman Corporation of the USA is to buy Ciba Specialty Chemicals' Textile Effects business for $253 million. The business, based in Basel, Switzerland but active in 80 countries, makes chemical and dye products that enhance the performance properties and colour of finished textiles and materials.
Ciba is selling to concentrate on its core businesses of plastics additives, coating effects and water and paper treatment, and plans subsequently to streamline its organisational and geographical structure.
This is the second time Huntsman has bought a business from Ciba Specialty Chemicals. In 2003 it bought Vantico Group which was formerly Ciba's Performance Polymers division and is now Huntsman's Advanced Materials division. Textile Effects will share premises with Advanced Materials in Basel, Switzerland and in Panyu, China.
The purchase of the new business is to be financed by the sale of Huntsman's former Texaco butadiene and MTBE businesses and the plant at Port Neches in Texas to Texas Petrochemicals for $275 million. The PO/MTBE and oxides/olefins facilities in Port Neches and the plant in nearby Port Arthur are not included in the sale.
Vita combines its sheet businesses February 14, 2006
British Vita is to reorganise the operations of its ten European sheet businesses under the single name of the Vitasheet Group, making permanent a name that was adopted at K2004.
The new grouping will have centralised sales, operations and business development, and there will be a dedicated R & D centre. Customers of each company will now have improved access to the products of the whole group from a single point of contact.
The businesses making up Vitasheet Group are Iroplastics in Austria; Carolex Graphic Arts, Carolex and Gaillon in France; Metzeler Plastics in Germany; Royalite Plastics and Royalite Plastics Divisione Caleppio in Italy; Esbjerg Thermoplast in Denmark and VTS Doeflex and VTS Royalite in the UK.
New appointments following the restructure are: David Marshall as director of sales and deputy MD; Luc Chavany as director of business development; Robert Hahn, director of operations; George Barron, head of human resources; and Colin Robertson in charge of finance.
Simple test identifies hormones in plastics - but what then? February 14, 2006
A test to establish whether additives in plastics products contain artifical hormones has been developed at the University of Birmingham. The ability of some additives - notably phthalate plasticisers - to alter normal hormone regulation by acting as 'feminising agents' in species such as fish, birds and rats has exercised much political debate with European legislation banning their use against cries of 'bad science' from those who make and use them.
The new test works by measuring the ability of a chemical to block oestrogen inactivation - this increases the level of the free active hormone - and is said to be easy to use, enabling companies to test the plastics in their own products before going to the manufacturing stage.
The University does acknowledge that just because a product is identified by its test, it is not necessarily harmful. Dr Rosemary Waring from the University's School of Biosciences said: 'At the moment we do not know whether humans are affected by these artificial hormones, although there is naturally concern because rates of hormone-dependent cancers such as breast, prostate and testicular cancer are increasing.'
A public seminar is being held at the University of Birmingham to discuss artificial hormones on March 3 and is open to industry and the general public. Contact Dr Waring on 0121 414 5421 or email r.h.waring@bham.ac.uk
Basell to buy its Avant catalyst producer February 14, 2006
Basell is to buy Akzo Nobel's polymerisation catalysts and components business including catalyst manufacturing and other assets at Edison, New Jersey, USA. The site has been producing Avant catalysts for Basell licensees for nearly 20 years. Basell says its primary interest in buying it is to ensure long term security of supply for its catalyst customers. But it says 'the other business activities at the site are also a good fit with our catalyst business and will enhance our product offerings'. The Edison site produces other polyolefin custom catalyst systems, catalyst components and other speciality chemicals on a toll basis.
The sale is part of Akzo Nobel's restructuring programme, initiated last year to focus on five strategic areas: pulp and paper chemicals, polymer chemicals, surfactants, functional chemicals and base chemicals. It is expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year.
Top management changes at Ineos February 14, 2006
Ineos Capital has made management changes following the recent sudden death of Ineos Phenol chief executive Peter Bickert.
Alberto Spera becomes chief executive of Ineos Phenol and Calum Maclean is appointed both chairman and acting chief executive of Ineos Styrenics, also retaining his responsibilities as chief executive of Ineos Polyolefins and chairman of Ineos Films and Compounds.
Sandretto applies for bankruptcy protection - again February 10, 2006
Italian injection machine manufacturer Sandretto is seeking protection from its creditors under an Italian legal structure called amministrazione straordinaria, one of five structures under Italian bankruptcy proceedings in which the company's affairs are supervised by the Ministry for Industry, and applicable to large companies with a lot of employees - Sandretto has around 400. Sandretto's owner, Taylor's Industrial Services of the USA, petitioned the Turin court earlier this week for entrance into amministrazione straordinaria.
