Fangyuan strarts construction polyamide fiber project

(polyestertime) -- Fangyuan, a synthetic fiber producer based in Zhejiang Province, held a commencement ceremony in early January to mark its new project for 120,000 tons of differential polyamide fiber laying the first stone.

After Zhejiang Fangyuan Synthetic Fiber Co., Ltd. settled down in Tongxiang, Zhejiang Province in 2010, the
company decided to investment another CNY 1.15 billion in constructing this new project.

The project will be constructed in two phases. The first-phase project will include a production line for annual
production of 60,000 tons of polyamide chips which is expected to run into production in June, 2013; the secondphase project will start construction in January of 2014 and will be finished in August of 2015. By then, the
project will have an annual production capacity for 120,000 tons of differential polyamide fiber and turn out a
product output of more than CNY 4.5 billion and a pre-tax profit of CNY 350 million.

MRC

(polyestertime) -- PepsiCo announced it has developed the world's first PepsiCo PET plastic bottle made entirely from plant-based, fully
renewable resources, enabling the company to manufacture a beverage container with a significantly reduced
carbon footprint.PepsiCo's ⌠green bottle is 100 percent recyclable and far surpasses existing industry technologies. The bottle is made from bio-based raw materials, including switch grass, pine bark and corn husks.

In the future, the company expects to broaden the renewable sources used to create the "green" bottle to include
orange peels, potato peels, oat hulls and other agricultural byproducts from its foods business. This process further reinforces PepsiCo's "Power of One" advantage by driving a strategic beverage innovation via a foodbased solution.
"This breakthrough innovation is a transformational development for PepsiCo and the beverage industry, and a direct result of our commitment to research and development,"said PepsiCo Chairman and CEO, Indra Nooyi.
"PepsiCo is in a unique position, as one of the world's largest food and beverage businesses, to ultimately source agricultural byproducts from our foods business to manufacture a more environmentally-preferable bottle for our beverages business - a sustainable business model that we believe brings to life the essence of Performance with Purpose."

Combining biological and chemical processes, PepsiCo has identified methods to create a molecular structure that is identical to petroleum-based PET (polyethylene terephthalate), which results in a bottle that looks, feels and protects its product identically to existing PET beverage containers.

PepsiCo will pilot production of the new bottle in 2012. Upon successful completion of the pilot, the company intends to move directly to full-scale commercialization.

MRC

(polyestertime) -- Belarus PET polymer and polyester fibres producer Mogilevkhimvolokno is investing more than EUR20mln this year in its continuing project to upgrade and expand its plants in Mogilev.

This will include the launch of a scheme to boost the company's capacity to produce bottle grade PET resin and
equipment installation is already underway to increase its moulding output of PET bottle preforms. The new PET
line is set to raise the firm's PET polymer capacity to over 160,000 tpa. - three times the current output,
according to the company.

Later in the year, Mogilevkhimvolokno will install a new 50,000 tpa plant to produce fatty acid methyl esters for the production of biodiesel engine fuel.

Mogilevkhimvolokno, the chemicals subsidiary of the country's state oil and chemicals group Belneftekhim, is steadily growing its exports which will be boosted further on completion of the current investment programme.
The majority of the company's products are exported to 30 countries around the world, among them Russia,
China, Poland, Romania, Lithuania, the US, Germany and Italy.

MRC

(basf) -- With the addition of Ecovio F Mulch, BASF is expanding its line of biodegradable plastic compounds in the form of a grade for use in the manufacture of agricultural films. In contrast to agricultural film made from conventional polyethylene (PE), film made from Ecovio F Mulch biodegrades.

It is no longer necessary for farmers to retrieve the film from the field for disposal or recycling after the harvest. They can simply plow it under along with what remains from the plants. This saves time and reduces costs. Production of the film is also economical, since it can be manufactured at a lighter gauge than conventional PE film without any loss in performance. Moreover, Ecovio F Mulch represents a drop-in solution for the film producer: Since this resin can be processed on conventional PE extrusion machines without extensive modification, the processor can convert his equipment quickly and without great effort. The material is now available in commercial quantities around the world.

BASF has been offering Ecoflex F Mulch for years, a grade of biodegradable polyester that compounders have mixed with other components to produce individual formulations of mulch films for their customers in agriculture. The new plastic grade is suitable for the production of classical black and transparent but also for colored films. Moreover it is available in custom formulations for different vegetation times and climates.

MRC

(chemmonitor) -- The Belgium-headquartered company SolVin operates polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plants at Tavaux site (France) and at Jemeppe site (Belgium). The company recommenced the operations at the facilities after the shutdown caused by force majeure in early February.

This force majeure was driven by weather conditions, which influenced the production of K70 and K57 at Tavaux plant and all the grades at the Jemeppe one.

MRC