BASF made first continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite with Ultramid

(basf) -- The new Opel Astra OPC, a sport coupe, which was introduced at the Geneva Auto Show at the beginning of March 2012, has a seat pan made from a thermoplastic laminate with continuous fiber reinforcement (organo sheet). This is the world's first auto seat pan based on this technology manufactured for a production vehicle. The plastics used are polyamide specialties from BASF's Ultramid product range. The seat pan is 45% lighter than its predecessor.

Thermoplastic laminates with continuous fiber reinforcement, also called composites, are plastic-impregnated fabrics that are processed into laminates. They serve as the reinforcement in plastic parts that must be especially lightweight yet still exhibit exceptional performance.

BASF developed two special Ultramid grades for the Opel Astra OPC seat pan: an unreinforced grade acts as the material in which the glass fiber fabric is embedded, an impact-modified, short glass fiber-reinforced Ultramid is used as overmolding material to achieve the necessary ribs and edges of the part by means of classical injection molding. Thanks to the high strength of the laminate, the wall thicknesses can be reduced considerably, allowing the weight of the seat pan to be lowered distinctly.

MRC

(news.flanders-china) -- China should raise petrol and diesel prices to reflect the recent surge in crude oil prices, Jiang Jiemin, Chairman of both China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and PetroChina said .

Any price increase would be the second so far this year and would raise China's fuel prices to fresh highs, raising concerns about inflation. According to China's fuel pricing formula, the government may consider lifting fuel prices if a moving average price for a basket of crudes rises over 4% in a month. But the Chinese government, worried about inflation, often postpones raising prices, meaning refiners often run at a loss as they are unable to pass on any increases in their crude oil costs to consumers.

China last raised petrol and diesel prices by 3% to 4% on February 8. Crude oil prices have gained about 9% in the following month, but the government has held off announcing any changes during the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), which ended on March 14. Some analysts said the government could raise petrol and diesel prices by at least CNY400 to CNY500 a ton, or about 5%.
MRC

(Bloomberg) -- Petrobras, the state-run oil company in Brazil, announced Tuesday it has made another discovery in what is proving to be one of the country's most productive offshore regions.
The new well is in the Santos Basin, where large pockets of oil are being found under a layer of salt deep beneath the ocean floor.

Located 144 miles off the coast of Sao Paulo state, the new well is more than 18,000 feet deep and holds "good quality" oil, Petrobras said. The well is in a region of the South Atlantic where seven of Brazil's 18 oil discoveries this year have been made. The well has still to be declared commercially viable.

"The well is still being drilled, with the aim of determining the lower limit of the reservoirs and identifying other possible zones of interest," said the company in a statement.

The U.S. Geological Survey assesses there could be as much as 100 billion barrels of offshore oil yet to be discovered in Brazil. The Santos Basin could hold as much as 46 billion barrels.
MRC

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- A federal prosecutor in Brazil will file criminal charges Wednesday against executives from US oil major Chevron and drilling-rig operator Transocean, charging the employees with environmental crimes related to an offshore spill in November. A federal judge will decide whether to bring the charges to trial.

A federal prosecutor in Brazil will file criminal charges Wednesday against executives from US oil major Chevron and drilling-rig operator Transocean, charging the employees with environmental crimes related to an offshore oil spill in November.

The prosecutor, Eduardo Santos de Oliveira, said in a telephone interview Monday that after an extensive investigation "there exists information and evidence that criminal conduct occurred" by employees at the two companies before, during and after the November drilling accident that caused an estimated 2,400 to 3,000 bbl of oil to seep from the seabed at Chevron's Frade field.

Transocean was operating the rig responsible for the well where the accident took place.

Some 12 Chevron and five Transocean employees will be charged with environmental crimes that carry potential prison terms of between two and five years, Oliveira said.

A federal judge will then decide whether to bring the charges to trial.
MRC

(plastemart) -- A new amine-free antistat solution for BOPP (bi-axially oriented polypropylene) and PP (polypropylene) film delivers a unique combination that helps ensure safer chemistry for food packaging. The new product - GRINDSTED AR100 - will be featured in by DuPont at NPE along with other bio-based additives.

⌠DuPont has strength and depth in antistat solutions for polyolefins, and our new product is something that the market has been seeking for some time, said Bjarne Nielsen, senior applications manager, DuPont Polymer Additives. ⌠Antistats are an important additive in many different packaging applications serving a well-defined purpose: preventing the attraction of dust and other fine particles to the polymer surface that would otherwise render a packaged product unattractive. There is a widespread desire today to avoid traditional ethoxylated amine chemistry wherever possible as demands for unquestioned safe chemistry in food packaging grow steadily.

The new product is aimed at the food packaging industry. ⌠Brand owners are striving to improve all aspects of product safety, and the fact that GRINDSTED AR100 can be used at any loading level to obtain the optimal, desired performance and that it is a 1:1 alternative makes it an obvious choice in PP packaging applications, said Mick Potenza, DuPont Polymer Additives account manager, USA. ⌠We expect the product to be a leader in its field on both sides of the Atlantic.
MRC