Sidel developed a new PET bottle base for still drinks

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Beverage packaging equipment supplier Sidel (Le Havre/France) has developed a PET bottle base for still drinks, which is says is stronger, lighter and cheaper to produce, said Plasteurope.

The 'StarLite' base, which is particularly suited to water and juices, uses two proprietary PET designs: the 'Edge Beam', a groove structure that improves stiffness, and the 'Smart Disc' that reinforces the base to prevent deformation.

Sidel says the base can be retrofitted into existing bottle designs and shapes and into production lines using its 'StarLite' mould bases. All of Sidel’s blowing platforms and output speeds can use the new design, including its 'Matrix' system for liquid packaging, and regular, ultra clean, and aseptic filling solutions.

Tests carried out by Sidel’s packaging experts demonstrated a 30% increase in top-load dent resistance on pallets and up to a 55% enhancement in side-load resistance. The bottle also lasted up to 25 days without deformation in temperatures of 50°, and saw up to a 50% drop in base rollout under frozen conditions. Increased lightweighting possibilities, aided by the base’s compatibility with nitrogen drop technology, and lower blowing pressure also led to significant cost savings.

Vincent Le Guen, Sidel’s vice president for packaging & tooling, notes: “The new base enables you to both reduce package weight and blowing pressure, and actually increase base resistance to deformation."

As MRC wrote before, Olympos Dairy turned to Sidel to design and install a new bottling line at its facility in Brasov. The installation of the Ultra Clean production line has enabled the company to create a niche within the Romanian food market: Extended Shelf Life milk. The product has a 45-day shelf life; a 50% improvement on the existing product.

Sidel is a manufacturing company providing packaging for liquids such as water; carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks; and sensitive beverages like milk, liquid dairy products, juices, nectars, tea, coffee and isotonics; as well as edible oil, beer and other alcoholic beverages. Sidel manufacturers and services equipment that enables other companies to package such liquids using one of three main materials: plastic (especially PET, and also HDPE and PP).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Belgian chemical and plastics maker Solvay SA (SOLB.BT) Wednesday flagged a poor business outlook after recording a 38% fall in second-quarter net profit, said The Wall Street Journal.

"Solvay continued to face challenging trading conditions during the second quarter," the company said in a statement. "While we see some weak signs of improvement, this has yet to be confirmed in our order book," it said.

The company also appointed Karim Hajjar as chief financial officer. Outgoing CFO, Bernard de Laguiche, is stepping down for personal interests and will stay on as a non-executive board member, Solvay said.

Second-quarter net profit fell to EUR148 million (USD196 million) from EUR239 million a year earlier. Temporary destocking and customers delaying investment decisions had weighed on several businesses, the company said.

Solvay said it is confident in generating a Rebitda--recurring earnings before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization--in 2013 that's comparable to last year.

Rebitda was EUR2.07 billion in 2012. It was EUR487 million in the second quarter, down 14% against an especially strong figure in the comparable period last year.

Meanwhile, the company said it expected to close its joint venture with Ineos by the end of this year, pending anti-trust clearance.

Solvay S.A. is a Belgian chemical company founded in 1863, with its head office in Neder-Over-Heembeek, Brussels, Belgium. Solvay Chemicals is a world leading producer of essential chemicals including soda ash, caustic soda, hydrogen peroxide and special chemicals such as fluorinated products, ultra-fine fillers, high purity barium and strontium.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's Xinjiang Tianye Group is in plans to start a new monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is planned to be started in August 2014.

To be located in XInjiang province, China, the plant will have a production capacity of 250,000 mt/year.

We remind that, as MRC reported earlier, Xinjiang Tianye Group Co started up a new 400,000 tonne/year carbide-based polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant in China's northwestern Xinjiang province in 2010 and achieved on-spec production on 6 October. With the start-up of the new plant, Xinjiang Tianye’s PVC production capacity has increased from 700,000 tonnes/year to 1.1m tonnes/year, making it the largest PVC producer in China.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Styron (Hong Kong) Limited and its affiliate companies in Asia Pacific has announce price increases for all polystyrene grades, reported the company in its press release.

Effective immediately, or as existing contract terms allow, the prices for the products listed below will increase as follows:

- STYRON general purpose polystyrene grades (GPPS) by USD40 per tonne;
- STYRON and STYRON A-TECH high-impact polystyrene grades (HIPS) by USD30 per tonne.

"The price increase responds to the rising costs associated with the manufacturing of polystyrene grades in Asia Pacific." said Samer Al Jabi, Global Product Manager for Polystyrene.

As MRC informed previously, Styron Europe GmbH and Ravago S.A. have recently announced that they have signed a definitive agreement under which Styron's Expandable Polystyrene (EPS) business will be sold to RP Compounds, a subsidiary of Ravago S.A., for an undisclosed sum. The sale includes the EPS manufacturing facility in Schkopau, Germany, as well as related intellectual property and the SCONAPOR brand. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and completion of customary conditions.

Styron is a leading global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Styron"s technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Styron had approximately USD 5.5 billion in revenue in 2012, with 20 manufacturing sites around the world.
MRC