Plastic petrochemicals biodegradable polymer 11-12-2018 - Arhive
-China – Polyethylene Terephthalate
PET and its chain are in good health.
PET Bottle grade export 1,060/1,095 $/ton – PET Bottle grade domestic market 8,450/8,550 yuan/ton – PET Filament grade SD domestic market 8,100/8,250 yuan/ton – PET Filament grade BR domestic market 8,150/8,300 yuan/ton
PTA Taiwan 850/860 $/ton – PTA domestic market 6,550/6,700 yuan/ton – MEG $ 665/680 $/ton – MEG domestic market 5,650/5,750 yuan/ton – PX Korea 1,050/1,065 $/ton
POY 150D/48F domestic market 8,550/8,700 yuan/ton – DTY 150D/48F domestic market 10,400/10,500 yuan/ton – PSF domestic market 8,950/9,050 yuan/ton
-‘Chaos is complete’: what the European papers say about Brexit
Commentators left bemused and frustrated at May’s move to delay vote on EU deal
One commentator said: ‘When does the EU decide it’s had enough of rolling May’s Brexit rock up the mountain?’ Photograph: Bee-individual/Getty Images
Europe’s commentators have not been kind to Theresa May after she delayed the meaningful vote on her Brexit deal and dashed to the continent in search of further concessions.
“It’s like a long, slow agony,” wrote Sonia Delesalle-Stolper, the London correspondent for the French daily Libération. “You know the end is near, you expect the worst, then there’s a small flicker of light – before another collapse. And it always ends badly.”
May “blew her last bet”, failing miserably to convince parliament to vote for the withdrawal agreement sealed barely two weeks ago. “Rather than suffer the humiliation, she suspended the vote,” the paper said: “The latest plot twist in the infernal Brexit saga. Chaos is complete.”
-Does PET lightweighting really reduce the carbon footprint?
New research explores how the lightweighting of PET water bottles along with the choice of bottle design, color, label, ink, and adhesive affects post-consumer waste sorting and recycling systems.
A popular strategy deployed by many water bottlers to meet sustainability initiatives has been to significantly lightweight their PET containers.
However, a recent study has found that while these bottles might meet consumer expectations for convenience and price, they may not minimize the carbon footprint
-Recycled content in plastic bottles: Private waste management industry ready to commit
The European Parliament agreed on an amendment setting up a target of 35 per cent mandatory recycled content in plastic bottles for beverages, as a necessary complement for ensuring the success of the 90 per cent collection target proposed by the Commission.
Now, this crucial amendment finds itself at the heart of a debate during the ongoing trilogues on the Single-Use Plastic Directive, with a final trilogue on December 18.
The Austrian Presidency, as well as several Member States, such as Belgium, Czech Republic, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and the UK, already expressed their support for the European Parliament’s proposal.
-Crude Oil Prices Trend
Morgan Stanley has cut its Brent crude price forecast for 2019 by US$10 a barrel to US$68.50 in the latest sign yet that the OPEC+ production cuts announced after a tense series of meetings might fail to impress an already supervolatile market.
The investment bank, Forex Live reports, acknowledged that the OPEC+ agreement to remove 1.2 million bpd from the global oil market beginning in January will have a positive effect in as much as it would calm worry about a looming oversupply, but this upside for prices will be limited.
Morgan Stanley warned that the highs Brent and WTI enjoyed in October before they took a nosedive are hardly in the card for the next four quarters.
-Mpact’s plastic bottling plant set alight in Germiston
Mpact’s paper recycling plant in Springs. Mpact on Monday that its Wadeville Plastics Preform Plant in Germiston, Ekurhuleni, was damaged. File picture: Antoine de Ras.
JOHANNESBURG – Plastics bottle manufacturing company, Mpact, said on Monday that its Wadeville Plastics Preform Plant in Germiston, Ekurhuleni, was damaged after several unidentified individuals entered the premises and damaged employees’ cars and set some alight.
This as thousands of workers affiliated with the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) in October downed tools in the plastic sector, demanding a 15 percent salary hike and a R40-an-hour minimum wage instead of the new rate of around R20-an-hour.
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-Asia C3 rebounds on improved sentiment, China PP market gains
Spot propylene prices in northeast Asia rebounded, snapping the sharp downtrend from early November, on the back of improved sentiment and gains in downstream polypropylene (PP) market in China.
