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S. No. Subject Page

No.

1. AIPMA Office Breares 2012-2013 3 2. AIPMA Fast track Finance 4 3. AIPMA Plastic Parks 5 4. AIPMA MOU with SIDBI 6 5. 9th Plastivision India 2013. 7 6. Multi-market Focused Stiff Plastic Resin Application Solutions 8

7. Water use in electricity generation: the sobering facts that make a case for wind and solar power 22

8. Solvay Opens Rare Earth Metals Recycling Plants in France 26 9. TV Recycling Facility Opens in New Zealand 28

10. intelligent interactive highway by studio roosegaarde + heijmans 29 11. Bridgestone angelino petite electric bicycle 31 12. Russia Taps Super-Giant Gas Field after 40-Year Wait 34 13. Metal replacement at Fakuma: PolyOne, BASF, EMS, Evonik,

DuPont, and Sabic 36

14. Progress reported on rating energy consumption of injection presses

42

15. A small but mighty force 44 16. JCI wins award for ComfortThin seat 47 17. Eastman launches a recyclable extrusion blowmolding resin for

packaging applications 48

18. DuPont unveils the 'jounce bumper' 50 19. Jindal Poly buying ExxonMobil BOPP films business 51 20. Thermally conductive compounds reduce vehicle weight via metal

replacement 53

21. Case Study: Two-shot mold reduces cost, improves quality 55 22. Ban of unwashed waste import is not new 58 23. PA grade deployed In monolayer rotomolded fuel tanks 60

24. ECAL low-tech factory - oncle sam single kernel popcorn machine 62 25. Torafu architects: AA stool 64

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Multi-market Focused Stiff Plastic

Resin Application Solutions

Under-the-hood High Impact/Stiffness Air Intake Manifold High Barrier Silicone Oxide Stiff Coated Bio-Film Naturally Wheat-Straw Stiffened Plastic Interior Storage Bin Circuit Breakers Gain from Shift to Stiff Nylon Housing High Stiffness Wind Turbine Blade Carbon Fiber Composite Ultra Stiff Oven Hot Water Tank Metal Stiff Competitive Polyetherimide Medical Ricordi Chamber Corrosion Resistant Electronic Marine Lampchanger Vespel Stiff Heat Resistant Auto Power Train Components Stiff Plastic Resin Application Solution Technology Sources Introduction

Recent 2011-2012 international plastics trade shows such as SAMPE, Plastindia, NPE, Chinaplas, MD&M, Brasilplast, GPIE, ANTEC, Composites, Fakuma, and Pack Expo have highlighted a series of super high stiff base resin application solutions from normal through high temperature ranges that are firmly establishing their position in the market place as follows.

Under-the-hood High Impact/Stiffness Air Intake Manifold Until now, glass reinforced polyamide (PA, nylon) has been the material of choice for air intake manifolds (AIM) since plastic began substituting for cast metal in cars more than 20 years ago.

Plastic air intake manifolds are used in the majority of vehicles produced today around the world because of the optimized air flow, design freedom, and general reductions in weight and cost that they offer over metal. Key transformative features included the following:

Volkswagen (VW)'s PP (polypropylene) air intake manifold is an automotive first.

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Volkswagen and parts manufacturer MAHLE Filter Systems UK are using a glass fiber reinforced PPcomposite from Borealis to produce the air intake manifolds used for the 1.4L (Liter) and 1.6L Volkswagen engines in its Golf, Polo, Seat and Skoda model cars.

The injection molding material offers an excellent balance of high impact strength/stiffness, is easy to process, and is specifically tailored for AIM applications exposed to high heat and loads.

The company's switch from traditional PA to Borealis' XMOD GB306SAF PP was motivated by:

Rising under the hood temperatures Demands for improved function integration capability Noise reduction Ever lighter components Need to reduce overall system costs The compound offers long term high heat and chemical resistance, vibration resistance, and a broad operating temperature range (-40°C to +120°C) Existing manufacturing equipment and processes can be used.

Use of the lower density material allows part weight to be reduced by up to 15% The Borealis high performance PP composite in replacing its nylon counterpart also contributes to lowering overall production costs for air intake manifold parts as a result of its lower price and its lightweight benefits of improved handling and reduced energy usage.

Fig: 1 Volkswagen Polypropylene Air Intake Manifold (Source: Borealis Polymere GmbH)

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Lower processing temperatures and the lack of pre-drying further reduce overall energy consumption and eliminate manufacturing steps.

