Materials
Prices Rise As Leaves Fall
After a mid-summer respite from price increases in commodity resins—with some prices actually declining—processors face rising prices again heading into fall.
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Olefin Prices Take a Breather
Midsummer brought a sudden pause in price escalation—at least for polyolefins—after a storm of increases announced in June.
Read MoreCorn-based Biopolymers Make News
Recent news testifies to growing momentum for biopolymers derived from corn by bacterial fermentation: --As reported on p. 22, DuPont Co., Wilmington, Del., is developing engineering thermoplastics and TPEs derived in part from fermented corn sugar. --Mazda Motor Corp., Tokyo, and a Japanese consortium of other companies, universities, and research institutes developed a heat-resistant plastic consisting of 88% corn-based polylactic acid (PLA) and 12% petroleum-derived materials.
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Summer Storm of Price Hikes
Soft or flat prices in the first five months of the year ended with a thunderclap in June.
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NPE 2006 News Wrap-Up: Chemicals and Additives
There were new additives for every need at NPE 2006: Make your plastics prettier with new colorants. Make them stronger with new fillers and reinforcements. Make them lighter with foaming agents. Or just make them go away with improved purging agents and biodegradable masterbatches.
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Polyolefin Prices Flare Up Again
In the first four months of the year, commodity resin prices took a breather from their relentless uphill march.
Read MoreWhat's Different About This NPE
Several new attractions will set this year鈥檚 Big Show apart from previous events: --Make room for rubber: For the first time, the plastics show will have a TPE/Rubber Pavilion, co-sponsored by the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) and the Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA). It will highlight both TPEs and thermoset rubbers. --Molds, molds molds: Another first for NPE will be the North American Moldmakers Pavilion, sponsored by SPI鈥檚 Moldmakers Div., the American Mold Builders Assoc. (AMBA), and the Canadian Association of Moldmakers (CAMM). Thirty to 40 companies are expected to participate.
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Mitsubishi to Make New Plastic from Corn
Mitsubishi Chemical of Japan (U.S. office in White Plains, N.Y.) is building a plant to make succinic acid by bacterial fermentation of corn.
Read MoreDetails Set for Bioplastic Plant
Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM), Decatur, Ill., and Metabolix, Inc., Cambridge, Mass., have selected Clinton, Iowa, as the site for the first commercial plant to produce polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) bioplastic.
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