Day: 2 October 2023

To help carbonated soft drink (CSD) packaging producers embrace material circularity, Sidel has launched StarLITE®R – a 100% rPET bottle. Sidel’s signature StarLITE® family is evolving to address the challenges associated with working with recycled content.StarLITE®R allows CSD producers to switch to rPET bottle production with ease and efficiency, while significantly reducing the impact on product quality or packaging integrity.

Embracing 100% rPET

With over 45 years of experience in the blowing and PET packaging sector, Sidel has developed a deep understanding of recycled PET resin characteristics and its impact on bottle production. Laurent Naveau, Packaging Innovator Leader at Sidel, comments on the challenge rPET resin can present the packaging industry:

“The characteristics of rPET are impacted by several factors. Firstly, by seasonality. Consumption habits fluctuate over the course of the year impacting the product category mix.  Petrochemicals PET-Bottle

And secondly, by different PET collection models which means that post-consumer PET material bales will vary from region-to-region and even country-to-country. The recycling process and equipment used will also influence PET resin. All these factors can pose new challenges for manufacturers looking to produce bottles with rPET content.”

In addition to common CSD bottle manufacturing challenges such as stress cracking, roll out and bursting during blowing, a higher temperature is also required to process rPET. Consequently, packaging manufacturers can  experience reduced control over rPET material stretching and distribution of the substance in the bottle-making process.

Traditionally, greater variability in rPET resin leads to a narrower process window and lower bottle quality.  Petrochemicals PET-Bottle

However, Sidel’s innovative base, StarLITE®R uses leading technologies to ensure efficient rPET bottle production by restoring a much wider process window. The StarLITE®R design is easier to blow as it can be done within a wider range of parameter settings on the blower achieving a much higher quality bottle.

High performance rPET bottle base

To achieve a high performing rPET bottle base, StarLITE®R features an optimised mould base profile and uses an advanced stretch rod end design.

The new mould base profile allows for perfect material distribution through advanced stretching and a high base clearance for optimum stability. The advanced stretch rod end design has improved the preform end-cap material stretching and ensures accurate injection gate centering on the bottle. Finally, the perfect combination of grooves and venting holes allows for high-precision base feet formation.

The new bottle solution also utilises dual external and internal bottle base cooling to ensure a perfect shape. Externally, the process uses a mould base cooling circuit that focuses on the warmer bottle base zones and internally a hollow-stretch rod requiring no additional air supply is used.  Petrochemicals PET-Bottle

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Domo Chemicals awarded gold rating from EcoVadis

Domo now ranks in the top 5% of all companies rated by EcoVadis

Belgium-based engineering materials manufacturer Domo Chemicals has received a gold sustainability score from EcoVadis, a leading provider of business sustainability ratings. This overall rating puts Domo in the top 5% of companies in the sector.

EcoVadis evaluates more than 85,000 organisations in over 160 countries and in over 200 industries every year. Based on 21 criteria, the rating assesses a company’s performance in four categories: Environment, Labour and Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement.  Petrochemicals PET-Bottle

Compared to last year, Domo moved from the 73^rd to 94^th percentile in the overall EcoVadis sustainability rating. The company scored particularly well in the categories Environment and Labour and Human Rights.

“This award is a testament to our unwavering commitment to sustainability,” said Yves Bonte, CEO of Domo Chemicals. “In one year, we have moved from the top 25% to the top 5%, placing Domo amongst the best in the industry.  Petrochemicals PET-Bottle

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Germany’s 2023 GDP expected to decline by 0.6%: Report

INSIGHTS

• A recent report has suggested that Germany may see a 0.6 per cent drop in GDP for 2023, revising earlier spring forecasts downward by 0.9 percentage points.
• The country’s economic downturn has worsened due to surging energy prices and climbing interest rates.
• Improvements are expected by year-end, and GDP growth of 1.3 per cent is projected for 2024.

Germany’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the year 2023 may witness a 0.6 per cent decline, as per a recent report. This marks a significant downward revision of 0.9 percentage points compared to predictions made earlier in the spring.

Struggling for over a year, Germany’s economic downturn intensified with the surge in energy prices in 2022. This rise has inflated consumer prices by over 8 per cent, thereby affecting the purchasing power of households.  Petrochemicals PET-Bottle

Key interest rates have also climbed by over four percentage points, adversely impacting the construction industry, according to the Joint Economic Forecast prepared by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), the ifo Institute (Munich), the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), and RWI (Essen).

Business sentiment has been negatively affected recently, due in part to heightened political uncertainty. However, there are signs of improvement on the horizon. Wage hikes have kept pace with increasing prices, energy costs are dropping, and exporters are managing to pass on some of their elevated costs. These factors suggest a resurgence in purchasing power and are expected to mitigate the downturn by year-end.

Looking ahead to 2024, the institutes project a GDP growth of 1.3 per cent, only slightly lower than their spring forecast. However, a shrinking labour force in the coming years is expected to curtail potential growth rates.  Petrochemicals PET-Bottle

The economic downturn has begun to affect the labour market. Unemployment is expected to increase moderately to 2.6 million people in 2023, but it is likely to decrease somewhat in the following year.

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Tesla Shares Analyst Vehicle Delivery Consensus as It Works To Lower Expectations Ahead of Quarterly Decline

Tesla is currently working to significantly expand vehicle production, as a result, the company posting record after record vehicle production and delivery numbers has become somewhat expected.

For instance, last Quarter Tesla posted the best vehicle production and delivery number in the company’s 10-plus years history. In Q2 2023, Tesla produced 480,000 vehicles and delivered 466,000 vehicles. The quarter was also a record in all aspects including revenue and profits.  Petrochemicals PET-Bottle

However, this quarter appears to be one in which Tesla will not set a record production number. This quarter Tesla is expected to post a rare quarter-over-quarter vehicle production and delivery decline.

There are multiple reasons to account for this quarter’s production and delivery decline. However, the main culprit for the decline is that Tesla has shut down production at multiple factories to either switch to a refreshed model or to upgrade production lines for efficiency and increase output.

Tesla’s Shanghai factory was shut down to switch to the refreshed Model 3 which was introduced at the beginning of this month. Tesla’s Texas factory was also shut down to perform upgrades to the Model Y production line and to prepare for Cybertruck volume production which is expected to begin in October.  Petrochemicals PET-Bottle

In the long run, these shutdowns will help Tesla not only to produce better products but will also enable the EV maker to significantly increase vehicle production. However, public companies are required to post their performance on a quarterly basis which means all these shutdowns will show up as a decrease in Tesla’s production and delivery numbers quarter over quarter.

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Quảng Yên Petrochemical plant granted technology transfer licences