Polymers Petrochemicals Textiles recycling 19-02-2019 - Arhive
China – Polyethylene Terephthalate
PET and its chain continue to move down,still except for Paraxylene.
Polyamide 6 and its chain go up.
PET Bottle grade export 1,040/1,080 $/ton – PET Bottle grade domestic market 8,250/8,350 yuan/ton – PET Filament grade SD domestic market 7,800/7,900 yuan/ton – PET Filament grade BR domestic market 7,750/7,900 yuan/ton
PTA Taiwan 850/860 $/ton – PTA domestic market 6,400/6,500 yuan/ton – MEG $ 595/610 $/ton – MEG domestic market 4,850/4,950 yuan/ton – PX Korea 1,090/1,100 $/ton
POY 150D/48F domestic market 8,400/8,550 yuan/ton – DTY 150D/48F domestic market 10,350/10,450 yuan/ton – PSF domestic market 8,850/8,950 yuan/ton
Last week, import prices for ethylene in Northeast Asia rose to an 18-week high, which was caused by the replenishment of stocks in China after the holidays and a decrease in supplies in the region, ICIS reported.
Spot deals were at USD1 180-1 195 per ton, CFR in northeast Asia, compared with USD1 075 per ton, CFR NE in Asia on February 8.
The spot supply of the material was limited due to problems with cracking installations in Asia and Europe, as well as the upcoming repair of a plant in South Korea.
About 20 thousand tons of February supply of ethylene from Japan and South Korea were postponed to March due to production problems.
As for the offer, players expect an increase in availability in the coming weeks. Additional deliveries are expected to come mainly from Southeast Asia.
Crude Oil Prices Trend
As reported by a recent Future Market Insights study, flexible plastic packaging consumption will equate a valuation of over US$ 85 billion in 2019. Sales of bags and sacks, notably in the retail sector, currently accounts for over a third of market share. While flat pouches remain preferred over stand-up pouches, the report projects growing adoption of the latter in the future.
Cost competitiveness of flexible plastic packaging is primarily driving adoption. In addition to the ability of flexible plastic packaging to extend product’s shelf-life, it significantly accounts for overall packaging downsizing, which is another strong demand determinant favoring the growth of flexible packaging market. While adoption of flexible plastic packaging has been pervasive across multiple end-use verticals over the recent past, manufacturing activities are more likely to be instrumental in creating room for the growth of flexible plastic packaging landscape.
The UK Government has today launched consultations to overhaul the waste system, cut plastic pollution and move towards a circular economy.
These plans have been launched by Environment Secretary Michael Gove.
The consultations build on commitments made in the Government’s Resource and Waste Strategy and will provide details on plans to make packaging producers pay the full price of dealing with their waste, introduce a consistent set of materials collected across England from households, and implement a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for cans, and bottles.
It is hoped that these changes will make up a key part of the Government’s upcoming Environment Bill.
A consultation has launched today on a consistent set of recyclable materials collected from all households and businesses, and consistent labelling on packaging so customers know what to recycle.
A lightweight rail passenger seat support manufactured from a fire-resistant bio-resin prepreg has been nominated as a finalist in the Land Transportation Category of the 2019 JEC World Awards.
The seat support was designed and manufactured by Bercella using materials supplied by Composites Evolution. Extensive testing of the structure was performed by Element Materials Technology.
A key innovation of the component is the use of Composites Evolution’s Evopreg PFC prepreg. Evopreg PFC was specified for this application because of its excellent fire performance, low toxicity and outstanding environmental credentials. The base resin is 100% bio-derived, thereby providing a safer and more sustainable alternative to traditional phenolics for equivalent cost and performance.
Airbus thinks so.
We all know that sitting in an economy class seat on an airplane is murder on your back, your legs, and your sanity. But a new concept developed for the airplane manufacturer Airbus claims to be able to ease your aches and pains through a smart textile.
THE MAGIC OF CONDUCTIVE THREAD
The London-based design firm Layer has created a prototype seat that’s knitted with conductive thread. During a plane ride, electrical currents pass through the thread, altering the firmness of different parts of the seat, based on the sitter’s weight, size, and movements.
In response to the overwhelming amount of plastic polluting the planet, the U.K. government is implementing a new plastic packaging tax. As explained in a summary of the plans on the government website, there will be a tax on any plastic packaging with less than 30 percent recycled content, beginning in April 2022.
According to the summary and the full consultation document on this tax, back in March 2018, the U.K. government put out a call for evidence that the tax system needed to tackle plastic packaging, and a whopping 162,000 responses were sent in. Many replies provided evidence that new plastic is actually cheaper than recycled plastic, which is why so many producers prefer virgin plastic.
Crude oil prices are oscillating in a rising channel since January 2019, considering the daily time frame. Last week, crude oil prices closed above 4 weeks consolidation and formed bullish engulfing candle on week scale, which suggests bulls were in dominant position.
Crude oil opened above two major hurdles, on Monday. One is 100-day exponential moving average, which is currently placed at $56.30 and second one is 38.2 per cent of Fibonacci retracement, level of its entire downward move started form the high of October 3, 2018 to the low of December 24, 2018.
Scientists have found toxic bacteria on microplastics in waters around Singapore. The bacteria are believed to be one of the culprits behind coral bleaching. They have also been known to cause wound infections in people.
Researchers working out of the National University of Singapore (NUS) discovered over an alarming 400 varieties of bacteria on a little less than 300 pieces of microplastics. The samples, which are only around 5 mm in size, were taken from three coastlines in the region: Changi Beach, Sembawang Beach and Lazarus Island.
According to The Straits Times, scientists located the toxic bacteria through DNA sequencing. Once the results were in, they discovered traces of photobacterium, which has been linked to coral bleaching, and a species called vibrio, which is known to cause infections in wounds. The team also found traces of arcobacter, a microorganism that has been linked to gastroenteritis.
Higher feedstock prices, somepre-buying in the UK, several planned crackeroutages, and a force majeure at a major plantare leading some polyethylene (PE) sellers inEurope to expect higher prices in March.
Netprices are also lower than the ethylenecontract in some cases.
A couple of producers have already closed orderbooks on some PE grades, and one has said extravolumes for February will incur a surcharge of €50/tonne.
Some spot prices are looking up, but sentimentis also weighed down by fresh import volumesfrom the US, and not all sellers are convincedprices will go up in March.
At least partly offsetting supply falls has been a surge in US crude oil production by more than 2 million bpd in 2018, to a record 11.9 million bpd.
Singapore: Oil prices rose to their highest levels since November last year on Monday, lifted by OPEC-led supply cuts and U S sanctions on Iran and Venezuela.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures pushed through $56 per barrel for the first time this year, hitting $56.13 a barrel before edging back to $56.02 a barrel by 0112 GMT, still up 0.8 percent from their last settlement.
With increasing focus on sustainability in packaging, Agr’s new Lightweight option for the Process Pilot blowmouder management system gives brand owners and bottle manufacturers another tool to meet this complex and growing challenge.
The Lightweight option provides assurance that the limited material available for produced a lightweight PET bottle is distributed exactly where it needs to be and at the appropriate thickness to ensure proper performance.
Plastic recycling: New plans to change the way we recycle plastic to be announced
Big shops across the UK have been accused of trying to ‘water down’ a proposed scheme, to be announced by the government on Monday, to try and change the way we recycle plastic.
Campaigners say large and small drinks containers should have a deposit of more than 15p when we buy them, which you then get back when they are recycled.
But some shops say small “on-the-go” bottles cause the most litter, while large bottles are recycled because they are usually consumed in the home and should not be a apart of the deposit.
