CKT to invest $20 million in new Brownsville, TX injection molding plant

(Plastics Today) -- Cascade Engineering's (Grand Rapids, MI) CK Technologies LLC (CKT) unit will invest $20 million in a new manufacturing facility in Brownsville, TX that will offer large-part injection molding for interior, exterior, and functional under-the-hood assemblies. A CKT spokesperson told PlasticsToday that the new plant, which is expected to create 121 jobs in 2011, will occupy a 1-million-ft2 former Titan Tire building and begin operations in the second quarter.

In addition to assembly equipment for secondary operations and chrome electroplating and painting in later phases, the operation will begin work with eight large-tonnage injection molding machines, ranging in clamp force from 2200-4400 tons, with an even larger press a possibility down the line.

MRC

(Plastics News) -- Arkema Group has announced plans to add capacity to its soon-to-open Kynar PVDF fluorinated polymer production plant in Changshu, China. The company announced on 6 January that it will increase production of the plant by 50% by mid-2012. The Colombes-based firm did not provide details about the plant's current or planned capacity.

The company said the additional capacity is needed to meet demand from customers that make electrodes for lithium ion batteries, backsheet for photovoltaic panels, and water filtration products.

Arkema had first announced plans to build the Kynar plant at its Changshu site in 2007, with the plant scheduled to come on stream in March 2011. Arkema also has Kynar plants in the France and the US.

MRC

(Plastics Today) -- DAK Americas LLC (Charlotte, NC) is expecting to close on its acquisition of Eastman Chemical Co.'s (Kingsport, TN) polyethylene terephthalate (PET) business by the end of this month, after completing the antitrust waiting period. DAK's purchase of Eastman's integrated PET and terephthalic acid (PTA) business, which was announced last October, includes three production facilities in Columbia, SC, covering two PET resin units and one PTA unit.

The transaction also includes intellectual property around Eastman's IntegRex PET and PTA technologies. The combined annual capacity of the PET production units is 675,000 tons, while the PTA unit's annual production capacity is 600,000 tons.

MRC

(Plastics Today) -- United Arab Emirates-based Union Pipes Industry (Abu Dhabi) has purchased equipment from Bauku (Wiehl, Germany) for the manufacture of 3m-diameter polypropylene spiral wound pipes for the Ruwais Refinery Expansion-2 Project of the Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (Takreer). The pipes are to be installed for sea water intake and outfall application at Ruwais.

This will be the first pipeline of its kind to be produced in the region. It will utilize high-stiffness PP High Modulus (HM) pipe grades such as BorECOBA212E from Borouge (Singapore), which are now produced locally at the company's new Ruwais PP production asset.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Perstorp has restarted its toluene di-isocyanate (TDI) and chlor-alkali units at Pont-de-Claix, France, and is running them at full rates, but the declarations of force majeure for both products remain in place, a company source said on Tuesday.

The source stressed that the facility's stocks remained low, particularly for chlor-alkali products (liquid chlorine, salt and caustic soda). The company would not lift the declarations of force majeure until inventories are back to normal, the source added.

According to Perstorp, the site's nameplate chlorine capacity is 170,000 tonnes/year and the TDI capacity is 126,000 tonnes/year.

MRC