Since buying Sandretto from the Cannon Group a year ago Taylor's has been restructuring and consolidating Sandretto's operations, which involve manufacturing at three plants in Italy, but seems to have been swimming upstream. The company says selling machines has not been the issue - 'selling has been very robust' - but making a profit from those sales has not been easy because of many organisational factors. It hopes that its application for government administration will give it the leverage needed with trades unions, financial institutions and other areas to pull the company into profitability.
Sandretto has been here before. In the early '90s it went into another form of administration, legge prodi, and it was from that position that it was bought by the Cannon Group. Taylor's says it is not its intention for Sandretto to be sold on, and it has plans for further integration of the Sandretto product range with its own HPM machine range. One outcome of this integration which will be introduced with a 1,200 tonne model at the Plast exhibition in Milan next week will be a new series of large tonnage machines incorporating HPM's Freedom clamp. This is the removable tie bar technology that was developed in Germany by KuASY, taken into Hemscheidt when the East German state company was broken up, and eventually bought by HPM when it bought Hemscheidt in 1998. HPM, in turn, was bought out of bankruptcy by Taylor's.
The application for administration in Italy applies only to Sandretto Industrie. Other Sandretto companies worldwide remain under the control of Taylor's Industrial Services.
Basell to close Dutch PP plant February 8, 2006
Basell is to shut down its 260,000 tonnes liquid propylene process polypropylene (LIPP) plant at Shell's Pernis facility in the Netherlands by the middle of next year as part of a continuing review of its assets to assess long term viability. The company is concentrating on bigger plants using the Spheripol and Spherizone processes and says it has enough capacity in Europe to supply its customers even with the closure of the Pernis plant.
Battenfeld Gloucester builds 17-layer cast film line February 8, 2006
A 17-layer cast film line is under construction in the USA with the option to expand it to 34 layers. Battenfeld Gloucester is building the nine-extruder line for a customer making a variety of barrier films from deep-draw forming film to high-barrier film for pouch and retort applications. The line will have nine extruders and specially-designed 9- and 17-layer feed blocks, and will be in operation in the next few months.
Dow restructures for regional integration February 8, 2006
The Dow Chemical Company has been restructured into five worldwide regions, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and India/Middle East/Africa, each led by a newly appointed regional president. All of Dow's businesses and functions will adopt the new regional framework.
The aim is to share local knowledge, local relationships, local talent and local presence across every part of the company and to sharpen focus on region-specific objectives.
The four newly appointed regional presidents are:
Europe - Markus Wildi, previously commercial vice president, Plastics Europe. He will be both president of Dow Europe and general manager for Dow in Germany. He will remain based in Horgen, Switzerland.
Asia Pacific - Jim McIlvenny, who will also continue in his present role as president of Dow Greater China in Shanghai.
India, Middle East and Africa - Earl Shipp, currently business vice president for Dow Oxides and Glycols. He will retain his existing responsibilities but will relocate to Dubai.
Latin America - Pedro Suarez, previously commercial vice president for Plastics North America. He will relocate to São Paulo, Brazil.
No separate structure has been devised for North America. Instead the roles and responsibilities of regional president will be taken by the Chief Executive, Andrew Liveris.
K-M sets up in Bangkok February 8, 2006
Krauss-Maffei is strengthening its presence in Asia with the setting up of a subsidiary company in Thailand. Krauss-Maffei Thailand Co is located in Bangkok and will speed spare parts supply to K-M's mainly automotive and packaging industry customers.
Higher power costs could lead to thousands of job losses, says the BPF February 7, 2006
The full effect on plastics processors of rising fuel costs has been revealed by a British Plastics Federation survey of its member companies, which points to a possible 7,000 job losses as a direct result.
The survey, carried out last autumn showed that companies were facing average price increases of 58 per cent for gas and 56 per cent for electricity, with some companies facing a doubling of prices. The BPF now says that 44 per cent of those companies have been unable to pass on these higher costs, and that 48 per cent of the respondents were being forced to cut jobs. The redundancy level averages 6·5 per cent of the work force, which the BPF extends to 7,000 job losses nationwide in the plastics industry. And it says that 10·5 per cent of the firms it surveyed are considering moving manufacturing out of Britain.
Companies are also being forced to eat the seed corn. The survey shows that 54 per cent of companies have scaled down their investment plans by an average of 31 per cent in order to pay their fuel bills.
RF plasma reduces bottle coating cost February 7, 2006
A new barrier coating process has been developed in the USA, and is being distributed by injection moulding machine maker Husky. The silicone oxide coating process from Nano Coating Systems of Fremont in California is a plasma process, but differs from other plasma coating processes in that it uses radio frequency energy to generate the plasma instead of microwaves. This is said to reduce costs to less than $6/1,000 bottles and to simplify the internal coating operation.
Such coating processes are most often focused on PET bottles - hence the deal with Husky, which is a major supplier of preform moulding equipment - but Nano Coating Systems says its process has also been found effective at improving the barrier properties of polypropylene bottles and injection moulded items like medical disposables.
