Cereplast new resin grades received DIN CERTCO certifications of compostability

(Cereplast) -- Cereplast, Inc, a leading manufacturer of proprietary biobased, compostable and sustainable plastics, today announced that their three new resin grades, Compostable 3002, Compostable 3010, and Compostable 3020, have received DIN CERTCO certifications of compostability. These new resin grades provide superior properties and are for use on blown film extruder lines for the manufacture of compostable bags.

Compostable 3002, Compostable 3010, and Compostable 3020 can substitute polyethylene for carry bag and trash bag applications, and provide a range of thickness, tear resistance and stretch. These materials, which consist of Ingeo PLA and other compostable components, provide excellent processability, good tear resistance and reduced stretch under load when compared to the competition.

All three resins are DIN CERTCO certified to be compostable up to 1.0 mil (0.0254 mm) thick. DIN CERTCO is the most prominent institute for standardization in Germany, and is highly regarded world-wide. DIN CERTCO is one of two certifying bodies recognized by EU Bioplastics for the certification of bioplastics, a requirement for selling compostable resin in Europe.

Cereplast, Inc. designs and manufactures proprietary biobased, sustainable plastics which are used as substitutes for traditional plastics in all major converting processes - such as injection molding, thermoforming, blow molding and extrusions - at a pricing structure that is competitive with traditional plastics.

MRC

(BASF) -- The German company inge GmbH - widely regarded as the global leader in the field of ultrafiltration technology - hundred percent owned by BASF and part of its Water Solutions business - has launched an innovative software tool to accompany the ultrafiltration modules and membranes developed and produced in-house. Known as inge System Design' and developed by inge's own researchers, the software program speeds up the process of designing professional ultrafiltration systems.
The new software developed by inge offers customers some outstanding features that are not available in any conventional products - for example enabling users to calculate the quantities of chemicals and energy required by the system and adapt the metering pump design to the water quality and the desired target pH value.

This provides the flexibility to tailor the system to the customer's individual needs. Programmed in Visual Basic, ⌠inge System Design is extremely user-friendly, making it the perfect tool for project design and plant construction.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Asia's naphtha prices are likely to stage an uptrend until late January, supported by strong spot buying from dominant importer Taiwan and trading companies which helped to mop up voluminous deep-sea inflows for next month, traders said on Friday.


The naphtha inter-month spread widened USD1/tonne (EUR0.77/tonne) to USD7.50/tonne in backwardation, while the prompt naphtha crack spread strengthened to near USD100/tonne against Brent crude futures.

"The market is heading for a hike and this will be the case until the Lunar New Year," said a trader.
The Lunar New Year takes place on 23-24 January 2012. "The trading companies have rushed to buy lots of spot cargoes for January. The huge arbitrage volume for January has already been absorbed into the market," the trader added.

Asia is expected to receive half a million tonnes of arbitrage European naphtha next month, and the fact that the cargoes were placed swiftly reflected strong regional demand, traders said.
Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corporation (FPCC) bought on Thursday 150,000 tonnes of spot naphtha for second-half January delivery, its first spot purchases since August and after lifting run rates at its three crackers to 85-86% from 80-85% previously.


The cargoes were transacted at a premium of USD3.00-3.50/tonne to Japan quotes CFR (cost and freight). FPCC ceased spot naphtha imports from August to mid-December because of cracker shutdown issues.

Demand from FPCC is expected to remain strong in the first half of next year, because the company has scheduled to shut its 700,000 tonne/year No 1 cracker at Mailiao for a 40-45 day turnaround in August 2012.


Meanwhile, the South Korean crackers paid higher naphtha premiums this week for spot transactions for second half of January delivery, traders said.


MRC

(ICIS) -- Asian phthalic anhydride (PA) producers margins' have firmed by USD70-100/tonne this week, widening for the first time in 18 months because of active restocking, several regional producers and traders said on Friday.

Several Chinese buyers said they are expecting the prices to continue rising in the near term.
⌠Many traders and distributors have cleared their lower-priced inventories, so there are no more low-priced cargoes available, a Chinese buyer said. ⌠The producers will determine the PA spot prices for now, the buyer added.

A northeast Asian producer said it sold 5,000 tonnes of PA late on 15 December at USD1,480/tonne (EUR1,140/tonne) CFR (cost & freight) CMP (China Main Port). Feedstock orthoxylene (OX) prices were assessed at USD1,380-1,410/tonne CFR NE (northeast) Asia on 15 December.
On 9 December, the CFR CMP benchmark of PA was assessed at USD1,380-1,410/tonne, while the CFR NE Asia benchmark of OX was assessed at USD1,380-1,410/tonne.
Producers normally produce PA by using 950kg of OX, hence adding USD100/tonne to their PA prices to cover their conversion costs. In the current firmer market, PA producers' margins have increased by USD54.75/tonne.

The last record of the PA-OX spread moving into positive territory was on 21 May 2010. Regional producers said the prices have increased because Chinese buyers have started to actively restock their inventory, after remaining at the sidelines resulted in tightened inventory. Many Chinese buyers refrained from participating in the PA spot market when the prices declined from mid-September to early December.

MRC

(PlastEurope) -- Masqat-based Octal (Oman) says it is on target to commission its new PET hub in the sultanate's Salalah free zone in May 2012. The new plant will include two DPET production lines, with capacity for 263,000 t/y each, raising Octal's production capacity in Salalah to 927,000 t/y, "making it the largest in the world on site", the company says.

"Additional volumes of resin production will spur the growth of the packaging industry and will encourage markets to migrate from less efficient materials to PET as the preferred clear rigid polymer," said Octal chairman Sheikh Saad Suhail Bahwan.

A completely integrated facility, the Salalah PET hub was designed to yield the lower carbon footprint products, Octal says, adding that the plant uses 67% less electricity to manufacture DPET sheet and 38% less energy in the production of DPET resin. The facility is also able to recycle trim waste during the manufacturing process.

MRC