Penford and Novomer to partner to drive development and commercialization

(Plastemart) -- Penford Corporation, a company with significant business and expertise in specialty starches and sustainable bio-products and Novomer Inc., a new materials company pioneering a family of high-performance plastics and polymers using renewable feedstocks such as carbon dioxide, announce that they have entered into a Joint Development Agreement that will leverage the two companies' core technologies and expertise. he new alliance was created to accelerate the development and commercialization of innovative Starch-Polypropylene Carbonate polymer composites.


Unmodified starch use has been limited due to inherent performance characteristics but has long been targeted as a cost effective, renewable material for a broad range of packaging applications. When modified, specialty starches can be compatible with other polymers to extend the use and modify the properties of those polymers for targeted uses.

Polypropylene Carbonate (PPC), a thermoplastic polymer composed of nearly 50% by weight of waste CO2, has superior mechanical and barrier properties and a chemical backbone that is compatible and likely synergistic with specialty modified starch. It is anticipated that the creation of starch-PPC composites will yield low cost, environmentally sustainable packaging polymers suitable for the multi-billion dollar global packaging materials market.

MRC

(Plasteurope) -- A year after Italy became the first European country to ban non-biodegradable PE bags. Regulations as to the permitted levels of degradability are still controversial. As retailers were permitted to use up their stocks of non-biodegradable bags up to the end of 2011, the switch evidently is not yet visible. But with former EU commissioner Mario Monti now in the prime minister's seat, it appears that attempts by plastics industry groupings to torpedo the legislation have definitely failed.

For its own purposes, Italy will adopt the EU degradability standard EN 13432, part of the European Packaging Directive EC 94/62. This specifies, among other things, that the material must break down by at least 90% in less than six months. Some bag manufacturers and organisations are critical. Part of the trade union sector complains that the legislation will lead to many job losses, while others argue that it will benefit plans to set up a ⌠green plastics hub at the former Vinyls Italia site of Porto Torres in Sardinia . Plastics converters who produce bags contend that the cost of retooling equipment will be prohibitive.

In mid-January, environmental organisations called on the European Commission (EC) to finally move toward regulating plastic bags. The high level of support shown by EU private citizens for such a move - 53% participating in an EU query strongly favoured an outright ban - ⌠means that the Commission will be under pressure to take action, the organisations said in a statement.

MRC

(CHEMMONITOR) -- Several production units engaged in polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) production recommenced their activity at Al-Jubail (Saudi Arabia) last week. The facilities belong to SABIC, a domestic maker.

The plants were idle for 2 days on the back of the power outage at the locality.

The company does not estimate its production losses as large ones.

The accident affected also others PE and PP manufacturer running plants at the site. They were forced to suspend operations, as well.

MRC

(petroplusholdings) -- Petroplus Holdings AG on Wednesday announced that it and its
subsidiary in Switzerland and Germany filed for insolvency proceedings.

Petroplus further announced that its subsidiaries in France filed for rehabilitation proceedings (⌠redressement judiciaire).

The Court appointed FHB Administrateurs Judiciaires as administrator for the assets of some of the above companies.
Petroplus Holdings AG will provide further updates to the public as needed and further information regarding the proceedings will be provided at its website.

MRC

(orlen.pl) -- Polish PKN ORLEN informs that on 23 January 2012 it signed a spot agreement with Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited, London, Great Britain (└STASCO), for crude oil deliveries to AB ORLEN Lietuva . The estimated net value of the agreement amounts to approximately USD 80 million.

The total estimated value of agreements signed between PKN ORLEN and STASCO in the period from 2 September 2011 to 23 January 2012 amounts to approximately USD 634 million.

Agreement dated 5 October 2011 is the agreement with the highest amount from among all agreements concluded between PKN ORLEN and STASCO in the period from 2 September 2011 to 23 January 2012. The estimated value of the agreement amounts to approximately USD 81 million. The agreement was concluded for crude oil deliveries to ORLEN Lietuva.

MRC