Engineering Resins
Bioplastics from Tobacco
Metabolix, Inc., Cambridge, Mass., has just completed a field trial of growing tobacco that was genetically engineered to produce polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolymers.
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Your Business Pricing Update - October 2009
Moderating feedstock costs, slack domestic demand, and slumping exports are putting the brakes on price hikes for most commodity resins.
Read MoreNatureWorks Doubles PLA Capacity
WEB EXCLUSIVE: In July, NatureWorks LLC, Minnetonka, Minn., completed an expansion that doubles its capacity for Ingeo polylactide (PLA) biopolymers at Blair, Neb.
Read MoreBiobased and Copolyester Blends Debut at NPE
Lots of new thermoplastic blends made news at the recent NPE show in Chicago.
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Vinyl Alcohol Polymers Are Moldable and Extrudable
Two companies claim to have achieved a long-sought goal by launching vinyl alcohol-based thermoplastics that are injection moldable and extrudable while retaining the water solubility and biodegradability of polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH). One of the new products is a PVOH compound; the other is a new vinyl alcohol copolymer.
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Commodity Prices Up Sharply
Resin makers have taken the gloves off on price increases for many commodity materials.
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Not So Fast
Commodity resin prices are moving up gradually, if not as fast as suppliers wish.
Read MoreLargest PET Recycling Plant Coming in 2010
WEB EXCLUSIVE PET resin and fiber producer DAK Americas, LLC, Charlotte, N.C., and leading carpet producer Shaw Industries Group, Inc., Dalton, Ga., have created a new joint venture to recycle PET from post-consumer bottles.
Read MoreNatureWorks Opens Applications Lab
WEB EXCLUSIVE NatureWorks LLC, Minnetonka, Minn., the world’s first and largest commercial producer of polylactide (PLA) biopolymer, has invested $1 million to convert its former pilot plant in Savage, Minn., into an applications lab for its Ingeo-brand bioresin.
Read MoreMaterials Suppliers Shift to Toll Compounding
WEB EXCLUSIVE Two producers of thermoplastic molding and extrusion materials are shifting from in-house compounding to outside toll producers.
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