Borealis recently received the Frost & Sullivan Global New Product Innovation Award in the Automotive under the Hood Plastics category for its XMOD GB306SAF glass fiber reinforced polypropylene compounds.

High Barrier Silicone Oxide Stiff Coated Bio-Film While all commercially available PLA (polylactic acid) films meet ASTM D6400 compostability requirements and have good clarity, sealability and dead fold its main drawbacks are poor temperature resistance and poor barrier properties.

The application of SiOx (silicone oxide) stiff clear barrier layer to the PLA film greatly enhances its barrier properties without negatively impacting the compostability of the base PLA film. The improvements in barrier properties achievable are virtually independent of the thickness of the base film.

Ceramis-PLA is a fully biodegradable film with a high barrier against oxygen and water vapor. The films are in conformity with DIN EN standard and also comply with the US standard ASTM D 6400. These films have high bonding of the SiOx coating to the base films.

They have high transparency, high gloss, and allow metal detection as well as have excellent combined barrier against gases, water vapor and aromas. SiOx coated PLA film from Amcor Flexibles is produced using Amcor silicon oxide coating technology. Ceramis biodegradable film features are as follows:

High transparency High gloss Very good stiffness Excellent combined barrier against gases, water vapor and aromas Allows metal detection High bonding of the SiOx coating to the base films

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Suitable for use on established converting machines Made from annually renewable resource corn starch Fully biodegradable Various gauges available Standard gauge 20 µm (micron) Ceramis-PLA finds application in food grade lidding foil for trays (thermoformed or rigid), and all types of food pouches. Naturally Wheat-Straw Stiffened Plastic Interior Storage Bin As part of the Ontario BioCar initiative, Ford teamed with Guelph University, the University of Waterloo and A.

Schulman to develop the wheat-straw reinforced plastic third row interior storage bin/interior lid for use in the Ford Flex.

Fig: 2 Ford Flex Wheat Straw PP Process (Source: Ford Motor Company/A. Schulman)

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The Agriplast natural fiber filled PP (polypropylene) compounded by A.

Schulman for the storage bin contains 20% wheat-straw biofiller supplied by Omtec Inc. which uses a proprietary process to clean, chop and dry the wheat straw so that it can be compounded.

The part itself is injection molded by International Automotive Components (IAC). This application reduces petroleum usage by 20,000 pounds per year and CO2 emissions by 30,000 pounds per year.

The wheat-straw reinforced resin weights 10% less and a glass- or talc-reinforced resin and demonstrates better dimensional stability than a non-reinforced plastic.

The composite had to be odorless and meet industry standards for thermal expansion and degradation, rigidity, moisture absorption and fogging. Ford sees potential for other applications using the filler due to wheat straw's impact on mechanical properties, particularly its ability to offer a light weight means to greater stiffness.

The wheat straw-reinforced plastic was approved for the Ford Flex less than 18 months after the initial proposal was made by Ford's Biomaterials Group. Ford is also considering using the composite in center console bins/trays; interior air registers and door trim panel components; as well as armrest liners.

Wheat straw is typically discarded as a byproduct of wheat production. Within Ontario Canada alone, there are 28,000 wheat farmers that generate 30 million metric tons of wheat straw waste per year.

Circuit Breakers Gain from Shift to Stiff Nylon Housing

Fig: 3 Ford Flex Storage Bin (Source: Ford Motor Company/A. Schulman)

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High-voltage-resistant grade nylon in place of traditional thermosets for high-performance industrial circuit breaker housings eases field installation and lowers manufacturing costs. Nylon permits housing design with molded features for snap-in installation of terminals and accessories. Snap-in design saves time and money during field configuration of circuit breakers for different applications.

Such features are difficult or impossible to create using thermoset designs because of their greater stiffness and wall thickness. Integrally molded features also reduce total part count and simplify assembly. A special nylon based on a PA66/PA6 copolymer with 33% glass-fiber reinforcement was developed to meet stringent electrical tests. DuPont has led the way and developed a special nylon resin, Zytel FR82G33V1, to meet these stringent test requirements. The resin also delivers other desirable properties including UL94 V-1 flame classification and excellent tracking resistance, toughness, strength, and molding productivity. Electronic circuit breakers on which the housings are used must pass stringent electrical testing including a 100 kilo ampere short-circuit rating at 480 volts at alternating current per UL489. The housings mark a major advance for engineering plastics in this application as most made of flame-retardant thermoplastic resins fail this demanding test. High Stiffness Wind Turbine Blade Carbon Fiber Composite With increasing wind generating capacity, the trend by Vestas Wind Energy is to bigger, longer, and lighter blades. As blades increased in size, blade designers have substituted stronger more durable epoxy systems with glass and carbon fiber for the earlier thermoset polyester glass fiber materials.

