Dow Chemical scored another coup with its ⌠Unipol technology in China

(Plasteurope) -- Dow Chemical has scored another coup with its ⌠Unipol technology in China. The US group has clinched a deal with Qinghai Salt Lake Industry to license the process for a new 160 KTa PP production plant at Xining in central China's Qinghai province, set for start up in the second half of 2013. According to Dow, Quinghai Salt Lake is the eighth licensee of the Unipol PP process in China.

The relatively small polypropylene unit is to form part of an integrated coal-based magnesium metal complex planned by the potassium specialist. As part of the project, coal gasification will be used to generate ethylene and propylene as feedstock for the PP unit. The Chinese company also intends to leverage its salt and coal resources to build a 300 KTa PVC plant at its Xining site.

The two contracts for Dow and recent awards made to other North American and European technology licensors appear to underscore that China's coal-to-olefins strategy is moving into high gear. Recently, Ningxia Baofeng Energy Group selected the Ineos ⌠Innovene process for its new 300 KTa PP plant at Ningxia, earmarked for start-up in 2015.

MRC

(Plasteurope) -- As part of its cooperation with Italian compounder Plastigreen, Germany's DimeLika Plast has started distributing the former's compounds in German-speaking Europe. The grades are manufactured by Plastigreen's P&G Specialities division on a specially equipped compounding line. DimeLike Plast says this latest agreement is a ⌠sensible and logical extension of its activities, both with a view to the group's portfolio as well as in relation to the recent cooperation with Italian precision injection moulder Cattini Engineering Plastics.

At the same time, the new agreement also strengthens DimeLika Plast's position as a supplier of sophisticated plastics products. The main focus of Plastigreen's portfolio is on compounds based on linear and branched out PPS. Aside from the usual properties - reinforcement through glassfibre and/or minerals, impact-resistant and coloured products - the Italian player's also offers self-lubricating and low-friction compounds (⌠Lubrix) as well as antistatic (⌠Statix) or conductive (⌠Kondex) products. In addition, the Parabiago-based group also supplies compounds with a combination of properties, including reinforced and impact-modified characteristics, as well as specialty compounds developed and optimised for specific applications.

MRC

(Reuters) - Findings of the second major investigation by the government into the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, may press BP into putting over USD 30 billion on the table to quickly settle its outstanding legal headaches.

The joint Coast Guard and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement probe into the Macondo well blow-out which led to the death of 11 men and the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, put most of the blame on BP.

The report, released on Wednesday, was even more damning of BP's behavior than the Presidential panel's findings, which were issued in January and February. Both reports also highlighted mistakes made by BP's contractors, driller Transocean and cement specialist Halliburton.

The investigations have not left London-based BP eager to face the Department of Justice or civil claimants in court.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Officials at Mitsubishi Polyester Film, Inc. have initiated another major capital upgrade at its location in Greer, South Carolina. The USD 20 mln project will increase capacity as well as provide enhanced capability to produce innovative new products.

⌠The projects at the Greer facility will be completed in late 2012, said Dennis Trice, President and CEO at Mitsubishi Polyester Film, Inc. This project comes on top of the multi-million dollar project announced in 2010 to roll out the Reprocess Sustainable Liner Program; the industry's first closed loop recycling process for silicone coated polyester liners. Mitsubishi has already invested over USD 200 million at its Greer facility over the past 10 years. These new projects continue to reinforce our dedication to the industry.

Mitsubishi Polyester Film, Inc. is an American affiliate of Mitsubishi Plastics, Inc. and offers a wide array of polyester films for existing markets such as industrial labels and liners, flexible packaging, and also for many of today's new emerging markets in energy and electronics. Mitsubishi Plastics, Inc. has additional polyester film assets in Germany, Japan and Indonesia as well as a new plant under construction in China.

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(Plastemart) -- Moldtek Packaging Ltd., leading Indian rigid plastic packaging company, has finalized expansion plans, at an investment outlay of Rs 40 crore (approx USD 9 mln). The plans include two new manufacturing facilities in India by 2012: one in Pune with an initial capacity of 3,000 tpa to be expanded to 4,000 tpa. The second facility is planned in North India with a capacity to produce 2,000 tpa. To finance these projects, the company has no plans to go in for fresh borrowings.


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