Car-interiors – Recycling – Indorama 05-01-2023 - Arhive
Car-interiors – Recycling – Indorama
Crude Oil Prices Trend
Crude Oil Prices Trend Polyestertime
-Cleaner air for car interiors
Patented treatment tightly binds a wide spectrum of unwanted molecules.
Cambridge, UK-based Aqdot reports significant interest from major automotive fabric suppliers with its AqFresh additive technology during 2022.
This technology significantly reduces VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which are known to be detrimental to health, in automotive interior materials,
Over 60 different VOCs have been detected in car interiors – from plastics, mouldings, carpets, upholstery, adhesives, lubricants and leather and vinyl treatments. The common compounds found in car interiors include toluene, ethylbenzene, styrene, alkanes, xylenes and trimethyl benzenes. Car-interiors – Recycling – Indorama
AqFresh supra-molecular powder has been incorporated into nonwovens, coated textiles and plastics that are typically found in automotive interior parts and proven to significantly reduce their VOC and odour emissions. The patented technology utilises Cucurbiturils – barrel-shaped molecules with a hollow hydrophobic cavity and polar portals, enabling them to tightly bind a wide spectrum of unwanted molecules.
AqFresh has been proven to be effective in rigid plastic parts such as PP for dashboards, into which it can be incorporated via compounding or polymer masterbatch. It has been added into the manufacturing process of PVC coated textiles and VDA-270 sensory panel tests clearly demonstrate a reduction of odours of 1-1.5 points.
The unique technology has also been applied to nonwoven materials through dry impregnation as well as by spraying and padding during the finishing process.
It captures a wide range of pollutants and malodours, is not affected by normal changes in environmental conditions, and is non-toxic.
-Permanent performance with new Baltex spacer
Yarn cross section structure encourages effective capillary action to draw moisture away from the skin.
Among recent developments at Baltex, based in Ilkeston, UK, is the NPD 236 3D spacer fabric manufactured with The Lycra Company’s Coolmax yarn that can be made from recycled PET bottles or 100% textile waste. Car-interiors – Recycling – Indorama
This new fabric has superior wicking performance and employs a special yarn cross section structure to encourage effective capillary action to draw moisture away from the skin.
Anti-bacterial performance is effected by embedded elements in the yarn’s polymer and other key benefits include enhanced airflow, with good compression and recovery. The fast-drying, cooling fabric is machine washable at 60°C and fully recyclable. Unlike finishes that will degrade over time, the yarn’s performance benefits are permanent and don’t wash out.
Potential applications for NPD 236 are in the furnishings, healthcare, military and sports markets.
Specifically for the sports markets, as well as seating and mattresses, Baltex works closely with its raw material suppliers to select the best yarns and fibres suitable for each customer’s technical specifications. Fibres employed include polyester, cotton, high tenacity polyester Kevlar, meta aramid and Lycra, as well as Coolmax.
Plain fabrics, mesh fabrics and 3D spacer fabrics each have specific benefits. While mesh fabrics are recognised for their stability, strength and breathability, XD spacer fabrics can provide high air permeability, insulation, durability, recyclability and pressure redistribution, without sacrificing comfort. Car-interiors – Recycling – Indorama
-PEOPLE AT ALPLA: INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL LEHNER
Since 1 January 2023, Daniel Lehner has been the new Global Sales Director Food & Beverage at ALPLA. Daniel has been with ALPLA for over ten years and is a member of the family that owns the company. In this interview, he talks about the opportunities and challenges that come with the new role.
Hi Daniel, congratulations on your new position! How did your promotion and focus on Food & Beverage come about?
The switch is the result of a number of different restructuring processes within the company. After the departure of James Rooney as Regional Managing Director of NOAM (North America), our then UK Country Manager, Tasos Pourloukakis, became his successor. The former Global Sales Director Food & Beverage, Jens Seifried, took over this position in England. I applied for his position and was entrusted with the responsibility of carrying out the role. A number of other key positions were also filled internally. This demonstrates how ALPLA offers opportunities for further development. This is the case for Jens as well as for me; he is now responsible for Operations, HSE, Finance and other areas in addition to Sales. Car-interiors – Recycling – Indorama
Can you tell us a bit about your new tasks and goals?