Fig: 4 Industrial Electronic Circuit Breaker (Source: DuPont)

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Prepreg molding with a woven or unidirectional fabric is more costly but offers greater consistency because it already contains the matrix material, typically an epoxy. A matrix resin of unsaturated polyester is easier to process and is less expensive, but epoxy offers stronger mechanical performance — particularly tensile and flexural strength — especially important for blades longer than 26 meters (85 feet). Now greater use of carbon fiber, despite disadvantages of higher cost/tight supplies, is envisioned due to its higher stiffness and lighter weight than standard E-glass. Delving further automated components deposition offers radical improvement in blade quality while shortening process cycle times.

Today, building a blade with VARTM (vacuum assisted resin transfer molding) is still a relatively time-intensive and somewhat error-prone process.

Workers must first lay out all of the dry components in the mold, positioning fiber in various thicknesses at different places.

There is the potential for misalignments and wrinkles that can compromise the integrity of the final composite product. With automated components deposition, the fiber would be placed mechanically and monitored electronically. The electronic monitoring would allow any necessary corrections to be made prior to the infusion process.

This would make for much more predictable and repeatable parts and the increases in quality control would also allow for more complex blade designs. Spanish specialty equipment manufacturer MTorres has developed an automated blade production process that reduces labor, cuts cycle time by 75% and produces more consistent blades.

Fig: 5 Carbon Fiber Reinforced Wind Turbine Blades and Tower (Source: Vestas)

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Other suppliers such as GE Wind Energy are promising a new lightweight carbon fiber blade design to significantly increase turbine efficiency and expedite system manufacture and delivery.

The company is working to automate the resin infusion process that could lead to mass production of carbon fiber blades. Yet glass fiber competitive companies like LM Glasfiber are focused on optimized design and engineering to allow the use of E-glass in longer blades.

Further, PPG has introduced Hybon 2026 glass fiber roving which the company says will enable the manufacture of longer, lighter composite wind turbine blades.

Vestas and Gamesa are the principle top-tier firms using carbon fiber, primarily in the structural spar cap (central spine) of longer blades (40-meters and up). Most carbon fiber use is in Europe, and it is applied sparingly with glass due to its relatively high cost.

Elsewhere, LM Glasfiber in collaboration with Riso DTU, the national laboratory for sustainable energy at the Technical University of Denmark, and laser technology specialist NKT Photonics, are developing 'intelligent blades' that measure wind and adapt to current wind conditions.

The technology is expected to improve energy yield by up to 5% over the turbine's 20 year life.

Ultra Stiff Oven Hot Water Tank

German kitchen appliance manufacturer Miele & Cie. KG is using a new grade of polyphenylene sulfide(PPS) in an innovative blow molded, space efficient, hot water tank designed to withstand high temperatures up to 220°C in a line of European high-performance kitchen ovens.

Fig: 6 New 'Moisture Plus' Cooking Function (Source: Miele & Cie KG)

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The special hot water tank automatically fills with the correct amount of water and dispenses it as jets of steam into the oven cavity.

This new 'moisture plus' function provides improved baking and roasting results, giving bread a crispy crust and keeping roasts tender on the inside while browning on the outside.

The water tank required for the H5000 series of moisture-enhanced cooking appliances was developed in a collaborative effort between polymer distributor K.D.

Feddersen, plastic processor Koetke and resin producer Ticona GmbH, using Ticona's Fortron MT9115L0 DW, a 15% glass fiber reinforced PPS grade developed specifically for blow molding applications.

The high viscosity PPS is ideally suited to produce this geometrically complex blow molded water tank which is used in a food contact application.

It can withstand continuous service temperatures of up to 240°C and peak temperatures of up to 270°C. It also provides the necessary high dimensional stability, low moisture permeability and minimal water absorption even under high thermal stresses that are crucial for this application.

This Fortron PPS grade also meets the special requirements for food preparation having successfully passed testing requirements according to all commonly accepted drinking water standards throughout the world (NSF61, KTW, W270, WRAS, ACS) and been approved for food contact applications, according to European Union Directive 2002/72/EC, and U.S.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations for food-related applications.

Fig: 7 Hot Water Tank for Ovens Made from PPS (Source: Miele & Cie KG)

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The ability to be processed by extrusion blow molding was another key advantage of this high performance PPS polymer.