Bottlemaking award now open for entries February 7, 2006
The Worshipful Company of Horners and the Polymer Machinery Manufacturers and Distributors Association are now taking entries for this year's Horners' Bottlemaking Award, of which this magazine is pleased to be one of the sponsors.
Entries should be new concepts launched within the last 12 months which are innovative and of pleasing or practical design with a likely or proven commercial application. Entries close at the end of June.
Last year's award was won by RPC Containers of Llantrisant with its clear injection stretch blow PET bottles containing 30 per cent post consumer recycled material. These were the first commercial application of such a high percentage of PCR-PET in a PET bottle for food use, and were trialled by Marks & Spencer in 250 and 300 ml sizes for fruit juices and smoothies.
Trelleborg buys again, this time in the USA February 7, 2006
Trelleborg has made its third acquisition this year. It has bought American building industry profile and pipe seals extruder EPG, which has two factories in Aurora, near Cleveland, Ohio. Trelleborg aims to use EPG as a springboard to extend its extruded profiles business in North America. In Europe Trelleborg's Building Systems business has plants in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Germany and the UK with around 1,400 employees and annual sales of some £170 million, a tenth of Trelleborg's group sales. The EPG business turns over around £12·5 million with 140 employees.
During January Trelleborg bought offshore equipment manufacturer CRP and concluded the purchase of the 70 per cent of Elastomer Compounding (ECS) in the Czech Republic that it did not own from Rado of Germany. ECS also operates in the building industry profile market, producing compounds.
Huntsman takeover talks ended February 7, 2006
Huntsman has called off takeover talks because 'none of the proposals were in the best interests of the shareholders', although they had reached a point of improving on the price at which the company went public last year. Company founder Jon Huntsman described the proposals as 'not adequate, particularly in light of the risks, uncertainties and extended timing of the proposed transactions'.
The suitors have not been named, but US financial sources have strongly tipped Apollo Management as the most aggressive bidder, with Lyondell Chemical Co and Basell also thought to have expressed interest.
GE unveils PC film for organic LEDs February 7, 2006
GE Global Research has developed a substrate system for flexible organic light-emitting diodes based on a developmental high-temperature Lexan polycarbonate film combined with a transparent, ultra-high-barrier coating to help protect the OLED device against oxygen and moisture. The system is currently in batch pilot production and will ultimately be moved to a roll-to-roll process.
The high temperature resistance and clarity of transparent Lexan film enable the 125 micron thick substrate to withstand the heat involved in OLED fabrication and to allow optimal light transmission from the device. The organic/inorganic barrier coating, which is applied using plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition, prevents degradation of the device from oxygen, moisture, chemicals, and electrical conductivity while promoting light transmission.
New marketing man at Demag February 7, 2006
Demag Plastics Group has appointed Ansgar Jaeger as head of marketing following the departure of Gerd Liebig to join Engel. Mr Jaeger, who has been with Demag since 1990, adds the marketing role to his function as application engineering and process development manager.
Borealis likely to close Norwegian HDPE plant
February 3, 2006
Borealis is likely close its loss-making HDPE plant in Bamble, Norway. It is currently evaluating the future of the plant which has returned 'negative profitability' for the past few years and says that closure during this year is one option. The final decision will not be made until March 13 at an extraordinary meeting of the supervisory board. Meanwhile the company says it is to start consultations with the employees - about 100 would be affected by a closure - and their organisations.
The HDPE plant is one of three production units at Bamble - the others making LDPE and PP. It was built by Statoil in 1979 with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes and has been debottlenecked to its present 110,000 tonnes capacity of, mainly, blow moulding and rotational moulding grades. One of the reasons given for it being the least competitive of Borealis' three HDPE plants is lack of integration with a feedstock supply, which may seem odd given that Borealis has a share in the Noretyl ethylene plant at Bamble, which last year was scaled up by 100,000 tonnes. But such are the economics of ethylene supply that the company says it is more cost-effective to use ethylene from Bamble at its other European sites than it is to supply the plant next door.
Dow pitches for synthetic turf backing February 3, 2006
Dow Chemical has entered the European carpet backing market with the introduction of its Enhancer and Enforcer systems for broadloom and tile carpet. These systems can also be applied to synthetic turf, which is a major product for European carpet mills. Growth in synthetic turf in Europe is one of the reasons cited by Dow for moving into Europe after more than 30 years selling polyurethane carpet backing in the USA.
To seed the market Dow is offering to lend carpet manufacturers a Hansa Industrie-Mixer multi-component mixing machine following laboratory trials with the mill's own carpet.
