ExxonMobil Chemical Co., USA intends to expand oriented polypropylene film capacity at its Shawnee plant in the United States. The firm said it will add an oriented film line with annual capacity of more than 30 million pounds . By late next year the line should begin making white, opaque OPP film for food packaging, labeling and imaging markets.
A subsidiary of extruder Teel Plastics Inc., USA is building a new facility for plastic-fiber composites. Construction for Teel/Global Research Technologies´ new plant began in November. The compounding facility is scheduled to be completed in April, said Colin Felton, Teel/GRT´s technical manager.
Pipe manufacturers in Belgium has founded a non-profit-organisation called Kurio in order to implement a system for the collection and recycling of used PVC pipes. The companies joining this organisation guarantee the manufacturing of high-quality recycling products for applications in the construction field.
Film manufacturer Konrad Hornschuh AG, Germany has been sold by its American holding Decora Industries to the Halder investment group, the Netherlands. Due to debts of more than US$ 340 million Decora was urged to sell its German film manufacturing unit. Last year Hornschuh reported a turnover of EURO 92,3 million and profits of EURO 3,8 million.
Precision Custom Extrusion Inc., USA has formed a joint venture to manufacture medical tubing in the United Kingdom. The venture with Zynergy Core Technology Ltd. will link Zynergy´s polyurethane resin manufacturing with Precision´s extrusion work.
Film extruder Mercury Plastics Inc., USA continues to expand converting and printing capacity. The company bought Stretch-Vent Packaging Systems Inc., a former customer,early this year. Later in 2001 it will boost printing and film extrusion capacity at Mercury´s facility in Salamanca, Mexico.
Richmond based Bunzl Extrusion Inc., USA is expanding at four North American locations, including its newest in Monterrey, Mexico. According to its new president, Tony Herbert, the firm also is evaluating acquisition possibilities, especially in Texas, Mexico and Canada. Herbert became president on Jan. 1 after Neil Drozeski retired.
Degussa-Hüls, Germany has joined with Krupp Uhde, Germany to develop a new process for making propylene oxide, a base material for polyurethanes and polyesters. The new process yields PO through the catalytic oxidation of propylene with hydrogen peroxide. Degussa-Huls is the world’s second largest producer of hydrogen peroxide with an output of 430,000 tonnes worldwide. Apart from creating a new outlet for a major product, the new process offers a route to PO without by-products. Current production of propylene oxide is either by the chlorohydrine process, which generates a chlorine-containing waste liquor or the POSM propylene oxide/styrene monomer process which generates large quantities of styrene monomer. The new process is also said to be cheaper.
Davis-Standard, USA recently designed an innovative cast film system for synthetic paper production. New to the cast film industry, the system consists of an adaptation of Davis-Standard’s “dry” embossing unit, a coextrusion extruder arrangement and bi-directional winder. It is capable of producing finished film with widths of 2, 2.4 and 2.8 meters, and with a variety of surface properties.
The focal point of the system is the “dry” embossing unit, which is used to control the surface properties of the film. The unit can produce films with matte/matte, matte/gloss, gloss/matte and gloss/gloss finishes, and is designed to quench and anneal the film to promote crystalline growth and dimensional stability.
The coextrusion complex features Davis-Standard’s well-known DSB® I barrier screws, which are ideal for synthetic paper extrusion because of excellent distributive and dispersive properties. Synthetic paper blends contain large amounts of additives and rely on the screw to effectively formulate stress as the driving force to break down the blend’s agglomerated components. The result is an extruded film that is uniform in color and void of striations that cause the film to distort, or curl over time. Due to the abrasive nature of the additives, the system is also constructed of the hardest materials available to prevent premature wear of components.
The winder is designed for in-line slitting to produce multiple rolls of film down to 6-inches (150 mm) in width. It can wind in either direction, and “CD” quality rolls can be produced up to 40-inches (1000 mm) in diameter.
Control options for the system include the CMR 2000 microprocessor or Davis-Standard’s EPIC supervisory control system. An in-line MDO unit is available to further improve the tensile properties of the film making it more suitable for paper substitution. Additionally, the system can be equipped with the pre-wired, pre-piped “Top Cast” arrangement, or the “Bi-Trac” unit for producing both synthetic paper or flat cast films.
For more information about the synthetic film line, contact Steve Post, Business Area Manager of Davis-Standard’s Cast Film Systems, at (908) 722-6000, ext. 2407.
Food packaging materials and containers manufacturer Linpac Plastics is selling its water-soluble film manufacturing subsidiary Aquafilm to Cast Film Europe, owned by Cast Film Technology of the USA. Aquafilm specialises in the manufacture and distribution of soluble films made from polyvinyl alcohol for use in healthcare, agrochemicals and textiles.
