e-Weekly News Briefs, March 25

Plastics and chemicals supplier BASF (www.basf.com; Ludwigshafen, Germany) and Sinopec (Beijing, China) have submitted a feasibility study for a $900 million planned expansion of their joint venture (BASF-YPC) polymer site near Nanjing. If things go as planned, the new facilities will come on stream stepwise starting this year leading up to 2010. The plan sees an expansion of the jv’s ethylene steam cracker from 600,000 tonnes to 750,000 tonnes /yr; increases at the ethylene oxide plant; development of C4 specialties including 2-propylheptanol for a new-generation plasticizers; expansion of the acrylics value chain to produce superabsorbent polymers for industrial and hygiene applications; and more output at the oxo-alcohol and propionic acid plants.

Last year, ExxonMobil and Saudi Aramco signed two accords with Sinopec and Fujian province to create the first fully integrated Sino-foreign full-spectrum refining and petrochemical operations, with 1.2 million tons/yr polyolefin capacity.

Names in the news

Jeff Saeger has been appointed director of marketing for Clariant Masterbatches’ North America business. He joined Clariant Masterbatches in 2005 as Consumer Durable Goods Segment Manager for North America. He will continue to work out of the Company’s North American headquarters in Holden, MA.

Auxiliary equipment manufacturer Novatec (Baltimore, MD) has appointed Peter Armbruster as regional vice president responsible for sales in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky, as well as in Canada. He is based in Fenton, MI, and will coordinate with the Kalamazoo-based Novatec Great Lakes Regional Projects Office, which provides engineering services for complete auxiliary equipment systems. In Canada, he will work with Maguire Canada, which stocks, sells, and services Novatec products in that country, along with equipment from Maguire Products Inc., with which Novatec is affiliated. Armbruster entered the plastics industry in 1996 as a senior designer for AEC/HydReclaim Inc., holding progressively more important positions of responsibility at AEC until joining Novatec.

Processing equipment maker KraussMaffei (Munich, Germany) has just seen a change in the leadership of its Reaction Process Machinery division, better known in the industry as reaction injection molding (RIM). Frank Peters has taken over as general manager from Walter Tesche, who is retiring in mid-2008. Peters was last general sales manager for this division and since 2006 has been the head of its activities at the Munich plant. Tesche retires after a 35-year career at the company.

Bioresin producer Cereplast Inc. (Hawthorne, CA) has tapped the former head of polyolefin giant Basell’s North American operations, Randy Woelfel, as its new president and COO. Woelfel will oversee day-to-day operations and report to Frederic Scheer, who remains Cereplast’s chairman and CEO. Woelfel started with Shell Oil, and helped in the formation of Montell in 1995, which eventually became LyondellBasell. Woelfel spent 29 years between Shell and Basell, and most recently served as the managing director for the Houston Technology Center’s energy-related practice. In November 2006, then Basell (Hoofddorp, Netherlands) named Michael Mulrooney president Basell Polyolefins North America, succeeding Woelfel who became an advisor to the company’s management board. With a chemical engineering degree from Rice University and a masters in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, Woelfel joins Cereplast at a time when it’s moving beyond combinations of polylactic acid and starches into polypropylene/starch composites, with work underway for polyethylene/starch mixes.

Leaving Rohm & Haas Inc., where he was global technology director for circuit board technologies, Craig Allen has joined displacer, quaternary ammonium, glycidyl ether, and cationization agent producer Sachem Inc. (Austin, TX) as its chief technology officer.

Blown-film machinery and equipment supplier Kiefel Inc. (Wrentham, MA) has added Scott Ryan as a technical sales manager, based from Nashville, TN, and promoted Jamie Nelson to service manager, after he served 10 years at the company as a service technician. In addition, the company named Mark Smith as a service technician.

Global Plastics Bulletin Board

The Royal Society of Chemistry’s Specialty Chemicals Sector is staging a 2-day symposium in Munich, Germany on June 18-19 in conjunction with the Chemspec and Chemsource exhibitions. The symposium will focus on renewable raw materials in the specialty chemicals industry and sustainable manufacturing processes. Attendance is free of charge and delegates will be able to pick and choose which lectures they attend. For the full program and registration information go to: www.rscspecialitychemicals.org.uk or www.chemspeceurope.com.

Based on the conference theme of Change, Innovation, and Sustainability, Pack Expo International (Chicago; Nov. 9-13) organizer the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI; Arlington, VA) is soliciting proposals for presentations (due March 28). PMMI also named 17 packaging industry professionals to serve on the 2008 Conference Program Advisory Committee, with representation from Coors Brewing, P&G Gillette, Medtronic, Colgate-Palmolive, Nestle, and more.

