NEWS


US machinery shipments up 15% in Q1 to $333m


Shipments of primary plastics machinery in North America rose by 15.1% year-on-year to reach $333.7m in Q1 2018, according to the Plastics Industry Association’s Committee on Equipment Statistics. This is the fourth consecutive Q1 increase. There was a marked


difference between the values of shipments of injection moulding machin- ery and extruders, however.


The former increased by 22.9% over Q4 2017, while single and twin screw extruder shipments de- clined by 14.6% and 27.1% respectively.


“Business confidence


remains high, helped by corporate tax reform enacted last year. Plastics equipment shipments data are in sync with healthy corporate profits in the manufacturing sector, including the plastics


Borealis to buy recycler Ecoplast


Borealis is to buy Austrian plastics recycler Ecoplast Kunstst- offrecycling, subject to required regulatory approvals. Based in Wildon, Ecoplast processes around 35,000 tonnes/yr of post-consumer plastic waste from households and industrial consumers into LDPE and HDPE recyclates. These go mainly into plastic film market. Borealis CEO Alfred Stern described the move as “a logical


next step for us to expand our mechanical recycling capabilities, which are key to our sustainability and circular economy efforts”. The company already owns MTM in Germany, which focuses on rigid injection moulding recyclates. Ecoplast is seen as complementary. � www.borealisgroup.com


Birla invests in carbon black


Birla Carbon is to expand in multiple regions to address growth in the global carbon black market. Birla Carbon COO John


Loudermilk said in a state- ment the expansion “will enable us to serve a range of segments, including produc- tion capability for high value,


10


differentiated products in the tyre, rubber goods and speciality markets.” The company will add a


further 150,000 tonnes/year of capacity over the next 18 months by debottlenecking at sites in Egypt and Italy before the end of Q3, restarting a production line


COMPOUNDING WORLD | August 2018


in Thailand by the end of Q4 and installing new produc- tion lines in India to start in Q4 2019. The company said it is


also prepared to add 120,000 tonnes/year of capacity at its newest site in China if demand requires. � www.birlacarbon.com


industry,” said the associa- tion’s Chief Economist Perc Pineda. Respondents to the survey identified construction, appliances and packaging as strong end use markets for the next 12 months. Their market outlook remains stable, with many expecting that an economy at full employment capacity will mean little change in consumption patterns. � http://plasticsindustry.org


NEWS IN BRIEF...


Ferro is expanding its production facility in Girardota, Colombia, by an undisclosed amount to meet demand for ultrama- rine blue and micronised iron oxide pigments. Ferro produces ultramarine blues, violets and pinks at sites in Spain, Romania and India as well as Girardota. Micronised iron oxide are produced exclusively at Girardota. � www.ferro.com


Radici Group has appoint- ed Hromatka Group, and its AECTRA Plastics and Plastoplan Polska subsidi- aries, to distribute its range of PA and PBT engineering plastics in eastern Euro- pean markets. The Italian company said it expects the new arrangement to strengthen its position across the region but particularly in Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. � www.radicigroup.com � www.hgmag.ch


Anellotech said it has shipped the first bio-based BTX aromatics from its TCat-8 pilot plant at Pearl River in New York State, US, to project partners IFFPEN and Axens for purification to bio-parax- ylene. The company said the move is a major step forward in its bio-based PET bottle collaboration with consumer beverage brand Suntory. It said the TCat-8 technology can also produce toluene and benzene. � www.anellotech.com


www.compoundingworld.com


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