Materials

China has successfully transformed itself as a producer of run of the mill products to a global factory manufacturer of competitively priced quality products. That said, being cheap no longer sells as consumers are becoming increasingly quality-aware of the products that they use. TPE maker KRAIBURG TPE says it is…

Thailand-headquartered chemical firm Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL) is offering new 100% rPET (recycled PET) under the brand Deja. Indorama says the rPET is available in various forms such as recycled flake, pellet, fiber and filament for use in multiple applications. Headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand, IVL has operating sites…

Chemical firm Sabic has introduced its LNP Elcrin iQ portfolio of polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) compounded resins derived from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) to support the circular economy and help reduce plastic waste. products also offer a smaller cradle-to-gate environmental footprint than virgin PBT resin, as measured by Cumulative Energy Demand…

Dutch chemicals firm DSM says that it has reached agreement with SRF Ltd., to acquire its Engineering Plastics business. DSM will pay a consideration of EUR38 million to SRF Ltd. The acquisition is expected to close in Q3 2019, subject to customary closing conditions. The acquisition will further cement DSM…

Germany’s Covestro has started building additional production lines for its polycarbonate films. The new co-extrusion lines are scheduled for completion by the end of 2020 and will cover the increasing demand. “With this capacity expansion, we are strengthening the Dormagen site as a competence centre for specialty films,” said Dr.…

Following in pursuit of plastic roads built already in India, US chemical firm Dow and DEEP C are to build the first road using recycled plastics at the DEEP C Industrial Complex in Haiphong City in Vietnam. The project aims to divert post-use flexible packaging from becoming litter or entering…

Most European regions and sectors in the plastics industry are looking ahead with optimism as business performance developed better for most companies in 2018 than in 2017, according to a new survey by PIE – Plastics Information Europe. PIE surveyed 240 participants from 36 countries from the plastics industry about…

Due to increasing global demand for high-performance polymers, Germany’s Evonik says it is expanding its production of transparent polyamides of the Trogamid CX brand at the Marl Chemical Park (Germany). Production expansion is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2020. The project will double the specialty chemicals company’s capacity for…

Research led by Professor Ton Peijs of WMG at the University of Warwick and Professor Cees Bastiaansen at Queen Mary University of London, has devised a processing technique, which can create transparent polythene film that can be stronger as aluminium but at a fraction of the weight, and which could…

In recent years, flexible packaging has dealt with a backlash on pollution, until the call for sustainability by industry majors started to lead the way to better solutions for the segment to thrive, with downgauging, recyclability and the use of biobased materials, says Angelica Buan in this report. More than…