Plastic chemicals biobased plastic additives 20-09-2018 - Arhive
-Alibaba’s Jack Ma says it can’t create 1 million jobs in U.S. due to Trump’s China tariffs
Last year, Chinese online sales giant Alibaba said it could create 1 million jobs in the United States over the next five years by building a marketplace where American small businesses could sell to China’s burgeoning middle class.
Now Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma says with U.S.-China trade becoming increasingly contentious, the promise cannot be fulfilled.
In an interview Wednesday with Xinhua, the official state-run press agency of the People’s Republic of China, Ma said the idea was premised on a friendly U.S.-China partnership and rational trade relations.
Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma
-How Asian companies are navigating the trade war
More production shifts from China to Southeast Asia as tariffs mount
Every time American lawmakers tried to crack down on cheap Chinese aluminum over the last decade, the leaders of China Zhongwang Holdings seemed to find a way to keep their products flowing into the U.S.
When Washington imposed “anti-dumping” rules on the aluminum it produced for window and door frames in 2009, the company began exporting another product that wasn’t covered by the regulations. After the U.S. clamped down on Chinese metal producers again in 2016, the company bought Germany’s Aluminiumwerk Unna and began shipping products to America from there.
-China – Polyethylene terephthalate is always in downward,only PTA and MEG seem to stabilize
PET Bottle grade export 1,270/1,315 $/ton – PET Bottle grade domestic market 10,000/10,150 yuan/ton – PET Filament grade domestic market 9,800/10,000 yuan/ton
PTA Taiwan 1,020/1,040 $/ton – PTA domestic market 7,650/7,800 yuan/ton – MEG $ 860/875 $/ton – MEG domestic market 7,050/7,300 yuan/ton – PX Korea 1,240/1,250 $/ton
POY 150D/48F domestic market 11,300/11,400 yuan/ton – DTY 150D/48F domestic market 12,750/12,900 yuan/ton – PSF domestic market 10,800/10,950 yuan/ton
-Chinese paraxylene buyers do not want to receive goods from the US
Chinese buyers of paraxylene do not want to receive materials from the US because of the ongoing trade conflict between the US and China, ICIS reports citing market participants.
This may lead to some problems with logistics, since in September – early October, China is expected to supply several batches of paraxylene from the US, which were purchased in the second half of August
–-Crude Oil Prices Trend
-U.S. finalizes anti-dumping duties on S. Korean PET resin
The United States Department of Commerce has set anti-dumping duties on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin from South Korea and four other nations, its website showed Wednesday.
The commerce department said PET resin products imported from South Korea, Brazil, Indonesia, Pakistan and Taiwan were sold at “less than fair value rates” in the U.S. market, finalizing anti-dumping tariffs ranging from 5.16 percent to 275.89 percent.
-US-China trade war creating side effects for global oleochemicals market
The trade war between the US and China is already having side effects on the global oleochemicals market, industry sources said on Wednesday.
This side effect comes despite most oleochemicals not being directly impacted by the two countries’ trade tariffs imposed on each other.
While the export taxes being implemented by the US and China would only directly impact fatty acids being sent from China to the US, other oleochemicals are feeling the pinch from the escalating conflict, according to the president for North America at IP Specialities, an oleochemicals producer based in Ohio, US.
-Europe PBT Q4 prices under upward pressure on feedstocks, rising Asian values
European polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) fourth-quarter (Q4) contract prices are under upwards pressure on the back of increases in feedstock and Asian values.
Both upstream paraxylene (PX) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) prices have increased in Europe, which could result in PBT values rising in the final quarter of the year, one producer said.
PBT spot prices have also been rising in Asia on the back of pressure from PX and PTA higher costs, which could also put upward pressure on Europe’s values.
-ExxonMobil latest US producer to announce additional October PE price hike: letter
ExxonMobil Chemical on Tuesday became the latest producer to announce additional North American polyethylene price increases for October, according to a letter to customers obtained by S&P Global Platts.
Register Now ExxonMobil plans to raise its October prices by 3 cents/lb for all grades of polyethylene, in addition to a 3-cent increase being sought for September, the letter said.
The move is similar to an increase announced Monday by Equistar Chemicals. Ineos Olefins & Polymers USA last week told customers it would raise its October prices for high density polyethylene by 2 cents/lb in October, on top of a previously announced 3-cent increase for September.
-New technology planned for Alpha oil shale project
Greenvale Energy Ltd., Sydney, has appointed consulting firm SRK Consulting (Australasia) Pty. Ltd. to progress development of the Alpha oil shale project in central Queensland inland from Rockhampton using a radio frequency (RF) microwave extraction technique.
The Alpha torbanite deposit is in mineral development lease 330 and contained within the late Permian-age Colinlea sandstone in the Galilee basin.
Key features of the development plan are focused on lowering the initial project capital costs and achieving the lowest possible oil-recovery costs.
The RF process entails low-pressure microwave heating, which Greenvale declares is environmentally benign. The technique combines RF heating and critical liquid driving where critical fluid technology uses the solvent properties of gases compressed at their critical point.
-Maryland plastics sortation plant will not reopen
QRS Recycling Baltimore facilityAn idled plastics recovery facility is being dismantled and its components sold, after efforts to reopen it for the past year have not panned out.
