Polymers Petrochemicals Polyester Biobased 16-03-2019 - Arhive
Slovenia’s BioApp platform, funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) has become the focal point for research ideas on developing smart biomass materials in the cross-border region of Slovenia and Italy.
The Europen Union produces over 25 million tonnes of plastic waste every year (EU plastics production 2018 about 65 million ton ,World plastics production 2018 about 350 million tonnes). In response, Slovenian and Italian scientists joined forces to develop the BioApp platform.
Biopolymers are innovative materials which provide a sustainable alternative to single-use plastics, because they incorporate natural mechanisms for their own degradation. Consequently, they do not pose any risk of accumulation in the environment in the same way as single-use plastics do.
Versarien LogoVersarien has announced that it has signed an agreement with Tunghsu Optoelectronic Technology to further progress their relationship. The agreement supports the memorandum of understanding signed in November last year. The parties intend to establish a joint implementation committee, composed of three members from each firm, with a view to ultimately entering into a manufacturing joint venture. However, Versarien said there can be no guarantee this outcome will ultimately be achieved.
The materials engineering company plans to work with Tunghsu to develop and manufacture in China new generation graphene heaters. These heaters are expected to be based on the micro-flow graphene ink technology from Versarien’s subsidiary Cambridge Graphene.
The Chinese branch of the Austrian Starlinger Group has been producing circular looms for plastic fabrics since 2006. In autumn 2018, Starlinger Taicang reached a milestone with the 10,000th circular loom.
Starlinger Plastics Machinery Taicang currently has a workforce of around 75 employees at the plant in the Chinese province Jiangsu near Shanghai. The factory is a local branch of the Austrian Starlinger Group, which recognised the potential of the Chinese market and the importance of a global presence.
In 2006 – a year after its foundation – Starlinger Taicang took up production of circular looms; today, these looms are in use in large parts of the world. With more and more machines being manufactured every year, the factory’s annual production is presently at around 1,000 machines.
The the number of active oil and gas rigs in the U.S. fell once again this week according to Baker Hughes, as oil production fell for the first week this year.
The total number of active oil and gas drilling rigs fell by 1 rig¬ according to the report, with the number of active oil rigs falling by 1 to reach 833 and the number of gas rigs holding steady at 193.
The oil and gas rig count is now just 36 up from this time last year, 33 of which are oil rigs.
Oil prices were trading down earlier on Friday leading up to the data release as OPEC appeared to slow its production cut activities, and as global inventories are still thought to be robust.
Global oil prices remained steady as economic growth concerns in large parts of Asia and Europe offset supply cuts from major oil producing nations.
Brent crude oil futures traded at $67.21 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $58.58 a barrel, both nearly unchanged from its last close, reported Reuters.
According to a report by Reuters, production cuts led by oil cartel Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and ongoing US sanctions against Venezuela and Iran have led to a marginal deficit in oil supplies.
Further price rise was dampened due to concerns that economic slowdown gripping large parts of Asia and Europe could spill into North America.
The facility will become Mitsui Chemical’s third manufacturing base for the material and is expected to increase the company’s production capacity to 10,500 tons per year.
Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (Tokyo, Japan) has announced that it is building a new production facility for long glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene (LGFPP) at Chinese manufacturing subsidiary Mitsui Advanced Composites Co Ltd. (Zhongshan).
This will become Mitsui Chemicals’ third manufacturing base for LGFPP, joining existing bases in Japan and the U.S. By establishing this new facility, Mitsui Chemicals’ production capacity for LGFPP will increase to 10,500 tons per year, according to the company.
IK, Industrievereinignung Kunststoffverpackungen, the German association for plastic packaging, and EuPC, European Plastics Converters, are organising together the 2019 edition of the conference A Circular Future with Plastics. The two associations, representing plastics converters both at national and European level, will bring together over 200 participants from across Europe, who will work together during two days of conferences, debates and networking opportunities.
The two-day event will take place on 13th & 14th June at the Maritim Hotel proArte in Berlin. During the morning of the 13th June, the “EuPC Market Divisions” on Packaging, Automotive and Building & Construction will take place in parallel, before a session on marine litter is organised by Waste Free Oceans in the afternoon.
Europe’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottler used 27.6% recycled content in its plastic bottles last year – more than ten times the beverage sector’s global average proportion of 2-3%.
The progress was posted in Coca-Cola European Partners’ (CCEP) first integrated annual report, which also tracks the beverage giant’s progress on water conservation, carbon reduction and improving the nutritional portfolios of its products.
Published on Thursday (14 March), the 200-page report states that CCEP is on track to achieve its 2025 goal of making all PET bottles with at least 50% recycled content. To secure a continuous and secure supply of recycled PET (rPET), the firm has made several investments into recycling infrastructure improvements and closed-loop innovations. A key step for CCEP in this space was securing a deal with rPET supplier Loop Industries, which uses patented technologies to restore plastic streams contaminated by dyes to ‘near-virgin’ quality.
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has published a comprehensive inventory of all of the high-volume plastic additives used to date in the EU. The inventory is expected to provide a better basis for ensuring safe use of these substances.
Additives in plastics are used to achieve desired properties needed to make products fit for purpose and ensure safe use by consumers throughout a product’s service life. The additives recorded in the inventory are antioxidants, antistatics, flame retardants, nucleating agents, plasticisers, pigments, heat stabilisers, and UV/light stabilisers.
Analysts from IHS Markit see a buyer’s market for PP, PE and PET in the year ahead.
Analysts based in Houston with IHS Markit, speaking during a session at the 2019 Plastics Recycling Conference and Trade Show, said it’s shaping up to be a buyer’s market for virgin polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyethylene (PE) in 2019. While polypropylene (PP) “has been tight globally,” said Joel Morales, senior director of polyolefins, North America, for IHS Markit, it is “becoming more balanced” now that the U.S. is “swimming in supply.”
Unfortunately, this is not good news for reprocessors of these polymers, as prime prices will be very competitive given their abundant supply and more off-spec material likely will be available at a discount, the analysts said.
eurolaser GmbH, a manufacturer of CO2 laser cutting systems, presents the latest technology in the field of textile cutting at the Texprocess fair in Frankfurt.
The focus is on automation for Industry 4.0.
This year, the cutting of textiles on the L-1200 and 3XL-3200 systems will be demonstrated live on-site.
The emphases of the exhibition will be on the automatic feeding of textiles from the roll, on the cutting of printed textiles including the camera and QR code recognition as well as on the labelling of the individual pieces in a single operation
