Plastics & Additives

Medshape (Atlanta, GA) reports commercialization of the first FDA-cleared medical device made with shape memory polymers.

Houston—Williams Cos. plans to build and operate a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) facility in Alberta, Canada. The $880 million PDH facility, the first and only in Canada, will allow Tulsa-based Williams to significantly increase production of polymer-grade propylene from its Canadian operations.

Williams Canada, a subsidiary of Williams, is the only company in Canada currently producing polymer-grade propylene, a petrochemical feedstock used in plastics manufacturing.

A New York Democratic congressman has introduced a bill to repeal the medical device excise tax that may actually have a chance of passing. The reason: it provides an alternative way to raise the revenue needed to support the Affordable Care Act.

Anellotech Inc., a technology-based company focusing on producing low-cost green drop-in, green versions of widely used petrochemicals directly from non-food biomass such as wood, bagasse and corn stover, has announced that it plans to make available large quantities of green benzene and toluene to strategic partners for downstream product development purposes before the end of 2013. Anellotech is the developer of a thermochemical catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFPTM) process for making aromatics directly from non-food biomass.

Several different plastics will be tested for possible use in a wearable blood pump and lung designed to provide respiratory support for patients awaiting transplants.

New Orleans—For the first time, recycling access for two broad segments of packaging is sufficiently widespread to label these containers "recyclable" without the need for additional qualification or disclaimer.

A German company is raising the ante on potential medical and industrial uses of silk polymers through development of a genetically engineered spider silk fiber it is commercializing under the name "Biosteel".

According to AMSilk (Martinsreid, Germany), Biosteel has six times more toughness than carbon fiber while having elasticity comparable to rubber. The material is said to be scalable in industrial processes.

New capacity for PVC slush-molding powders installed in Poland and China by compounder PolyOne (Cleveland, OH) targets long-term growth forecast for automobile industries in these countries. Despite increasing restrictions on car ownership, Chinese passenger and commercial vehicle production grew by 4.6% to 19,271,808 vehicles in 2012 according to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA), although Polish production plummetted by 22.7% to 647,803 unit due to the Eurozone Crisis.

Airbags have become a common fixture in the majority of passenger vehicles manufactured around the world. One key component is the inflator, the size of an size N battery, that until now was comprised of a metal cylinder packed with an explosive material into which wires are inserted. The latest initiators, however, are now being insert-molded using vertical injection presses and polyamide (PA) 6 as the encapsulant.

The rapid growth of efforts to alleviate lower back pain is driving innovation in surgical procedures, and in at least one case creating new opportunities for engineering plastics.