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Petrochemicals are found almost everywhere in a variety of products and serve as feedstock for the production of plastics. Their cost and availability have a big impact on manufacturers’ costs and earnings. The Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) Energy Insights spoke to this in a Feb. 24 webinar, “Petrochemicals: An Ill-understood Sector with a Big Impact on Business and Consumers.” Part of the Dow Jones professional information business, OPIS is…

Flexible packaging provider ProAmpac introduces ProActive Recyclable Paper-1000, the newest addition to the ProActive Recyclable series of products. It’s also the first product launched in a series of new heat-sealable, curbside recyclable paper-based packaging solutions that offer good moisture barrier and excellent directional tear properties, according to the supplier. “Designed to run efficiently on existing filling equipment, ProActive Recyclable RP-1000 delivers high-performance while also being easy for consumers to recycle…

While most raw materials decline in availability over time, waste plastic reserves seem poised to increase for the foreseeable future. Research conducted at Rice University suggests that this resource could be converted to high value nanomaterials.   In a 2020 paper, a Rice research team described how its flash joule process was able to synthesize graphene using various plastics, including post-consumer HDPE. Now, they have shown it can convert HDPE…

Materials supplier Covestro plans to build its largest ever thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) site in Zhuhai, in the south of China. With an overall investment in the low three-digit million US dollar range, the facility will also be the company’s largest investment in its TPU business. TPUs offer a broad range of properties for a diverse set of applications spanning automotive and sports shoe soles to IT devices such as smart…

There has been a lot of finger pointing in the aftermath of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, OH, that spilled chemicals, poisoning wildlife and putting residents at risk. Certainly, operations at Norfolk Southern and rail transport safety practices in general and the response by local, state, and federal officials should all be scrutinized. But should this event be drafted into the war on plastics? Toxic-Free Future and similar-minded advocacy groups…

Toray Industries is investing in a new 93,000-square-foot research and development center in the automotive hotbed of Japan’s Aichi Prefecture. Its mission, according to the company, is to “integrate diverse elemental technologies from within and outside the Toray Group to fuse green and nano-based technologies in the development of new materials.” Part of the R&D center’s role will be to propose digital solutions that bring together material development, process design, and…