Keyuan Petrochemicals starts SBS unit construction

(plastemart) -- Keyuan Petrochemicals, Inc., a leading independent manufacturer and supplier of various petrochemical products in China, announced that on September 1st, it commenced construction of its first Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene ("SBS") production facility in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, which will be adjacent to its current production facility. The new SBS facility is expected to add 70,000 metric tons to Keyuan's production capacity by the end of 2011 with an estimated cost of $17.5 million in capital expenditures.

MRC

(plastemart) -- LyondellBasell Industries has started operation at the 320,000 tpa Hostalen Advanced Cascade Process (ACP) high density polyethylene plant at the site in Munchsmunster, Germany. The start up follows two years of construction, preparatory tests and test runs on the plant's components. The plant enhances LyondellBasell's flexibility to supply advanced HDPE grades to customers in Europe and the Middle East.

Hostalen ACP technology surpasses standard bimodal HDPE performance by producing resins with an advanced toughness/stiffness balance, superior impact resistance, higher stress crack resistance, good organoleptics and processing advantages. Other technology features include excellent plant reliability, fast grade changes and high monomer conversion rates. Typical customer applications include thin-wall packaging, caps and closures, large blow molding and textiles for packaging. ⌠Multimodal HDPE grades offer significant cost savings through processability improvements, downgauging and energy savings, explained Tassilo Bader, LyondellBasell's vice president, Polyethylene and Polyolefins Solutions - Europe, Asia and International.

MRC

(DuPont) -- DuPont Performance Polymers is launching a new family of products, designated "FG" (Food grade) that meet demanding requirements for use in food contact applications.

The materials being introduced make the DuPont offering one of the broadest portfolios of engineering plastics and thermoplastic elastomers for food contact applications. These products utilize the company's expertise and long experience in polymer science, quality, safety and regulatory compliance for the global food products market.

The DuPont FG portfolio consists of numerous products including DuPont Hytrel TPC-ET, Delrin Acetal, Zytel HTN (High-Performance Polyamide), Crastin PBT, Zytel 6, 6/6 and 6/12 Nylon (Polyamide), Rynite PET and Sorona EP PTT.

MRC

(prw) -- UPM Conveyors has worked with Intier Automotive to automate the product handling from a bank of seven large tonnage injection moulding machines at the automotive supplier's facility in Redditch.

The project offered a pay back time of only eight months against an investment of GBP 150,000 by improving efficiency and reducing labour.

Originally an operator was employed on each of the Krauss-Maffei machines to visually check and carry out secondary operations on the moulded parts. These would then be stacked in a stillage ready to be taken to the assembly area via a pallet truck or fork lift.

MRC

(Plastics News) -- Bill Farrant has been appointed president and CEO of Kautex Machines Inc., effective Sept. 1. Farrant was appointed by Bonn, Germany-based parent company Kautex Maschinenbau GmbH.

He was previously business development manager focused on supporting the North American market. Kautex makes blow molding machines for consumer and industrial packaging and for the automotive market.

MRC