I am taking on a very well-functioning team. We want to continue the great work, acquire new customers, of course, while continuing to grow with existing ones, and also develop new business fields for ALPLA. All of this will be done in close coordination and collaboration with the regions and local organisations.
What are you going to miss about your old position and what are you particularly looking forward to in your role as the new Global Sales Director?
I worked as a Key Account Manager for twelve years. In that position, I was in contact with our customers on a daily basis. As Sales Director, I will assume a managerial role at a higher level. My position as Sales Director Western Europe, which I held in addition to my role as Key Account Manager from 2019 onwards, was good preparation for this. I was able to support the sales team and establish business development structures – a great experience that makes this new career step easier or even possible in the first place. I look forward to working with the new team and the new customers.
Of course, I will miss my former colleagues. But they are only a few metres away, so it will be easy to continue meeting for coffee or lunch. Car-interiors – Recycling – Indorama
Since joining the company in 2010, you worked in the non-food sector until 2018 and, until recently, looked after a large non-food customer. What do you think are the biggest differences between that and the Food & Beverage sector?
Customers and market requirements are more specific in the Food & Beverage sector. There is also cost pressure here, but meeting the criteria for handling food is the most important thing. Thanks to the high level of standardisation, the products are very similar around the world, which is also reflected in larger production volumes. Customers therefore often award their contracts to several partners at the same time. Big customers like Coca-Cola even develop their own material. While Marketing often decides on the bottle shape and colour for non-food customers, technical and food law requirements are the most important factors when it comes to PET for food and beverages.
On 1 January, your predecessor Jens Seifried will switch as the new UK Country Manager from the continent to Britain. How did the handover go?
The process went perfectly. The team gave me a warm welcome and I already feel very well integrated. Jens continues to support me with his experience and advice and is therefore a great help.
What are the biggest challenges facing the Food & Beverage industry and what answers can ALPLA provide?
We operate in a highly standardised field, where price plays a very important role and our customers sometimes also produce their own packaging. Our strength is that we can offer the entire value chain – from product design and bottle development to toolmaking and production. Another major advantage is the access to recycled material via our own plants, which can make the difference in some tenders. Our solutions score points in terms of carbon footprint, price and availability. Thanks to our expertise, we are able to respond quickly to new market requirements, such as the new EU requirements for tethered caps. All in all, we are well equipped! Car-interiors – Recycling – Indorama
What do you think makes the ‘Family of Pioneers’ so special?
The fact that we operate as a joint ALPLA team with the same goals and values. The demands of the market are becoming more and more complex, which makes it all the more important to focus on a common goal. This is also reflected in our specialisation. We have experts for bottle development, for details such as modelling and simulations, for recycling and much more. We are all united by the Family idea: we pull together and the success of our customers is our shared success. Then there’s the Pioneer idea: we also venture to try new things. That’s how we’ve always been and that’s what ultimately makes us successful.
‘Talent Development’ and ‘Our Promise’: how have our internal programmes and mission statements promoted your career?
Since joining ALPLA, I have always enjoyed a great deal of trust and strong support. In 2012, I was able to gain experience in the USA for a year and get to know a different setting. The early involvement in leadership programmes and the contact with colleagues from all over the world was very valuable and broadened my horizons. My career path that led from being a sales employee to a placement abroad and then to becoming a manager shows what is possible at ALPLA.
Finally, a personal question: what are your hobbies and where do you spend your free time?
I like being active and am mostly outdoors. In summer, I like playing tennis, but of course also enjoy the mountains and lakes. In winter, I like to ski. I make the most of what the region has to offer. In addition, my wife and I love to travel – our curiosity makes us eager to discover new things. Car-interiors – Recycling – Indorama
Thank you, Daniel.
