Plastopedia

Chemtura Corporation (NYSE/EuroNext Paris: CHMT), a world leader in hot-cast urethane pre-polymers, today announced the launch of its thermoplastic polyurethane product line under the Ultralast™ brand.

 “The unique formulation of our Ultralast Thermoplastic Urethanes allows plastic manufacturers to achieve superior performance by utilizing Chemtura’s cast urethanes technology,” said Matthew Hellstern, president and general manager of the Urethanes business.

A nucleating agent has helped push homopolymer polypropylene (PP) into thermoformed packaging applications with the promise of better haze and less yellowing compared to conventional nucleated PP homopolymers.

As material science advances, the familiar often becomes foreign. As Paola Antonelli described in the MoMA show "Mutant Materials" back in 1995, materials continue to cross known boundaries of behavior, upsetting our expectations about the ways in which they are supposed to perform.

The Technology Strategy Board, the UK’s innovation agency, has a record £440m budget this year to support innovative businesses and drive growth across the UK.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A domestic natural gas boom already has lowered U.S. energy prices while stoking fears of environmental disaster. Now U.S. producers are poised to ship vast quantities of gas overseas as energy companies seek permits for proposed export projects that could set off a renewed frenzy of fracking.

Persistently slow economic conditions and unattractive production costs in Europe have resulted in weaker demand and squeezed margins for many petrochemical companies, as per ChemOrbis.

Two polymers combine to provide a less painful oral method of administering cancer-fighting drugs.

Other benefits of the newly developed system include controlled and sustained release of the drug 5-fluorouracil, and reduced side-effects from the drugs.  However, the polymers must be able to survive harsh pH conditions  to travel to the colorectal area.

Longtime plastics compounding executive Charles Gitto Jr. passed away Oct. 26 at age 80.

Gitto Jr. was a native of Fitchburg who served as a U.S. Marine in the Korean War. After his military service, he earned a degree from Clark University in Worcester, Mass. Gitto Jr. then worked in sales for Great American Chemical Co. and for Lynn Plastics, an early PVC compounder in Lynn, Mass. He next founded PVC compounder Abbott Industries, but sold that firm in 1979 to join his brother Samuel Gitto in launching Gary Chemical Corp. in Leominster, Mass.

Using naturally available options such as wood and stone can lend an aesthetic look to your home and also increase the longevity of the structure, writes DBN Murthy

Over centuries, bricks, mud, stone and wood have served as the main building materials. Ancient buildings used naturally occurring materials. Some building materials like stone and marble have weathered millions of years of changes in climate. Stone used to be a predominant material for foundations in the past before it gave way to RCC. Stones in various sizes, shapes and colour are used during the construction of a home as part of the foundation and facade. Stone is also used in kitchen counters and sinks. Flooring material in living areas as well bathrooms use polished or semi-polished stone for better grip, especially in wet areas.

If you're in the plastic packaging industry, you better get used to the color green. What was once considered a trendy buzzword, sustainability is now driving innovation in an industry that is all too familiar with receiving the blunt of an environmental backlash. After all, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calculates that containers and packaging make up the largest category of municipal solid waste (MSW) in the country, at 30.3% of the total waste stream.

Still, there is certainly both an environmental and business case for sustainable materials. The global green packaging market is expected to grow from $109 billion in 2011 to reach nearly $178 billion by 2018, according to Transparency Market Research.

When we reported this summer on a closed-loop/reverse logistics setup between Ecospan and one of its customers, it surprised us to discover that bioplastic return containers were cheaper than their cardboard cousins. The key was the reuse and recycling model Ecospan devised for its very large consumer electronics customer.

It turns out that closed-loop/reverse logistics systems using regular plastic return containers are already fairly common, especially in the automotive industry. We found this out from comments made on that article by Clinton McDade, senior designer of plastic products for Schaefer Systems International.

Pipe value demand to rise 6.2% yearly through 2016

US demand for pipe is expected to grow 6.2 percent per year to $50.1 billion in 2016. Sales of pipe will benefit primarily from a rebound in building construction. In addition, the expansion of oil and gas exploration and transmission activity, an improved outlook for state and municipal infrastructure spending, and the continued need to replace and repair the country's aging water pipe networks will contribute to growth. In volume terms, pipe demand is forecast to rise at a 6.3 percent annual rate through 2016 to 83 billion pounds, totaling more than 12 billion feet.

This report helps to identify factors, which will be the driving force behind the plastic additives market and sub-markets in the next five years. The report provides extensive analysis of the plastic additives industry, current market trends, industry drivers and challenges, for a better understanding of the plastic additives market structure. The report has segregated the plastic additives industry in terms of its function, product types and geography.

Eastman Chemical Co. has re-filed a breach of contract complaint against plastics recycler Coll Materials LLC in the U.S. District Court in Wilmington, after withdrawing the same lawsuit from a different court jurisdiction.

The complaint charges Coll with breach of contract, negligence and failure to reimburse Eastman for loss of Eastman materials, valued in excess of $75,000, that were stored at the warehouse of the Coll recycling plant in Nazareth, Pa., which was destroyed by fire Aug. 2, 2011.

The seabed in the Arctic deep sea is increasingly strewn with litter and plastic waste. As reported in the advance online publication of the scientific journal Marine Pollution Bulletin by Dr. Melanie Bergmann, biologist and deep-sea expert at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association.

The industry thus has to completely rely on the imported materials, which reduces its competitiveness, said Tran Viet Anh, deputy chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Rubber and Plastic Association.

“Moreover, we have sent an enormous amount of US dollars to the pockets of international producers,” he added.

The domestic demand for PP plastic is as high as 2.5 million tons a year, but the country’s total supply is only 150,000 tons, he said.