NEWS IN BRIEF...
JPFL Films has installed a new BOPP line at a plant in Nashik, Maharashtra. The 60,000 tonnes/year line, likely to be installed in 2026, will cost INR 2.5 billion (around US$30 million). It will produce rolls up to 1,700mm wide, with optimised efficiency for downstream processes such as metallising, it said. Vinod Kumar Gupta, CEO of JPFL Films, said the new line would help “meet and exceed customer expecta- tions with a diverse range of high-performance films”.
www.jindalpoly.com
Indian packaging producer Cosmo First improved sales and profits in the first quarter of the financial year. Sales rose by around 5% to INR6.9 billion (around US$82 million). Profitability (EBITDA) rose more than 50% to around INR840m (around US$10m). This was due to higher sales of speciality film and better domestic BOPP film margins.
www.cosmofirst.com
Pilot plant makes plastics and chemicals from CO2
Finnish research centre VTT and partners have opened a pilot plant to convert captured carbon dioxide into compounds such as plastics and chemicals – with- out relying on petroleum. It forms part of the Forest
Cump research project, investigating how bio-based CO2 from sources like the forestry industry can be captured and converted into products such as polypro- pylene and polyethylene (PP and PE). “Finland has huge potential to be one of the leading countries in using bio-based carbon dioxide,” said Juha Lehtonen, research professor at VTT. Finland produces around 30 million tonnes of bio-based carbon dioxide per year, said Lehtonen. If this is captured and con- verted, the country could become a major producer and exporter of polymers and transport fuels made
from carbon dioxide and hydrogen, he added. The pilot plant, built in
sea containers in the Bioruukki pilot centre in Espoo, Finland, began operations in August. “The technology creates a significant export opportu- nity for renewable products,” said Lehtonen. “Due to its extensive forest industry,
Finland has a huge potential to utilise bio-based carbon dioxide. Outside the Nordic countries, large sources of bio-based carbon dioxide are rare.” Partners in the Forest
Cump project, which runs until the end of this year, include Borealis, Neste, ABB, VTT and LUT University. �
www.vtt.fi
From sheet to jellyfish
Exolon has supplied its Vivak PETG copolyester plastic sheets for an art installation at the Institute of Architecture Related Art (IAK) at the Technical University of Braunschweig in Germany. During the day, the ‘West auf Nordwest’ lighting installation is translu- cent white, while at night it is blue and shimmers in black light. A swarm of jellyfish, made of transparent Vivak plastic sheet, hovers 2m above the nearby Oker river. The artwork – by IAK student Alma Barwitzky – is one of 13 temporary and five permanent installations on the Lichtparcours light trail around the centre of Braunschweig. In total, Exolon provided around 70 Vivak sheets in thicknesses of 2 and 3 mm to make the jellyfish. These were thermoformed into bodies of different sizes and cut into strips. The lightweight material enables the art to be suspended on thin wires. �
www.exolongroup.com �
www.lichtparcours.de
6 FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION | September 2024
www.filmandsheet.com
IMAGE: BERND SCHULZ
IMAGE: VTT
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