The American Chemistry Council’s (ACC; Arlington, VA) Center for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI) is accepting nominations for the 2008 Polyurethane “Innovation Award”, which includes three categories: Polyurethane Chemicals, Processing Equipment, and Finished Product. CPI says finalists will be announced at the Polyurethanes 2008 Technical Conference (Sept. 29–Oct. 1; Marriott Rivercenter Hotel; San Antonio, TX). Companies or individuals interested in entering the award program must submit an application no later than 5:00 p.m. EDT on July 16, 2008.

Briefs

Packaging solutions provider Sirane (Telford, England) has launched a brand of compostable packaging for the cut flower trade. Named Flowerfresh, the flower pouch is processed from the company’s proprietary compostable packaging material, Resolve. The absorbent pouch is intended to keep cut flowers fresher longer and the cellulose-based biopolymer can then be recycled.

Organizers of next month’s Wire 2008 and Tube 2008 trade shows for extruded wire and cable as well as pipes say the pre-registration figures for the show reflect an economic upturn for the two sectors. This year’s show, from March 31–April 4 in Düsseldorf, Germany, will host a total of 1129 exhibitors covering 53,600-sq-m for Wire and 1028 exhibiting companies in 41,400-sq-m at Tube, setting new records. More than 70,000 trade show visitors are expected.

Four industries globally account for 73% of the total composites market, according to the latest findings presented by the organizers of next month’s plastics composites exhibition, JEC (Paris, France). Largest single sector with 23% is transportation followed by building and construction with 21%, aerospace (18%), and sports and consumer goods (11%). During the last five years the composites industry has recorded an annual 8% growth to a total of euro 53 billion.

Additives supplier Songwon Industrial (Ulsan, Korea) has formed a cooperation with Nitto Kasei (Osaka, Japan) to supply organo-tin intermediates in Japan. The deal was struck following a decision between Nitto Kasei and Sankyo Organic Chemicals of Japan to stop production of organo-tin stabilizers, used in processing vinyl, at the beginning of next month, and to transfer production to Nitto Kasei.

Milacron (Cincinnati, OH) has secured working capital to certain European businesses via a five-year asset-based revolving credit program from Lloyds TSB Group plc. The asset-based lending program will provide as much as euro 27 million of aggregate financing. In a release, Milacron CFO Ross Anderson said this will “supply proceeds in a tax-efficient manner” to service inter-company debt created by the U.S. refinancing of European bonds in 2004. The deal includes asset-secured loans to Milacron subsidiaries in Germany, Holland, and Belgium, and an accounts receivable factoring facility between Milacron’s German operations and Lloyds TSB Commerce Finance.

Materials handling/blending equipment supplier CRG Logics Inc. has installed Kepware’s KEPServerEX automation communication software. CRG specializes in integrated, PLC (programmable logic controller) based control for continuous loss-in-weight gravimetric blending systems, and it offers PLC-based control retrofits of blenders produced by other manufacturers. CRG settled on a Kepware single server with a driver-plug design. The company says this maintains consistent access to PLC data regardless of the type of PLC in the feeder/blender system.

Extrusion patent: Davis-Standard engineers Frederick Suppon and John Montalbano were awarded a patent for a flow velocity profiler (FVP) adapter that uses a cartridge assembly body or cassette comprised of individual cavities, with precision layer inserts and divider walls, to create passageways. This is said to simplify infield interchangeability of polymer flow paths from multiple extruders for improved layer uniformity, accuracy, control, and quick change when processing multilayer extrusions. The patent, Micro Layer Combining Adapter (US 7,296,992 B2), covers layering inserts that form flow channels, which can be selected or changed, so that, for example, a cartridge with nine inserts can create or define 18 individual flow channels.

Beaumont Technologies Inc. (BTI; Erie, PA) is celebrating its 10th year in business. Created in university research at Pennsylvania State University’s Behrend College, the meltflow optimization device that was the initial basis for the company was commercialized by John Beaumont in 1998, with the founding Beaumont Technologies. As part of the year-long anniversary celebration, BTI is now seeking out and selecting universities where it can donate its technologies for future students to use.

Phenolic resin and chemical intermediates supplier SI Group (Schenectady, NY) has launched a sustainability and green consulting business to help a range of manufacturing industries “comply with environmental regulations, adapt products and processes for an eco-sensitive marketplace and improve the way companies do business.” Called StrategicGreen, the business will help with issues like volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, workplace safety, and lower energy costs, among other areas.

According to a report in The Gladwin County Record & Beaverton Clarion, thermoformer Loose Plastics Inc. (Beaverton, MI) will use a $150,000 grant to fund a 24,000-sq-ft expansion that requires the city’s water line to be extended. The Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC), through a Development Block Grant, put forward $10,000 for each employee the expansion would create. The thermoformer will cover any expenses above $150,000. Loose is a custom-sheet extruder, offering polyolefin, ABS, and styrene sheet in thicknesses from .012 to .500-inch, widths from 4 to 76 inches, and minimum lengths of 4 ft.

Weekly futures activity from the LME

LME Plastics Evaluated Prices (US$ per tonne) for the shortened March 17-20, 2008 trading week