MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (Tokyo) announced that it has launched a joint research project in pursuit of innovative technology to promote the recycling of plastic waste, working here with Professor TAKAHASHI Tsutomu, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, National University Corporation, said Chemweek.
Plastic waste often includes varying states of the material, meaning that when heat is applied for material recycling, the melted plastic is uneven in terms of fluidity. This in turn results in the regenerated plastic itself being unable to maintain a consistent level of fluidity or quality, limiting its range of possible applications. But with this new joint development project, Mitsui Chemicals aims over the course of the next three years to develop technology that will facilitate in-line measurement and control for the melted plastic's fluidity, which will in turn help to stabilize the quality of the regenerated plastic.
Having established the Corporate Sustainability Division in April 2018, Mitsui Chemicals has been proactive in incorporating corporate sustainability factors into its management and strategies. In this manner, Mitsui Chemicals is working to reform its business models in ways that will help to realize a cohesive society in harmony with the environment, as well as health and well-being in an aging society.
Further, in March 2019, Mitsui Chemicals opened the Design & Solution Center in Niigata Prefecture. By accessing the product development capabilities of domestic affiliate Kyowa Industrial Co., Ltd. - a manufacturer of injection molds - and using these to offer solutions, the aim here is to continually create social value.
Nagaoka University of Technology, meanwhile, was designated in 2018 as the world's Academic Impact hub for Goal 9 - Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure - of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Hub universities are tasked with leading the way in SDG-related initiatives, with only one university around the world being selected for each goal. An early mover for bringing about a more sustainable world, Nagaoka University of Technology is highly regarded by the UN as a model university for its innovative SDG-related efforts, and is the only East Asian university to be selected as a hub for any of the goals.
As MRC informed before, the company last conducted a turnaround at this cracker from mid-June, 2018, to 11-22 August, 2018.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.
Mitsui Chemicals is a leading manufacturer and supplier of value added specialty chemicals, plastics and materials for the automotive, healthcare, packaging, agricultural, building, and semiconductor and electronics markets. Mitsui Chemicals is a Japanese Chemicals company, a part of the Mitsui conglomerate. The company has a turnover of around 15 billion USD and has business interests in Japan, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the USA. The company mainly deals in performance materials, petro and basic chemicals and functional polymeric materials.
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