This allowed the complex geometry part to be produced without the need for downstream operations, such as the welding of individual components, which would otherwise have been required if the water tank were produced by injection molding.

In addition to appliance applications, this specialty blow molding grade is also well suited for medical and dental devices and sterilization equipment that uses steam to prepare these devices for use in hospitals and medical/dental clinics.

Metal Stiff Competitive Polyetherimide Medical Ricordi Chamber

Learn more about ULTEM* For Medical

Combine Toughness, Lightweight And High Heat Features Ultem* HU1004 PEI resin:

The Multi-Sterilizable, Durable, Hydrostable and Transparent Material

Islet transplantation is emerging as a promising treatment to reverse Type I diabetes. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 177 million people around the world suffer from diabetes and this is expected to increase to more than 354 million persons by 2030. Islets are pancreas cells that are able to sense blood sugar and release the insulin necessary to maintain normal body sugar levels.

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Comprising just 1 to 2% of the total cells in the pancreas, the islet cells are isolated and extracted using a special chamber developed by Dr. Camillo Ricordi. Equipment from Biorep Technologies Inc.

Including the Ricordi Chamber provides the technological support necessary to obtain successful islet preparation. The devise manufacturer specializes in tools produced for use in diabetes research and treatment.

The Ricordi Chamber, which was originally custom-made of stainless steel, was quite heavy to use and doctors could not visually assess the process of breaking down the pancreas.

Using Sabic Innovative Plastics application development assistance, an injection molded Ricordi Chamber was developed which is produced from Sabic's Ultem HU polyetherimide(PEI) resin.

The, tough, rigid, high strength autoclavable thermoplastic allows the Ricordi Chamber to be mass produced, significantly shortening

the manufacturing/delivery

time and lowering the cost of producing the device.

Able to withstand prolonged exposure to high temperature and

repeated autoclave sterilization, the light amber translucent material allows the

Fig: 8 Lightweight Autoclavable Polyetherimide Ricordi Chamber Replaces Custom Produced Stainless Steel Chamber (Inset) (Source: Biorep Technologies Inc.)

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Breakdown of the pancreas to be viewed inside the chamber and its excellent chemical resistance is also an important property as the enzymes used in the digestion procedure are highly caustic. Sabic's healthcare unit is committed to helping small inventive healthcare producers by supplying the services, materials and expertise needed to bring their products to market. The company has over 50 high-tech amorphous and crystalline materials available for healthcare applications, designed to aid OEMs in achieving regulatory compliance and successful commercialization of their medical devices. Corrosion Resistant Electronic Marine Lampchanger Tideland Signal Corporation's new flasher/lampchanger, the TF-3B MicroPower OMNIBUS II, features a turret made of 30% glass-filled KetaSpire KT-880 polyetheretherketone (PEEK) resin from Solvay. The company produces marine-aids to navigation used in port and harbor operations throughout the world. The solid-state flasher and motor-driven six-place lampchanger, an integral component in Tideland Signal's marine signal lanterns, automatically 'relamps' after lamp burnout. PEEK was chosen for its high-heat resistance and dimensional stability to replace competing polyester thermoplastics in producing the 65-mm diameter six-sided injection-molded turret. The device uses 100-watt halogen lamps and must withstand temperatures up to 316°C. The material's low coefficient of linear thermal expansion (CLTE) helps provide dimensional stability and aids in filling the thin-walls of the intricate turrets.

Fig: 9 Six LED Bulb Turrets (Top) with Electronics Canister Base (Source: Tideland Signal Corporation)

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While other high-heat materials are available, very few also provide the flexible processing needed to mold such highly detailed structures. In addition to high-heat resistance, KetaSpire PEEK offers extensive chemical resistance, ready processability, and excellent ductility. The material possesses a continuous-use temperatures of up to 240°C, an HDT (heat deflection temperature) of 316°C, high impact strength, fatigue resistance, and chemical resistance to organics (especially solvents) and acids/bases. It also has good mechanical stiffness in thin wall section properties, especially in high-pressure environments. Dependable in all climates, the flasher/lampchanger features solid-state electronics coated to withstand the marine environment and sealed in a watertight acrylic canister. Lamp and circuit board contacts are gold-plated for corrosion protection to ensure the utmost reliability. Vespel Stiff Heat Resistant Auto Power Train Components

Injection molded thermoplastic polyimide is replacing metal to produce engine bushings that must withstand temperatures up to 220°C and retain tight tolerances even after more than 3.6 million opening/closing cycles.

