A Schulman is forming a 50:50 joint venture with National Petrochemical Industrial Company (NatPet) to establish a polypropylene compounding operation in Saudi Arabia. The business, which will be
called NatPet-Schulman Engineering Plastics Com- pounds, will be located at NatPet’s site at Yanbu and is expected to commence production before the end of 2014. It will cost around US$70 million to build the facility. US-headquartered Schulman said its share of the initial equity investment in the project amounts to around US$14 million; the JV partners will also seek funds from the Saudi Industrial Development Fund and other lenders.
from the venture itself directly outside of these markets. The agreement with NatPet
Schulman’s Bernard Rzepka says the deal will accelerate growth in priority markets
The operation will manu-
facture and sell a range of engineered plastic compounds for use in durable goods and transport applications in the Middle East, Africa and India. Schulman will sell product
also allows Schulman to distribute the Saudi Arabian firm’s polypropylene resins to specified customer segments in Europe. “Several aspects of this deal will accelerate A Schul- man’s expansion and visibility in its priority growth markets of Africa, India and the Middle East while better serving our existing global customers with high-quality polypropylene compounds,” said Bernard Rzepka, general manager and chief operating officer of A Schulman, Europe, Middle East, Africa. ❙ www.aschulman.com ❙ www.natpetpp.com
Regain buys new twin- screw line
Regain Polymers has commissioned a new Coperion twin-screw extruder at its plastics recycling plant in Castleford in the UK. The line, which is fitted with a Gala underwa- ter pelletizing system, lifts the facility’s compounding target to 50,000 tonnes/year. The company’s technical
sales director, Mark Roberts said: “The twin-screw extruder went into full production as planned at the start of June, increasing our extrusion capacity by 40%”. Earlier this year, Regain
acquired Express Recycling & Plastics based in Rainham, Essex, UK. ❙ www.regainpolymers.com
Tönsmeier adds PVC pelletizing line
Tönsmeier Kunststoffe of Höxter, Germany, has added another Battenfeld-Cincinnati twin-screw extrusion line for recycling and pelletizing reclaimed PVC from the pipe and profile industries. The new line features a
Battenfeld-Cincinnati BEX 2-135-28V twin-screw extruder, a continuous screen-changer and a GWH 130 hot-cut pelletizer. Marc Schmidt, managing director of Tönsmeier Kunststoffe, says that the line was selected because of “the overall package of reliability, user- friendliness and service”.
Tönsmeier has added a new Battenfeld-Cincinnati line for pelletizing reclaimed PVC from pipes and profiles
The company produces Tönsmeier works closely
with the German Plastic Pipe Association KRV on the collection and recycling of pipe
materials. It is also a member of Rewindo, a recycling initiative formed by Germany’s leading profile manufacturers.
more than 70,000 tonnes/year of secondary raw materials at seven facilities in Germany, Austria and Poland. In addition to selling the reclaimed polymers to other companies, Tönsmeier Kunststoffe also uses some of the recycled PVC in-house for the production of profiles. ❙ www.toensmeier-kunststoffe.de ❙ www.battenfeld-cincinnati.com