– Talks centred on December arrivals
– Spot talks for January arrivals hit by prolonged contract talks
– East China market may see inventory pressure
In the week ended 7 December, propylene prices climbed 7.6% from the previous week to $920/tonne CFR (cost and freight) NE (northeast) Asia, according to ICIS data.
While the uptrend came as a welcome respite for many producers, the current uptrend may not be sustainable, according to some sources.
Downstream PP sellers were facing more difficulties offloading cargoes during the course of last week, and there were also talks of a build-up in propylene inventory in China’s domestic market as PP prices were trending up.
-Injection Molding: Upgraded PET Preform System Runs Longer Without Maintenance
The XForm 500 PET preform injection molding system from SIPA of Italy has been upgraded again for longer mold life between maintenance cycles.
Previously, the Gen3 system cold halves were guaranteed to run for 8 million cycles with no flash over 0. 2 mm.
Now, a new surface treatment and durable mold structure with very low deformation allows for a 40% longer guaranteed period—11 million cycles—without maintenance.
Since the 500-ton system can run preform molds with up to 180 cavities, it could produce almost 2 billion preforms without mold maintenance.
-Americas petrochemicals outlook, w/c Dec 10
The US propylene market continues to remain under downward pressure as the inventory level hit another yearly high last week according to a report from the Energy Information Administration.
In addition, some trade participants added that some propylene and ethylene producers may look to sell off excess material in December ahead of the ad valorem tax deadline at the end of the year.
US AROMATICS
Prompt benzene prices were expected to remain soft this week as both December and January spot pricing fell below the $2/gal mark.
Derivative demand remained soft as the status of CosMar’s styrene facility at Carville, Louisiana, remained unclear and amid reports of a second US Gulf producer also facing production issues.
Participants anticipated that near-term benzene pricing was unlikely to see significant improvements headed into the holidays.
-Europe’s circular economy competitive advantage
Europe feels a long way away from the vibrant and teeming Yokohama waterfront on the edge of Tokyo Bay. Since the 1970s, the story of the world’s economy has been dominated by vibrant and dynamic East Asia, from Japan and South Korea through to the earth-shaking rise of China.
Europe, by contrast, can seem far less vital, a land of fading glories and interesting ruins far from the action.
But does this ignore Europe’s coming great competitive advantage as we begin to build a post-carbon economy? This was a question in the air in Yokohama at the World Circular Economy Forum, co-hosted by the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra this fall.
-Graphene strengthens seaweed-based smart material
A new way to use graphene oxide (GO) could add some backbone to hydrogel materials made from alginate, a natural material derived from seaweed.
In a paper in the journal Carbon, researchers describe a 3D printing method for making intricate and durable alginate-GO structures that are far stiffer and more fracture resistant that alginate alone.
“One limiting factor in the use of alginate hydrogels is that they’re very fragile—they tend to fall apart under mechanical load or in low salt solutions,” says Thomas Valentin, a PhD student in the School of Engineering at Brown University who led the work. “What we showed is by including graphene oxide nanosheets, we can make these structures much more robust.”
-Carbon fiber composite ship propeller reduces fuel consumption
France’s Loiretech, a designer and manufacturer of tooling for large and complex thermoplastic and thermoset composite parts, has partnered with the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA), Mecafrance and Naval Group in the Fabheli collaborative project to develop and commercialize a ship propeller molded from an epoxy carbon fiber thermoset composite.
The aim was to develop and produce, on an industrial scale, a propeller with a reduced environmental footprint and lower energy consumption (around 15% lower).
The project started in April 2016 with a digitization and calculation phase conducted by Mecafrance for the mechanical side and Naval Group for the hydrodynamic side, in order to dimension the carbon fiber composite propeller, which was twice as light as its metallic counterpart.
-New Approaches to Recycling Plastics
Plastics are an inseparable aspect of modern society. From packaging of household items to industry appliances, plastics are always depended on.
Because of its versatility and cheap production cost, we have over-relied on it.
Plastic production has grown over 20-fold in the past 50 years. It is expected to grow even more in the years to come.
The problem isn’t the production, but how plastics are handled after usage. Landfills are rapidly being filled up and oceans are becoming polluted as well.
On average, only 9% of all plastic wastes are recycled. However, countries and companies around the world are trying to come up with new solutions.
