Jacobs contract for Chemicals manufacturing plant and conversion projects in Saudi Arabia

(Jacobs) -- Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. announced that it signed a contract in Dec. 2010, with the Saudi Industrial Investment Group (SIIG) and Arabian Chevron Phillips Petrochemical Company Limited (ACP) to provide engineering, procurement and construction management services for a polyamide 6,6 manufacturing plant and a number of polymer conversion projects. The projects will be located in the Eastern Province industrial city of Al-Jubail in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Officials did not disclose the contract value, however noted that Jacobs' Houston, Texas and Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia offices are executing the project work, and anticipate providing career opportunities for Saudi nationals.

The polyamide 6,6 plant is expected to be built using state of the art technology licensed from a leading producer of polyamide 6,6. The polymer conversion projects are expected to include high-performance polyethylene pipe, irrigation products, medical disposables, complex caps and closures, pharmaceutical packaging products, polyamide 6,6 compounding, electrical fittings and automotive parts.

Jacobs is one of the world's largest and most diverse providers of technical, professional, and construction services.

MRC

(Plastics Today) -- SRG Global Inc. has broken ground on an injection molding, top coat, chrome-plating, and assembly plant in Irapuato, Mexico. The company estimates that the initial phase of the project will cost between $25 and $35 million, with the facility expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2012.

Tom Schneider, SRG's director of marketing, told PlasticsToday that at this point in time the facility's final size and machine count are to be determined, with the build-out expected to last one year. The company expects to install injection molding machines ranging from 250 to 3000 tons, but that also could be subject to change. Schneider said that SRG currently supplies "many" of the OEMs that are Mexico, shipping product from its sites in Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia, Tennessee, and Missouri.

SRG Global said in a release that construction of the Mexico facility is part of its business strategy to maintain local and regional production capabilities.

MRC

(Food Production Daily) -- An advanced polymer modifier that tackles a host of limitations linked with polylactic acid (PLA) could boost its take up in packaging, said DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers.

Latest trials by the US-based company have shown its Biomax Strong 120 delivers ⌠remarkable toughening effects in brittle PLA materials, cuts power consumption and increases thermal stability during extrusion, according to Dr Carol Casarino, packaging and consumer global technology manager.

The modifier can also have a dramatic effect in reducing crinkly film noise - which has so far restricted its acceptance in flexible packaging application such as snack bags, said DuPont.

The firm said recent testing had revealed the new benefits from this PLA modifier that ⌠could speed the growth of PLA polymers in packaging.

MRC

(Food Production Daily) -- Austrian bottle and preform producer Alpla said it has secured an important legal victory in its battle with Italian company Cobarr over a disputed PET patent. Alpla said that the German Patent Court had revoked Cobarr's European patent 0 964 031 with all claims directed to a polyester resin having average nylon domain sizes between 0.2 and less than 1 micron except for those requiring premixing with and/or the presence of a dianhydride. The decision only has jurisdiction in Germany.

Cobarr is a subsidiary of Milan-based M&G (Mossi & Ghisolfi) Group. A company spokesman confirmed the firm would be appealing the decision.

But Alpla signalled its determination to continue with the legal battle.

The Austrian company employs almost 11,000 employees at 128 plants in 37 countries. It manufacturers bottle, performs, caps and tubes, posting a turnover in 2009 of ┬2.145bn.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Despite increased volumes of PET production in 2010 in Russia, the market remains dependent on import supplies of the material which made 11.2 KT in January, according to MRC DataScope. By the end of 2010 the three Russian PET producers increased their production up to 312 KT. Among them 137 KT of PET was produced by POLIEF, 98,3 KT - by Plant of new polymers "SENEG", and 76,7 KT - by Sibur-PETF. Overall imports of primary PET exceeded 260 KT last year.

In January changes in the structure of supplies by countries were marked. The level of December imports was preserved by the companies from South Korea (KP Chemical, Tongkook, SK Chemical). PET purchases from the Chinese companies (Jiangsu Sanfangxiang, China Resources Chemicals, Sinopec, Shanghai Hengyi Polyester) reduced almost twice, and there were only few supplies from Lithuania.

Launch of new capacities in Kaliningrad region will soon reduce the dependence of the Russian market on imports. As we reported earlier, in the second half of February a new Alco-Nafta plant was launched on the basis of Mariyskiy oil refinery with total capacity of 220 KTa. While the enterprise is debugging its technological process, the loading of capacities makes only 60% or 140 KTa.

MRC