-Italy – Cars close 2022 with a minus sign
With just over 1.3 million cars registered, the Italian market lost almost 10 percent last year compared to 2021.
auto photo: Piaxabay Despite a double-digit growth in registrations in December (+21%), the third consecutive month on the rise, the cumulative at the end of the year stopped at 1,316,702 cars, down by -9.7% compared to 1,458 .032 units registered between January and December 2021.
A level that is dangerously close to the all-time low of 1,304,500 registrations reached in 2013. Car-interiors – Recycling – Indorama
“In 2022 the context in which the automotive supply chain found itself operating, already marked by the crisis of semiconductors, raw materials and logistics, further deteriorated as a result of the repercussions of the conflict in Ukraine, which triggered a serious energy crisis and further bottlenecks in supply chains at European and global level – explains Paolo Scudieri, President of Anfia, the association of the Italian automotive supply chain -. a specific automotive Fund with multi-year programming, up to 2030, of the resources allocated, both for measures to support demand, for the dissemination of zero and very low emission technologies, and for tools to accompany the production reconversion of the supply chain”.
The 2023 incentives for the purchase of new zero- and low-emission cars are available from 1 January, with a dowry of 575 million euros that could support the market in the first few months of the year. Anfia also underlines the incentive for the purchase of wall-boxes and domestic columns for electric recharging, introduced last August and extended to 2023 and 2024 thanks to a specific annual allocation introduced by the Milleproroghe Decree; measure not yet operational. “We await its rapid implementation since it is an essential factor for the diffusion of electric mobility in the private sales channel”, comments Scudieri. Car-interiors – Recycling – Indorama
More critical of the measures is Michele Crisci, President of Unrae, the association of foreign manufacturers: “Faced with this far from exciting picture, I am sorry that in such an important and profoundly changing moment in the automotive world, the just approved Budget Law does not nothing new is foreseen for a sector that must quickly face a profound industrial and commercial conversion of the supply chain to support the transition towards sustainable mobility. Although appreciable, what has been done so far is not enough, the data clearly demonstrate it, and we hope that improvement measures can soon be envisaged to achieve this goal”.
-EU REPurpose project on safe and sustainable design of elastomeric plastics from recycling of post-consumer waste
REPurpose aims at developing and validating the production of a platform of Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design, additive-free thermoplastic elastomer prototypes for consumer goods, automotive and building applications. Car-interiors – Recycling – Indorama
Finding a sustainable way to shape a zero-waste economy is essential to keep the world’s consumption within its planetary boundaries, especially for versatile and widespread materials like plastics. The global consumption of materials such as biomass, fossil fuels, metals, and minerals is expected to double in the next 40 years, with harmful consequences for humans and the environment. The annual plastics production is close to 380 Mt and is expected to double by 2035 and even quadruple by 2050, making it essential to find new solutions for effective and efficient use of resources for their production.
In this scenario, the REPurpose project, funded by the European Union, brings together 10 partners from seven countries of the European Union and one associate partner from UK to be a game-changer in tackling recycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and creating new thermoplastic elastomer polymers. REPurpose aims at developing and validating the production of a platform of Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design, additive-free thermoplastic elastomer prototypes for speciality applications (consumer goods, automotive applications, building & construction) from local post-consumer waste, with intrinsic biodegradability and recyclability properties, and to establish the circular value chain in an enabling environment. Car-interiors – Recycling – Indorama
Aimplas, the Plastics Technology Centre, leads the WP2 on Safety and Sustainability by Design, which includes an inventory of plastic additives, regulation and standardization, a good practice guide, among other tasks. AIMPLAS is also in charge of the synthesis of small-scale polymers that will be scaled up by the company B4P, chemical recycling of PET, recyclability and biodegradability tests and the realization of demonstrators together with AAU.
