Northern Technologies International Corporation to distribute bioplastic materials in Italy

(GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northern Technologies International Corporation, a manufacturer of sustainable biobased and certified compostable bioplastic materials, announced that it has entered into an agreement with Italy based Naturfuels S.r.l. to distribute its Natur-Tec(R) bioplastic materials and products in the Italian market.


Since January 1, 2011, the Italian government has been enforcing a ban on the production and distribution of conventional non-biodegradable polyethylene plastic bags. Italian consumers use about 300 plastic bags per capita annually, totaling to more than 20 billion plastic bags consumed every year. According to environmental lobbyist Legambiente, this number of bags represents approximately one-fifth of Europe's entire usage, and requires about 200 KT of polyethylene plastic resin to produce each year.


Under the terms of the distribution agreement, NTIC will supply Naturfuels with its patented high-strength Natur-Tec(R) BF703BX compostable film grade resin to be used for the production of bio-plastic shopping and garbage bags on conventional plastic film production equipment. BF703BX resin based film has been previously certified to be fully compostable in strict accordance to the European standard of EN13432 for compostable plastics by AIB-Vincotte, a respected Belgian 3rd-party certification provider.


MRC

Portola Packaging acquired Integra-Seal Industries

(Naperville Sun) -- Portola Packaging Inc. of Naperville on Wednesday announced a pending acquisition of Integra-Seal Industries LLC of Kingsport, Tenn., for an undisclosed amount. The sale is expected to close by the end of March.


Founded in 1999, Integra-Seal is a manufacturer of low-density polyethylene tamper-evident closures for dairy, juice and bottled water packaging applications. The company is primarily known for its 38mm Integra-Lock snap-on tamper-evident closure. The company also recently commercialized its tamper-evident Dyna-Seal 38mm plastic snap-screw closure.


Portola is a leading manufacturer of stock and custom tamper-evident plastic closures and containers for dairy, juice and other food segments.


MRC

US ethanol flows to Brazil

(ICIS) -- Brazil will receive around 200m litres (53m gal) of anhydrous ethanol, mostly from the US, over the next few weeks, market sources said on Wednesday, adding that the cargoes will help the country avoid a potential supply shortage. Market sources said half of the shipments were headed to Brazil's centre-south region, which accounts for around 90% of the country's ethanol production. The other half would go the northeast region, which produces the remaining 10%.


Brazilian ethanol prices soared to record highs in March, lifted by tight supply and unexpected strong demand, particularly for hydrous ethanol. Hydrous ethanol prices were assessed on Wednesday at USD 4.45/gal, up by 35% in the last four weeks.


Brazil uses hydrous ethanol in flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs), which can run on gasoline or stand-alone ethanol.


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Japan's Mitsubishi Chemical Corp take at least two months to resume operations

(Reuters) - Japan's Mitsubishi Chemical Corp said it would take at least two months to resume operations at two naphtha crackers in eastern Japan after a massive earthquake damaged some infrastructure and equipment at the fim's Kashima plant.


All operations at the Kashima facility have ceased, the company, a unit of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, said in a statement on Wednesday.


The company's naphtha crackers in Japan ethylene production capacity is 1 KTa.


MRC

Honam Petrochemical to establish a manufacturing facility for polypropylene resin materials in Auburn

(Plastemart) -- Honam Petrochemical Corporation is to establish a manufacturing facility for polypropylene resin materials in Auburn, its first US manufacturing operation. HPM Alabama Corporation will initially invest an estimated USD 9.25 million dollars and create 30 jobs by next year. HPM will also collaborate with Auburn University for R&D projects.


Honam is part of the Lotte Group. With annual revenue of approximately USD 50 bln and 35.000 employees, the Lotte Group is the 5th largest conglomerate in Korea.


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