Octal completes second phase expansion at Salalah

(Plastemart) -- Oman's Octal Petrochemicals has completed the second phase of its polyethylene terephthalate (PET) expansion project in Salalah, as per Times Of Oman.

Phase 2 was completed within budget and on time, and the ramp-up process will allow the PET complex to achieve full capacity of 927,000 tpa in August. The project was designed to add a further 527,000 tpa of PET bottle-grade resins in addition to the site's existing capacity of 400,000 tpa.

The company's annual exports reached RO215 million (USD559 mln) in 2012 and the completion of the second phase of expansion will put Octal well on the way to achieving RO511 million (USD1.3 bln) in annual sales by year ending March 31, 2013. This will be achieved by increasing capacity and converting new packaging applications to DPET sheet including the packaging of dates, yogurt, meat and cheese.

Octal now accounts for 10% of Oman's non-oil exports, which equates to and about 2% of Oman's gross domestic product (GDP).

"Octal is now building its brand on a truly global scale”, said Chairman Sheikh Saad Suhail Bahwan. With 85% of all increases in sales in 2012 coming from new products, Octal's innovation makes it well placed to drive broader adoption of PET. Focusing on new resins with enhanced performance will allow the company to expand its market reach.
MRC

(Plastemart) -- Reliance has announced the following price revision with effect from July 1, 2012

PP DOM prices have been revised upward by Rs. 2000/MT for Homo-polymer grades, PP Co-polymer grades have been rolled over.

PP DE prices have been revised as per policy. All PE prices have seen a roll over.
MRC

(CanadianPlastics) -- As part of a North American reorganization due to competitive pressures and volatile costs, polyolefin film manufacturer Intertape Polymer Group Inc. will shift work currently done at its plant in Truro, N.S., to a factory in Utah.

The Truro plant will continue to make some products for the Montreal-based company, which manufactures plastic wrapping and tapes for packaging.

"Considering competitive pressures, market conditions and the volatility of input costs, we are continuously reviewing and analyzing all aspects of our operations," president and CEO Greg Yull said in a news release. "The process will be seamless to customers and we do not anticipate any significant impact on our revenues."

The shrink film business in Truro will be transferred to Tremonton, Utah, which will create one facility in North America for this business, the news release said. The shift is expected to be completed in late 2012 and early 2013. Also, a plant in Kentucky will be closed and its production will be shifted to Illinois.

Intertape operates from a total of 19 locations and employs approximately 1,800 people, mostly in North America. It also has one manufacturing plant in Europe and 12 in North America. The company makes a variety of paper and film based pressure-sensitive and water-activated tapes, specialized polyolefin films, woven fabrics and complementary packaging systems for industrial use and retail applications.
MRC

(PackagingDigest) -- Thanks to a $63,000 grant from SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association, Montgomery County (Md.) Executive Ike Leggett announced today that beginning immediately residents of single-family homes receiving County recycling pick-ups can now add PET thermoform plastics to their recycling bins. The announcement was made at the County's Shady Grove Processing Facility & Transfer Station in Derwood, Maryland.

SPI was represented at the event by Patty Long, director of industry affairs and a life-long resident of Montgomery County. "We are thrilled that Montgomery County has been selected as the primary grant recipient in our effort to establish model programs for the collection and intermediate processing of PET thermoformed packaging," said Long.

"With the help of this grant program, we can move forward with making the recycling of PET thermoforms commonplace - keeping them out of landfills and reusing a valuable resource."

PET thermoform plastic containers, labeled with the number 1 resin code, include clamshells, cups, trays, boxes and lids often used to package fresh fruits and vegetables, bakery items, prepared foods and salads, and deli items.

In May, Leggett announced the establishment of a new, higher recycling goal for Montgomery County - to go from the current 57 percent up to 70 percent of the waste stream being recycled by the end of 2020.

PET thermoform packaging "is becoming more widely used and is increasingly present in the waste stream. Forecasts indicate that the amount of PET thermoforms used will increase even more over time," said Dan Locke, chief of Montgomery County's Division of Solid Waste Services. "We're pleased to be able to provide our residents with the opportunity to recycle all of this material."
MRC

(PlasticsToday) -- There's a growing focus on extractables in healthcare supplies and equipment as concerns grow about endocrine disruption and other health issues, particularly for infants, which could result from chemicals leaching from plastic. There's a growing list of materials that appear to be winners and losers, and in between a group of materials that want to make sure they emerge on the right side of the ledger. Tubing is shipped with test results showing purity levels.

Materials with issues (perceived if not real) include polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Materials that are emerging as winners, even though more costly, include cyclic olefin copolymers that are made in high-purity reactors and then filtered to remove any potential catalyst residues.

The materials on the move are elastomers, usually based on polypropylene or some other olefin compound. Silicones are also anxious to prove their purity bona fides.

One example of how companies are stepping up to the challenge is a new testing regimen announced by AdvantaPure (Southampton, PA), a division of NewAge Industries that specializes in high purity tubing, hose, single use systems, manifolds, and other molded components for the pharmaceutical, biomedical, food, beverage, and cosmetic industries.

AdvantaFlex is a class of thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) based on SEBS (styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene) block copolymer block. Use of SEBS as an additive modifier in medical tubing is growing because it boosts flexibility and softness of the compound.
MRC