Teijin's first high-performance PE facility to commence production in Netherlands

(Plastemart) -- Teijin Limited's first high-performance polyethylene (HP-PE) unit is to commence commercial production in Emmen, the Netherlands, by H2-2011. Teijin plans to grow its HP-PE business quickly through innovation and market cultivation, targeting a global market share of 15-20% by 2015.

HP-PE, which generally comes in the form of fibers or tapes, is produced with ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene polymers. Being highly resistant to impact, cutting, wear and chemicals while offering outstanding toughness and strength, HP-PE has a wide range of applications, including reinforced plastics, protective materials, ropes, nets and medical materials.

Currently, Teijin produces limited amounts of HP-PE at pilot plants in the Netherlands and Japan. With the successful establishment of viable mass-production technologies and new production processes, as well as the required product quality on a mass-production basis, Teijin has decided to move forward with its commercial production of HP-PE.

MRC

(Plastics Today) -- Leading British injection molder Thumbs Up Ltd. (Bury) has launched a new line of food and domestic storage containers using colored polypropylene (PP) random copolymer compounds that provide unparalleled clarity.

The compounds contain Milliken's (Spartanburg, SC) Millad NX8000 clarifying agent in combination with the company's ClearTint polymeric dyes. Containers range from 0.6 to 150 liters are now being molded for a major retailer in a variety of colors.

"The tuneable property of Millad NX8000 in polypropylene random copolymer enables a wide spectrum of solutions ranging from what we term Enhanced Quality, or EQ, through to Ultimate Clarity or UC," says Sami T.K Palanisami, Milliken's market manager for plastic additives for Europe and the Middle East.

Thumbs Up produces several ranges of storage containers as well as other housewares and garden items.

MRC

(Plastics Net) -- Borouge, a leading provider of innovative and value creating plastics solutions, is breaking new ground in the infrastructure markets of the Middle East. Pipe manufactures, industrial design consultants and investors in new plants in the Middle East can now specify increasingly larger diameter polyolefins (PO) pipes for their industrial projects.

The excellent chemical resistance and mechanical properties of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) pipes make them ideal for a wide range of applications including cooling water transportation, sea water intakes and outfalls and effluent disposal.

Borouge has tripled the production capacity of its plant to 2 million tonnes of PO per year and is currently expanding its manufacturing capacity to 4.5 million tonnes per year by the end of 2013, creating the world largest integrated polyolefins plant.

With the introduction of PP manufacturing capacity in its plant this year, Borouge is exploring enhanced solutions for the production of even larger diameter pipes.

Borouge is a leading provider of innovative, value creating plastics solutions. A joint venture between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), one of the world's major oil and gas companies, and Austria based Borealis, a leading provider of chemical and innovative plastics solutions, Borouge is a groundbreaking international partnership at the forefront of the next generation of plastics innovation.

MRC

(Yahoo News) -- Thailand's Indorama Ventures, the integrated polyester chain producer, expects to spend $1.2 billion next year to build PET and PTA plants in the Middle East and India, Chief Executive Aloke Lohia told reporters.

Construction of the two plants expects to be completed in 2014. The two plants will have annual capacity to produce 500,000 tonnes of polyethylene terephthalate and 1 million tonnes of purified terepthalic acid plastic.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Japan's Mitsui Chemicals Inc plans to shut one of its two naphtha crackers in 2011 for minor maintenance. The 553,000 tpa ethylene cracker at Ichihara (Chiba) will be shut, while the 455,000 tpa Osaka cracker will not be affected.

Exxon Mobil's Japan unit, Tonen Chemical Corp, plans to skip scheduled maintenance at its 491,000 tpa naphtha cracker at Kawasaki in 2011. The next round of maintenance is likely to be in 2014.

JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp, plans to skip scheduled maintenance at its sole naphtha cracker at its Kawasaki plant in 2011.

MRC