Mazda closes bumper recycling loop

(Plastics Today) -- Recycled bumper polypropylene (PP) that may be more than 10 years old is now finding its way into new rear bumpers for the Mazda Biante minivan thanks to recycling technology developed by the automaker over many years.


Mazda Motor Corporation (Hiroshima, Japan) began collecting damaged bumpers (that were replaced at dealer service centers) as far back as 1992 and recycling them for use as vehicle undercovers. In subsequent years, it continued to hone paint removal technology to the point where by 2003, joint development with recycling system manufacturer Satake Corporation (Hiroshima) had increased the paint removal rate to 99.9%. The resulting recycled plastic thus passed the necessary strength and quality for use as replacement painted bumpers. At this stage, however, recycling was still limited to relatively new damaged bumpers from a cost and technological standpoint.


In the latest development, Mazda says has become the world's first automaker to successfully recycle scrapped bumpers from end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) into raw material for new vehicle bumpers. The new technology made its commercial debut on August 21, 2011.


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PTT to buy a stake in Indonesian petrochemicals maker PT Chandra Asri

(Reuters) -- Thailand's top energy firm, PTT Pcl , is keen to buy a stake in Indonesian petrochemicals maker PT Chandra Asri as part of its foreign expansion drive, a source at the Energy Ministry said on Friday.


"PTT group has shown interest and is studying the possibility of buying the stake in the Indonesian petrochemical firm from Temasek," the source told Reuters.


"This should be the starting point for PTT to expand into the petrochemical business in Indonesia," he said, adding PTT group was not yet in talks with the seller and had not mandated any financial adviser for the moment.


Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings is trying to sell its 23 percent stake in the Indonesian petrochemicals maker in a deal worth USD 400 million, two sources with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters recently.


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Royal Dutch Shell to build ethylene cracker in Appalachia, US

(Plastemart) -- Royal Dutch Shell has planned to build a new world-scale ethylene cracker in the Appalachia region of US as the vast area of natural gas implanted in the Marcellus Shale are changing region's fortunes by encouraging global energy. The three locations Shell is eyeing for the crackers are Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. Shell owns the natural gas rights for about 700,000 gross acres in the Marcellus, mostly in Pennsylvania, as per icis.com. According to a company official US natural gas is "abundant and affordable," and the company has the know-how to develop this crucial energy resource, along with its associated product polyethylene (PE), for the domestic market.


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Evonik Industries and Saudi Acrylic Acid Company established a joint venture

(Plastemart) -- Evonik Industries and Saudi Acrylic Acid Company (SAAC) have established a joint venture called Saudi Acrylic Polymers Company (SAPCo) for the production of superabsorbents. SAAC is a joint venture of the Saudi companies National Industrialization Company (Tasnee) and Sahara Petrochemicals. The production facility with the capacity of 80,000 metric tpa is scheduled to begin production in late 2013. The total investment will be in the triple-digit million Euro range. The EPC-contract will be assigned to Fluor. The SAPCo superabsorbent production is part of a new acrylic acid and derivative complex on the Tasnee premises of the Al Jubail Chemical Park in Saudi Arabia and will benefit from favorably priced propylene feedstock from the adjacent cracking facility operated jointly by Tasnee, Sahara and Lyondell Basell.


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South Korean chemicals maker SK Global Chemical broke ground for a petrochemical plant in Singapore

(Yonhap) -- South Korean chemicals maker SK Global Chemical Co. said Friday that it broke ground for a petrochemical plant in Singapore that will serve as the company's production base in the Asian region.


Jurong Aromatics Corp. Pte. (JAC), a joint venture of SK Group's affiliates and other global firms, will funnel US$2.4 billion into the plant to be built in a petrochemical complex on Singapore's Jurong Island.


The plant will have an annual production capacity of 4 million tons of petrochemicals -- 2.6 million tons of refined oil products such as jet fuel and liquefied petroleum gas and 1.4 million tons of chemicals such as paraxylene and benzene, SK Global Chemical said.


The plant will begin operations in the third half of 2014, the company said.


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