NOVA Chemicals commercializes new high-performance film resin

MOSCOW (MRC) -- NOVA Chemicals has announced the commercialization of SURPASS HPs667-AB polyethylene resin, reflecting the company’s commitment to deliver greater value to its customers through the development of high-performance products, as per the company's press release.

This new resin is a result of the customer-centric research and development work at the company’s Centre for Applied Research and Centre for Performance Applications in Calgary.

HPs667-AB resin, an extension of NOVA Chemicals’ HPs167-AB high barrier blown film resin, is a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) designed for cast film, extrusion coating, extrusion lamination and some barrier molding applications. Its innovative molecular architecture enables up to 50% moisture and oxygen barrier improvement over conventional technology.

In addition, the resin features superior stiffness and can facilitate layer or lamination reductions. These physical properties enable converters and brand owners to improve the sustainability and shelf life of packaged goods in a wide range of applications, such as dry foods, snacks, liquid packaging and dairy.

"HPs667-AB resin and its revolutionary predecessor, HPs167-AB resin, deliver performance unlike anything else in the polyethylene market to date," said Carrie Richards, director of marketing, NOVA Chemicals Polyethylene Business. "The continued commercialization of innovative resins like this will enable our customers to tailor solutions and achieve a broad range of processing needs."

As MRC wrote before, in early 2013 NOVA Chemicals decided build two polyethylene (PE) plants and expand its ethylene capacity. NOVA has taken several actions to secure additional ethane feedstock supply for its crackers in Corunna, Ontario, and Joffre, Alberta.

Nova Chemical is one of the largest world's petrochemical companies, a manufacturer of polyethylene, styrene polymers, monomers, and many other related products.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Carbon Company and the chemical company BASF have concluded the joint research of a new composite material system as an important development step of their collaboration, as per BASF's press release.

The system aims at enhancing the cost-effectiveness of manufacturing thermoplastic carbon-fiber composites, for example in injection procedures (T-RTM: thermoplastic resin transfer molding) and reaction injection molding. The composite is based on a reactive polyamide system and compatible carbon fibers. A carbon-fiber surface-or sizing-specially designed for the matrix system as well as tailored thermoplastic reactive systems mean that lightweight structural components for, say, the automotive industry can now be manufactured quickly and easily.

This collaboration between SGL Group and BASF was launched back in October 2012. On the basis of the now-complete material research, the transfer of the special systems made from carbon fibers and matrices into specific applications of customers in the automotive industry is now under way.

As part of this collaborative project, SGL Group developed a new sizing formulation for the carbon fibers. In addition, special processes for manufacturing carbon-fiber-based textiles such as fabrics and braidings were also developed. To produce Non-Crimp-Fabrics (NCF), special threads are used that enable processing in the reactive polyamide system.

BASF's role in this project was to process SGL Group's newly developed carbon fibers using the T-RTM technique and to characterize them comprehensively both chemically and mechanically. The BASF research team is continuing to work intensively on the development of caprolactam-based thermoplastic reactive systems.

Thermoplastics-based carbon-fiber composites combine the properties of carbon fibers such as high rigidity and low weight with the familiar processing advantages of thermoplastics, allowing them to be formed, recycled and welded. This helps make carbon fiber technology an even more viable proposition for large-scale production in a number of different applications.

As MRC wrote before, in October 2014, BASF and Archroma agreed on the sale of BASF’s global textile chemicals business to Archroma, a supplier of specialty chemicals to the textile, paper and emulsions industries.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF had sales of over EUR74 billion in 2014 and around 113,000 employees as of the end of the year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Johns Manville (JM) has announced plans to significantly expand capacity at its Scottsboro, Ala., TPO manufacturing facility, said the producer in its press release.

JM will complete construction at the Scottsboro plant next month, increasing overall TPO production capacity by 20%. JM is a global building and specialty products manufacturer and Berkshire Hathaway company, a leader in the commercial roofing market for decades, offering a full line of products including built-up, modified asphalt, polyiso and single ply systems.