Bidders in talks to buy Huntsman February 1, 2006
The giant American chemicals company Huntsman Corporation is in takeover talks. The company includes in its portfolio the former ICI Polyurethanes, the former Rohm and Haas TPU, and the former Vantico (Araldite) epoxy businesses and is currently involved in major polyurethanes investments in China and the construction of the world's largest polyethylene facility at Wilton on Teesside.
Reports from the USA have linked Huntsman, which went public last year but is still owned substantially by its founder Jon Huntsman, with interest from a number of private equity firms. Apollo Management, which has just bought Tyco's plastics and adhesives business, has been tipped as a leading bidder with a price of in excess of $4·3 billion in discussion.
Huntsman has confirmed that it has 'contacted, obtained proposals from, and held discussions with, a limited number of potential acquirers or merger partners' but that there has been no decision as yet as to whether the company would be sold or remain as an independent public company.
High oil prices spur growing interest in bioplastics February 1, 2006
Last year's increases of 30 - 80 per cent in the prices of oil-sourced plastics has given a fillip to producers and users of bio-sourced plastics. The bioplastics and biodegradable polymers industry association IBAW says that the price
difference between materials made of renewable raw materials and standard plastic materials has decreased considerably, and in 2005, sugar and starch were less expensive raw materials than mineral oil making the long-term perspectives for bioplastics 'promising'.
The association signed up a record number of new members last year and noted that these included not only manufacturers and processors of bioplastics, but major brand owners and agricultural feedstock companies as well.
It has not been purely the rocketing cost of oil that has made bioplastics more attractive. IBAW says that in technical terms they are now equalling the performance of some conventional materials. Main areas of interest have been in the packaging, agriculture and disposables sectors, but last year some manufacturers of mobile phones, computers and audio/video equipment revealed developments in the use of bioplastics, with a growing trend to use bioplastics in blends with other conventional materials to reduce their overall consumption of oil-based plastics. Other developments are in multi-layer films with altered characteristics that could improve the barrier characteristics and other properties of packaging materials.
But there is still a way to go. IBAW says that bioplastics have potential to replace about 10 per cent of the present 40 million tonnes of plastics consumed in Europe, but to exploit this potential would need investments of 'several billion Euros'. There is, however, the chance to avoid farming set-aside programmes in Europe and instead to use the land to produce 'millions of tonnes of plastics'. Solvay takes bio-route to epoxies - A by-product of biodiesel production is to be harnessed by Solvay to make epichlorohydrin, a raw material in epoxy production. The company is to build a plant at its Tavaux, France, site to operate its patented Epicerol process to make epichlohydrin from glycerine instead of the conventional method of reacting propylene with chlorine. The glycerine will come from the conversion of rapeseed oil to biodiesel.
Daicel and Polyplastics set out hopes for Topas February 1, 2006
Ticona's Topas cyclo olefin copolymer business, sold to Daicel Chemical Industries and Polyplastics, has been renamed Topas Advanced Polymers on the formal completion of the sale on January 1. TAP is owned 55 per cent by Daicel and 45 per cent by Polyplastics - which in turn is owned 55 per cent by Daicel and 45 per cent by Ticona, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Celanese Corporation.
An annual sales target of around £47·5 million by 2010 has been set for the business. When the disposal of the Topas business was planned at the end of 2004 Celanese revealed that the business lost $35 million in 2003 and $27 million in the first nine months of 2004.
TAP has operations in Frankfurt and Oberhausen in Germany, and Florence, Kentucky, in the USA. Production is at a 30,000 tonnes plant in Oberhausen.
Now Arkema has commercial carbon nanotubes February 1, 2006
Arkema has doubled its capacity for carbon nanotubes and started up a pilot plant for commercially-priced materials. Carbon nanotubes have wide-ranging potential in plastics and composites as reinforcements and for electrical conductivity. The company started its R & D into carbon nanotubes in 2003, and a year ago announced a partnership with Zyvex of the USA to develop applications for carbon nanotubes. It has now inaugurated a plant at its Lacq Research Center in Aquitaine, France. The plant operates a patented catalysis process, and can produce up to 10 tonnes per year. A commercial grade will be formally introduced at the JEC Composites show in Paris in March.
Carbon nanotubes were discovered in the early '90s, and represent a new crystalline form of carbon. They are minute tubes which can have several concentric graphite walls. Their diameter ranges from 1 to 60 nanometers - 10,000 times finer than a human hair - and they can be tens of microns long. Carbon nanotubes are 100 times stronger and six times lighter than steel. Their thermal conductivity is greater than that of diamond, and, depending on their molecular structure, they react like electrical conductors or semi-conductors. Towards the end of last year Bayer introduced its Baytubes which it said overcame the high price barrier which has prevented wider adoption of the technology. Bayer has recently cited Baytubes as a candidate for nurturing in its new 'Greenhouse' concept for converting ideas into independent start-up companies owned by Bayer MaterialScience.
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Rexam is to close three of the 15 plants in the USA that it bought with Precise Technology