Polymer Demand in India has been soaring

(SpecialChem) -- An insatiable manufacturing industry, a surging economy, and supportive government policies have already made India a polymers superpower.

India is currently the world's third largest consumer of polymers, behind China and the US, with a share of 5.7% of the 2011 global total - an increase from its 2000 portion size of 3.5%.

Growth in the polymers industry really kicked off in India after the country's economic liberalization in 1991. The resulting deregulation and privatization sparked a boom in end-use sectors such as packaging, construction and automotive that has seen per capita consumption increase from 1kg in 1980 to 7.4kg in 2010. Production levels are soaring in order to keep up with India's ravenous demand.

In 2011, the manufacture of polymer products was 7.377 Million Metric ton per annum (MMtpa), and this will surge at a CAGR of 9.4% to reach 11.575 MMtpa by just 2016.

Polymer demand in India is even outstripping the country's strong GDP growth; in the period 2000 to 2011, India's GDP climbed at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7.6%, whereas polymer consumption across all areas grew at a CAGR of 9.1%.

India's government has played a key role in boosting the significance of polymers, in terms of both consumer demand and in the production industry. The government has delineated Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Regions (PCPIRs) where production facilities can blossom. Four of these PCPIRs have been approved so far and two more are in the pipeline. The government also approved 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) which allows foreign firms to have 100% ownership of food processing companies, which will in turn create a higher demand for plastic packaging materials.
MRC

(Polymersolutions) -- Scientists at Georgia Institute of Technology have invented a way to generate tiny amounts of electricity when two different kinds of plastic materials rub against one another. This may offer a new way to produce active sensors to replace technology now used for touch-sensitive device displays.

The flexible polymer materials create a triboelectric generator, which could supplement powerproduced by nanogenerators that use the piezoelectric effect to create current from flexing zinc oxide nanowires.

“The fact that an electric charge can be produced through this principle is well known,” says Zhong Lin Wang, a Regents professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “What we have introduced is a gap separation technique that produces a voltage drop, which leads to a current flow, allowing the charge to be used. This generator can convert random mechanical energy from our environment into electric energy.”

To create the generator, Wang’s team placed a sheet of polyester against a sheet made of polydimethysiloxane (PDMS). The polyester donates electrons and the PDMS accepts them. Immediately after the two materials rub together, they are separated, creating an air gap that isolates the charge on the PDMS surface that can be harnessed in a circuit. Repeating the rubbing and separation creates an alternative current.

The technique can be used to create very sensitive pressure sensors (as low as 13 millipascals) for potential use with organic electronic or opto-electronic systems.

The devices can be made approximately 75 percent transparent, allowing them to be used with touch screens to replace existing sensors.

"Transparent generators can be fabricated on virtually any surface," Wang says. "This technique could be used to create very sensitive transparent sensors that would not require power from a device’s battery."
MRC

(PlasticsEngineering) -- American Kuhne has announced an exciting new extruder technology. The Backdraft extruder is designed with a reverse air cooling system, which is ideal for blown film processing as well as benefitting other plastic processing applications.

The Backdraft extruder design removes heat and air currents from the extrusion area for optimum bubble stability, while simultaneously improving energy efficiency. Individual dampers for each zone provide superior process control and operational simplicity. When the dampers are closed, they prevent the "chimney effect" present in most air-cooled machines that allows energy losses through convection cooling. The dampers are connected to a common air plenum integrated into the machine base, which is in turn connected to a single exhaust fan, either connected to the base or remote mounted.

The single central exhaust blower removes the need for more traditional individual blowers on each zone. When a damper opens, air is drawn down through the heater's cooling fins and through the exhaust system. This reverse cooling arrangement eliminates the need for exhaust hoods, and eliminates any potentially damaging air currents near the bubble area.

American Kuhne, Inc. is a leading worldwide supplier of standard and customized single screw extruders, feed screws, extrusion systems and specialized turnkey systems for medical applications. They are designed and built in Ashaway, RI. Turnkey pipe, tubing and profile systems are also developed, tested and manufactured within their plant. In addition, the company maintains two medical tubing lab lines capable of multi-lumen and taper tube extrusions available for customer trials in their facility in Ashaway RI and their European facility at Kuhne GmbH in St. Augustin Germany.
MRC

(yarnsandfibers) -- Ivanovo region Governor Mikhail Men delivered a report on the support of textiles under Russia's accession to the WTO. The governor presented his report on July 16th, at the meeting of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy in Moscow.

Mikhail Men stressed out that the industries working for domestic demand may find themsevles in the least favorable situation during Russia's accession to the WTO. The regions, where these industries are concentrated, may therefore face serious problems. As for the Ivanovo region, it goes about the textile industry. "Textile companies will come across aggressive price competition with imported goods. If we do not take measures to support domestic producers, the Russian market of light industry goods may fall sharply," said the Governor.

The head of the region emphasized the importance to support the basic, large textile corporations. "In the region, there are, in fact, holding companies, which forms the textile industrial cluster around themselves. These companies may become the points of growth, which will make our textile industry develop into a highly competitive innovative industry," said Mikhail Men. He also spoke about the project to build a synthetic fiber factory in the region.

As for additional measures of support, the Governor proposed the provision of state guarantees for the implementation of complex innovative projects in textiles, as well as a moratorium on cutting the budgets for the companies of the light industry. The budgets are used to compensate a part of the companies' spending on raw materials and equipment. Mikhail Men supported the maximum participation of Russian companies in the implementation of the state order, especially in the defense sector. The head of the region mentioned the provision of subsidies from the federal budget to the organizations of textile and light industry for 2013-2017 to reimburse the costs on heat and energy resources.

At the end of his speech Mikhail Men said that the key players of the textile market do not see any considerable minuses in Russia's WTO membership. "Russia has never had a tangible competitive advantage for the development of the textile industry. Raw materials, equipment and yarn - we buy all that for the same price as our foreign competitors do. If support measures are determined, if this issue is solved, then we have every reason to hope that the Russian textiles will exist," said the Governor.
MRC

(yarnsandfibers) -- The textile industry should recover from the demand slump witnessed last financial year to post a 6% growth in yarn production and 5.7% growth in fabric production in 2012-13, says the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). The steep rise in prices hit production of both yarn and cloth in 2011-12 and yarn production fell 5.1%. The expectation this time round is that better domestic demand and addition of fresh capacity will boost growth.

Cotton yarn, which saw an 8% fall last fiscal, should revive and post 8.5% growth in output this year. Synthetic yarn will grow by a more modest 3% says CMIE. In April, synthetic yarn production fell sharply by 7.6% pulling down overall yarn production with it. As a result, April 2012 saw yarn production down 3.2% although cotton yarn output remained flat at 0.4% growth.

As for fabrics, it showed fabulous growth in April. Fabric production was up 18.5% though some of that growth is attributable to the low base effect - last April saw fabric production down 13.5%. Synthetic fabric production grew fastest in April at a 24% clip while cotton fabric production grew at 12%. According to CMIE, a likely 12% drop in cotton prices should revive the fortunes of the fabric industry and fabric production should grow by 5.7% thanks to a pick-up in domestic demand and addition of new capacity. Synthetic fabric and cotton fabric will clock 5.4 and 4% growth respectively, says CMIE.
MRC