Automotive supplier Gustav Wahler GmbH & Co. is using the bushings made of Dupont Vespel TP polyimide to position and guide rods of exhaust gas recirculation valves for stratified-charged gasoline engines of 4 and 6

cylinder powered vehicles.

Fig: 10 Vespel TP Polyimide Replaced Metal Bushings (Inset) (Source: Gustav Wahler GmbH & Co.)

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The bushings made of Vespel TP combine superb friction/wear resistance with a very low coefficient of thermal expansion to support smooth valve operation while regulating recirculated exhaust gases into the combustion air to lower nitrogen oxide emissions.

In comparison to the metal parts they replace, the polyimide bushings are chemically inert to the exhaust gas residues, and no contact corrosion is possible as the polyimide is not electrically conductive.

They are also lighter weight, a result of the considerably lower density relative to brass or steel, and the reduced wall thicknesses allowed by the high stiffness/tensile strength of Vespel TP combined with its high level of injection molding formability.

As a plastic, the material also offers good acoustic damping properties, which also helps to reduce valve noise emissions.

Dupont's polyimide thermoplastics extend the traditional Vespel thermoset polyimides developed for injection molding, and have extremely high melt temperatures of 385 to 425°C.

Molding at these temperatures can be hazardous without adequate safety precautions. Dupont supplies its Vespel TP family of materials as finished parts injection molded on appropriately equipped molding machines. The material enables the bu

shing supplied to Wahler to be cost efficiently and precisely injection molded in a single shot without any requirement for post-machining.

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Water use in electricity generation: the sobering facts that make a case for wind and

solar power

Did you know it takes 100,000 gallons of water to produce a single megawatt hour of electricity? Well according to a new report out today, it does – unless you’re using wind or solar power that is. So maybe, with much of the world battling more regular bouts of drought and water shortages it’s something policy makers need to start taking more notice of?

The proponents of the report from Synapse Energy Economics - prepared for the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society Institute (CSI) and theEnvironmental Working Group – certainly think they should.

These groups warn that the huge demands on increasingly scarce water are “a major hidden cost” of a business-as-usual approach to American electricity generation.

The report, The Hidden Costs of Electricity: Comparing the Hidden Costs of Power Generation Fuels, analyses six fuels used to generate electricity --- biomass, coal, nuclear, natural gas, solar (photovoltaic and concentrating solar power), and wind (both onshore and offshore).

Water impacts, climate change impacts, air pollution impacts, planning and cost risk, subsidies and tax incentives, land impacts, and other impacts are all considered.

With many – but not all - of the key energy technologies used today relying heavily on water, the headline findings make for fascinating reading:

Nuclear power has critical cooling requirements that require huge amounts of water. Roughly 62% of US nuclear plants have closed-loop cooling systems.

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Reactors with closed-loop systems withdraw between 700-1100 gallons of water per MWh and lose most of that water to evaporation, the report says.

“Water withdrawals are even higher at open-loop cooled nuclear plants, which need between 25,000-60,000 gallons per MWh.”Most of the water is returned, but at a higher temperature and lower quality, it adds.

In addition to fouling streams and drinking water through mining and coal-ash dump sites, coal-fired power also relies heavily on closed-loop cooling systems, withdrawing 500-600 gallons of water per MWh.

Again most of this is then lost via evaporation. Withdrawals for open-looped cooled coal-fired power plants are between 20,000-50,000 gallons per MWh. And again, while most of the water is returned, it’s at a higher temperature and lower quality, the analysis finds.

It may be a renewable energy source, but biomass too has its issues and water usage is highlighted as one by this report. With proposals for a Clean Energy Standard, biomass would become a much larger source of US electricity generation and the authors of the report urge caution on this.

The report notes that a typical 50MW biomass plant “could withdraw roughly 242 million gallons of water per year and lose most of this”. Adding 10 of these plants in a region would mean the use 2.42 billion gallons of water per year.

Meantime for dedicated energy crops, water use for irrigation can also be considerable – the report highlights one study which estimates water use for most crops is between 40,000 and 100,000 gallons per MWh, with some crops exceeding this range.

Unsurprisingly, the Synapse report also points out that in 2010, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) estimated that fracking shale wells can use anywhere from two to 10 million gallons of water per well.

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The water is often extracted from on-site surface or groundwater supplies.

“Such huge water withdrawals raise serious concerns about the impacts on ecosystems and drinking water supplies, especially in areas under drought conditions, areas with low seasonal flow, locations with already stressed water supplies, or locations with waters that have sensitive aquatic communities”, says the report.