In October 2008, JM’s commitment to single ply manufacturing was solidified with the opening of its first state-of-the-art Thermoplastic Polyolefin (TPO) facility in Scottsboro, Ala. JM furthered its investment in single ply in 2012 with the opening of its Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM) manufacturing plant in Milan, Ohio. JM’s best-in-class TPO formulation has remained unchanged since launch and has proven to be durable under real-world conditions of heat and ultra-violet (UV) exposure. It is preferred by top contractors due to its reputation in the market for better weldability, flexibility and overall performance.

Johns Manville, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is a leading manufacturer and marketer of premium-quality building and specialty products. In business since 1858, the Denver-based company has annual sales of approximately $2.6 billion and holds leadership positions in all of the key markets that it serves. Johns Manville employs approximately 7,000 people and operates 44 manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe and China.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hungarian building materials manufacturer Masterplast has seen its earnings fall in 2014 after the worsening Ukraine crisis forced it to write off investment plans for a new expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation plant in the country, said Globalinsulation.

Masterplast has reported that its annual net income dropped by 38% year-on-year to Euro749,000 in 2014. Without the enforced Ukraine write-off, the company had expected its post-tax profit to reach Euro1.6m. Masterplast, which has a growing string of plants in eastern Europe, has reported that its 2014 revenue was flat at Euro81.6m, while its annual operating profit fell by 1% year-on-year to Euro2.7m.

Masterplast had planned to invest Euro1.4m to set up a new EPS insulation plant at Lviv in the far west of Ukraine, where it had bought and converted existing industrial premises. It expected to become Ukraine's third-largest player in the thermal insulation segment within three years. However, early in 2014 Masterplast suspended its national investment and project for the EPS and adhesives plant. With the situation deteriorating further since then, it has decided not to restart its expansion scheme until Ukraine's political and economic position has stabilised.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay has agreed with Emery Oleochemicals and ERCA Group to buy their jointly-owned new alkoxylation facility, ERCA Emery Surfactant B.V., in the Moerdijk integrated industrial park in the Netherlands, strengthening its strategy of securing sustainable, large-scale surfactant assets worldwide, said the producer in its press release.

As an on-pipe facility, commissioned in 2014, it will benefit from competitive and secure supply of the key raw material ethylene oxide (EO) via pipeline from the industrial park, which is located between the key regional transport and logistics hubs of Rotterdam and Antwerp, Belgium.

The acquisition comes ahead of the start-up of two other large-scale on-pipe alkoxylation units that Solvay’s Novecare Global Business Unit (GBU) is building in Singapore and in the United States, due in the third quarter. It is Novecare’s latest investment to expand its surfactant footprint, complementing the alkoxylation site in Italy and the new surfactant plant in Germany.

Alkoxylates, used as emulsifiers, detergents and wetting agents, form the chemical foundation for a wide range of Solvay Novecare’s specialty surfactants used in its agrochemicals, coatings, home & personal care, industrial and oil & gas markets.

The agreement is due to close by mid-April, pending customary approvals. Novecare expects to fully integrate the unit into its industrial network by the fourth quarter with production continuing throughout the process.

As MRC wrote before, Solvay unveiled its breakthrough innovation for surface cleaning formulations. While Mirapol Surf S polymers are a well-established range of polymers for hydrophilization of surfaces such as ceramic, glass, stainless steel, Solvay launches a unique technology enabling formulators to deliver the key benefits consumers now expect for even modern plastic surfaces.

Solvay Novecare is a worldwide leader in specialty surfactants and a major player in polymers, amines, guar, and phosphorus derivatives. Solvay Novecare engineers and develops formulations that provide consumer products and state-of-the-art industrial applications with specific functional qualities designed to modify fluid behavior and deliver cleansing, dispersal, gelling, moisturizing, penetrating, softening or texturizing properties.
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