New building blocks derived from biomass or enzymatically degraded polyolefins and PET or paper, and cardboard waste will be incorporated, giving the polymers unique characteristics of recyclability, ecology, and unlimited recycling, surpassing fossil carbon at each recycling stage. The polymers will be tested by relevant stakeholders and dedicated user groups, including global consumer goods producers.
The project also includes a Hop On Facility program to contribute to the ambition of inclusiveness of the future European Research Area by involving legal entities from low R&I performing countries to participate in already selected collaborative projects.
The REPurpose project had its official start on September 19th and 20th 2022 in Ghent, hosted by the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant as coordinator of the research. Four universities and research centres, two non-profit organizations, and five SMEs will work together on these research challenges and lead the way to bring innovation to the public and create a resilient and sustainable European plastics industry. This project has a total investment of 6.5 million euros. Car-interiors – Recycling – Indorama
REPurpose beneficiaries are:
Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant VZW (BE), Coordinator
B4Plastics (BE)
AIMPLAS – Plastics Technology Centre (ES)
Renasci (BE)
Italbiotec (IT)
Saarland University (DE)
Photon Mission (BE)
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences- BOKU (AT)
University of Aalborg (DK)
AVEP- Asociacion Valenciana De Empresarios De Plasticos (ES)
REPurpose Associate Partner is Mellizyme Biotechnology Limited (now Epoch BioDesign, UK)
-Indorama -San Roque – Spain -Flames in the Spanish PTA plant
A fire without serious consequences broke out in the Indorama complex in San Roque. PET and PTA production will resume by the end of January.
Indorama Ventures has announced that a fire on January 1st affected a purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant at the Indorama Ventures Quimica complex in Guadarranque-San Roque, near Cadiz, Spain. Car-interiors – Recycling – Indorama
The flames were extinguished in a short time and – assures the Thai group – they did not cause significant damage to infrastructure. No damage to people or the environment has been reported either.
Some operations have been suspended temporarily as a precautionary measure to ensure safety, says Indorama, which expects to complete the safety protocols within a week and to be able to restart operations of the PET, PIA and PTA plants in sequence, returning to full operations within the end of the month.
The Guadarranque-San Roque site, acquired in 2016 by Cepsa Química, has a capacity of 220,000 tons per year of purified isophthalic acid (PIA), 325,000 t/y of purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and 203,000 t/y of PET.
-New materials firm Ultima Plastics LLC has opened a compounding plant in Evansville, Ind.
In a news release, officials with Evansville-based Ultima said that the 110,000-square-foot plant will specialize in high-performance engineered compounds. Ultima is owned by a group of local investors led by Greg Riedford, a market veteran who serves as the firm’s president and who previously co-founded compounder Omni Plastics of Evansville. Omni was acquired by Celanese Corp. in 2017. Car-interiors – Recycling – Indorama
Riedford is joined at Ultima by his sons Michael and John. Michael Riedford serves as the firm’s sales manager, with John Reidford as operations manager.
Ultima’s products include filled and reinforced compounds based on nylon, polypropylene and polycarbonate. Officials added that the firm “focuses on reliability in the production and delivery of consistent, quality thermoplastic compounds.”
Ultima’s production equipment includes a new KM Berstorff Blue Power twin-screw extruder with loss-in-weight feed control. Officials said the extruder “provides exact proportioning of ingredient combinations designed to deliver tight-specification, high performance compounds at competitive prices.”
The Evansville plant has an in-house molding and testing lab to assure quality results and provide physical property certification. Officials said the plant is located near rail and interstate access, allowing for fast delivery and competitive logistics.
In an email to Plastics News, Ultima officials said that the firm employs 10 and has annual production capacity of 15 million pounds. Target markets for Ultima’s compounds are durable goods that require fiberglass and mineral filled products. Officials added that the firm also can make products for recycled markets. Car-interiors – Recycling – Indorama
Car-interiors – Recycling – Indorama