Odisha expedites establishment of plastic, polymer cluster

(plastemart) -- Odisha state government has put a proposed plastic, polymer and allied cluster in Baleswar on a first track basis. To be built with an investment of Rs 82 crore, it is targeted to be commissioned by end of December 2012, on the outskirts of Baleswar town involving three areas such as Ganeswarpur, Somnathpur and Balgopalpur with the initiatives of IDCO.

A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) has been formed with representatives from the Government of India, the Government of Odisha and the North Odisha Chamber of Commerce and Industries (NOCCI) to ground the project. The total budget of the project is estimated at Rs 82 crore, which will be shared by financial grants from the Central Government, the State Government, contribution from industries and term loan. The project has been planned with two main components such as an Integrated Logistic Hub and a Common Facility Hub.

The Integrated Logistic Hub will have a warehouse over 33,790 sq feet, truck parking with commercial area over 9,000 sq feet and railway sidings over one km. The Common Facility Hub will have facilities like a machine room over 14,000 sq feet, testing and a training centre over 9,500 sq feet, an exposition centre, a trade centre over 26, 900 sq feet, an auditorium with 6,450 sq feet, an executive hostel of 18,750 sq feet, a convention hall and a craft village over 13,450 sq feet.

The cluster will have external linkages for water supply from river Budhabalanga for which a budget estimate of Rs 14 crore has been made. Construction of a bypass road to the cluster has been taken up with budget estimate of Rs 5.43 crore, which is expected to be completed by June 2012.
MRC

(fox8livу) -- JM Eagle, the world's largest manufacturer of plastic pipe, is expanding production of solid-wall high-density polyethylene at two of its plants to meet demand in northern U.S. and Canadian markets.

Converting its Sunnyside, Wash., plant from PVC to PE production and boosting the number of PE lines at its Meadville, Pa., plant, the company aims to better serve the customers seeking products for water and sewer, as well as oil and gas gathering. The Sunnyside plant will also produce PE pipe for irrigation and both plants will produce products for power and communication application.

"JM Eagle looks forward to better serving customers in the water and gas markets in the northern part of the country, as well as in Canada," said Dan O'Connor, JM Eagle vice president of PE sales. "This expansion gives JM Eagle a stronger footprint in PE production and distribution nationwide."

Production on PE water pipe up to 36 inches in diameter and gas pipe is expected to begin mid- July at both plants, and all lines will be complete by September. The company also plans to manufacture up to 63-inch-diameter water pipe in the future, and is developing PE water pipe in even larger diameters.

The Sunnyside plant previously manufactured only PVC products. The Meadville plant has been producing the corrugated PE product Eagle Corr PE since 2009. JM Eagle had primarily focused its PE manufacturing at its plants in the southern United States.
MRC

(plastemart) -- A new catalyst for the polypropylene production process, ultimately producing the strongest version of the plastic that has been created to date, has been developed by Prof. Kol and his team of researchers.

"Everyone is using the same building blocks, so the key is to use different machinery," he explains. With their catalyst, the researchers have produced the most accurate or "regular" polypropylene ever made, reaching the highest melting point to date. Moshe Kol, professor of chemistry at the Tel Aviv University (TAU) says that this could have a long-term impact on many industries.

Prof. Kol believes that the answer could lie in the catalysts, the chemicals that enable their production. Plastics consist of very long chains called polymers, made of simple building blocks assembled in a repeating pattern. Polymerization catalysts are responsible for connecting these building blocks and create a polymer chain.

The better the catalyst, the more orderly and well-defined the chain. This leads to a plastic with a higher melting point and greater strength and durability. This is why the catalyst is a crucial part of the plastic production process.
"Everyone is using the same building blocks, so the key is to use different machinery," he explains. With their catalyst, the researchers have produced the most accurate or "regular" polypropylene ever made, reaching the highest melting point to date.

MRC

(plastemart) -- Petrokemya, a subsidiary of Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic), has signed a letter of intent with Tecnicas Reunidas of Spain for engineering and building of a new new acryilonitrile butadiene styrene plant in Saudi Arabia.

To be built at an investment outlay of USD561 mln, the ABS plant will be located Al-Jubail industrial city.

The project is expected to be completed in the Q4-2014, with annual capacity of 140,000 tpa.

MRC

(upstreamonline) -- Brazilian giant Petrobras has claimed a spot on an annual ranking of the world's 100 most reputable companies, making it the only oil and gas company to crack the list.
The list, published by New York-based consulting firm Reputation Institute, assess the reputations of hundreds of the world's largest businesses through surveys of 47,000 people across 15 countries.

Petrobras said it snuck in at number 98, marking the company's second straight year on the list. It is the only energy company and the only Latin American company in the top 100.

"In today’s reputation economy, what you stand for matters more than what you produce and sell," Reputation Institute’s executive partner Kasper Nielsen said in a statement. "People’s willingness to buy, recommend, work for and invest in a company is driven 60% by their perceptions of the company and only 40% by their perceptions of their products."

BMW supplanted Google as the number-one most-respected company, followed by Sony and Walt Disney Company. Google fell to sixth place.

The survey, taken in April, gauges how companies are perceived based on their products and services, innovation, workplace, governance, citizenship, leadership, and financial performance.

MRC