The former joint-venture QRS Recycling plant in Dundalk, Md. suspended operations in August 2017. Operators of the facility, which accepted mixed-plastic bales and separated them into individual resin and color streams, have since been working to bring the plant back on-line with a new investment partner.
But more a year after the plant was idled, those efforts have been scrapped.
“After a multitude of discussions with a multitude of various parties to try to keep the operation running in place, we were unable to structure a transaction with anybody,” said Jonathan Sloan, president of Canusa Hershman Recycling, in an interview with Resource Recycling.
-How slick water and black shale in fracking combine to produce radioactive waste
Research papers explain the transfer of radium during hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas
Radioactivity in fracking wastewater comes from the interaction between a chemical slurry and ancient shale during the hydraulic fracturing process, according to Dartmouth College research.
The study, detailed in twin papers appearing in Chemical Geology, is the first research that characterizes the phenomenon of radium transfer in the widely-used method to extract oil and gas. The findings add to what is already generally known about the mechanisms of radium release and could help the search for solutions to challenges in the fracking industry.
Radium from within rock leaches from clay minerals that transfer highly radioactive radium-228 and an organic phase that serves as the source of radium-226. Credit: Joshua D. Landis
-US shale oil production to rise to 7.6 million bpd
Oil output from seven major shale formations in the United States is expected to rise by 79,000 barrels per day to 7.6 million bpd in October, the US Energy Information Administration said Monday.
Surging oil output from shale formations boosted total US crude production to a record high of nearly 10.7 million barrels a day in June, the latest month for which data is available.
Production is expected to rise 31,000 bpd in the Permian formation of Texas and New Mexico, the agency said in a monthly report.
-Clariant and SABIC announce speciality chemicals JV
Clariant and its major shareholder, SABIC, have announced they are to collaborate on the creation of a new speciality chemicals joint venture in high performance materials.
The move would combine Clariant’s existing additives and high value masterbatch division with parts of SABIC’s specialities business – comprising its ULTEM and NORYL resins, and its families of LNP compounds and copolymers -to form the new ‘High Performance Materials’ platform.
Clariant will have the majority stake in the intended business combination. Once it is established, Clariant’s remaining Plastics and Coatings business (for pigments, standard masterbatches and medical specialities) will be divested.
The companies hope the new division will generate annual sales of CHF 9 billion (approx.. GBP £7.1 billion).
-U.S. Shale Oil Production Beats Estimates Again
Crude oil production in the U.S. shale patch will hit 7.59 million bpd next month, the Energy Information Administration said in its latest Drilling Productivity Report. This is 79,000 bpd more than this month’s estimated production.
The biggest increase, once again, will come from the Permian, where producers will add 31,000 bpd to overall daily production from the current 3.427 million bpd to 3.458 million bpd.
The second-largest contributor to the monthly increase will be the Eagle Ford, where the EIA estimates production will rise by 16,000 bpd to 1.449 million bpd in October.
-Outlook Plus Latin America 2019 returns to Brazil
Hosted by INDA and EDANA, Outlook Plus Latin America (OPLA) will return to Brazil for the third edition from 7-9 May 2019. The conference will examine the economic outlook, market statistics and the latest products and trends for the hygiene, personal care, and medical market sectors.
The event, to be held at the Sheraton Sao Paulo WTC Hotel, and will also feature a tabletop exhibition with local and international companies showcasing products and services. For the first time, this edition of OPLA will also cover developments in nonwoven filter media, an important and growing sector in Latin America.
-Behold, the eco-friendly flat wine bottle
A flat wine bottle designed to fit through mail slots and letterboxes for deliveries in the UK has been given a nod at a packaging and design awards.
Made with 100 per cent recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate), the bottle design by Garcon Wines in the UK is touted as a shatterproof, eco-friendly alternative to heavy glass bottles that reduces shipping, weight and delivery costs.
Dr Thomas Reiner, chair of the Deutsches Verpackungsinstitut, CEO of design agency Berndt+ Partner and a member of the judging panel for the 2018 Sustainability Awards, speaks to Elisabeth Skoda about the environmental challenges facing packaging today.
-Investors get comfortable with Brent crude at $80 a barrel
Traders and investors have loaded up on bullish Brent oil bets this week, after signals that Saudi Arabia is in no rush to increase production, even with the price near $80 and as buyers grow uneasy over the impact of U.S. sanctions on Iranian supply.
Data from the InterContinental Exchange shows that open interest in buy, or call, options at $80 and $85 a barrel that expire on Sept. 25 has jumped nearly 45 percent in two days.
-Kraig speeds up recombinant spider silk fibres production
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, the leading developer of spider silk based fibres, has announced that it has implemented two major advancements in the development of next generation recombinant spider silk fibres. These advancements are the result of new equipment and recently employed protocols, at the company’s R&D headquarters, based in Michigan.
-A New Industrial Revolution for Plastics Industrial Revolution Plastics Biobased bioplastics
Remember “plastics make it possible!” – the advertisement campaign from the 1980s? There’s a new kind of plastic in town 30 years later – bioplastics.
Biobased bioplastics are plastics made from renewable resources – agricultural feedstocks such as corn, soybeans, or sugarcane. The starches, oils, and sugars from these feedstocks are extracted, modified, and used as the chemical building blocks for these new bioplastic products.