The water saving options “By contrast, wind and solar photovoltaic power require little water in the electricity generation process”, it continues. Concentrating solar power requires water for cooling purposes, but new technologies are placing greater emphasis on dry cooling.

“Solar power plants with dry cooling use only around 80 gallons per MWh – about a tenth of the low-end estimate for nuclear power and one-sixth of the low end estimate for coal-fired power generation.”

Estimates of the lifecycle water withdrawals from wind projects, including both onshore and offshore projects, range from just 55 to 85 gallons per MWh.

Of course, neither wind power nor solar PV provide the answer to all our energy needs alone – and they both present issues for the electricity system generally and for policy makers.

But with both sectors going through a tough period of uncertainty right now (in the US and elsewhere) maybe it’s time water usage was a more significant consideration when it comes to forming energy policy.

Afterall, as Seth Sheldon PhD, CSI lead water and energy analyst notes, it was way back in 2005 that the US Congress mandated a federal water/energy roadmap.

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“Nearly eight years later, that roadmap has not been produced and either through bureaucratic inertia or fear of hard political questions, the questions are not even being asked, much less their solutions explored,” he says.

“At a time of significant water scarcity and increasing threats to water quality, we can ill afford to ignore this central question about the future of our energy choices."

He’s right of course.

Find out more about the other real costs of renewable energy by clicking this link and reading our recent series of articles on the issue by Gail Rajgor

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Solvay Opens Rare Earth Metals

Recycling Plants in France ELECTRONICS, INTERNATIONAL RECYCLING NEWS, METALLICS, ADDITIONAL COMMODITIES European chemical company invests $19.5 million in two facilities. Recycling Today StaffOCTOBER 3, 2012 Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on pinterest_shareShare on linkedinShare on emailShare on print Solvay Group, a chemical group headquartered in Brussels, has officially opened two rare earth metals recycling plants in France. The two plants are designed to allow the company to diversify its supply of rare earth metals and preserve resources. Solvay says it has developed a process to recover rare earth metals from end-of-life products, such as light bulbs, batteries and magnets. Research into and development of the process began in 2007 and tool two years, followed by two years of industrialization studies and site selection, according to the company. The investment was officially approved in 2011. Solvay says it focused initially on low-energy light bulbs because the recovery channels already existed. The light bulbs have an ample amount of six different rare earths—lanthanum, cerium, terbium, yttrium, europium and gadolinium—which Solvay it is in position to recycle while preserving 100 percent of their functional properties. Used light bulbs are collected, sorted and processed by specialized companies that recycle various components (glass, metals, plastics, mercury). The luminescent powders are shipped to Solvay Group's facility in Saint-Fons, France, where the rare earth concentrate is extracted.

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From there, the material is sent to Solvay’s second rare earth metals recycling facility in Charente Maritime, France, which is equipped with sophisticated separation technology, according to the company. Once the rare earth metals have been separated, they are reformulated into luminescent precursors to be reused to manufacture new lamps, Solvay says. “Used in small quantities, rare earths play the role of ‘vitamins’ vital for the continuing development of new technologies, especially green technologies,” says Du Hua, director of Solvay Rare Earths Systems business unit. “Global demand for rare earths is growing at more than 6 percent per year, making these elements a strategic raw material. Recycling allows us to develop a new source of supply, and we aim to become the benchmark European player in this area.” Hua adds, “The launch of these units illustrates our tangible contribution as a chemical manufacturer to sustainable development.”

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TV Recycling Facility Opens in New Zealand

ELECTRONICS, INTERNATIONAL RECYCLING NEWS New facility will process up to 80,000 television sets per year. Recycling Today StaffOCTOBER 2, 2012 Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on pinterest_shareShare on linkedinShare on emailShare on print. New Zealand’s Environment Minister has officially opened a new recycling facility that will be able to process as many as 80,000 televisions per year. Abilities Group, a nonprofit organization based in Auckland, New Zealand, used $110,000 from New Zealand’s Waste Minimisation Fund to open the Glenfield, New Zealand, facility. When fully operational, the plant is expected to divert up to 750,000 metric tons of material per year from landfills. “Unwanted televisions are a hazard if not dealt with responsibly, and initiatives like this are crucial in ensuring harmful materials are not released into soil or waterways,” says Amy Adams, New Zealand environment minister. “This is one of a number of e-waste initiatives the government has funded through the Waste Minimisation Fund. “Our aim is to build New Zealand’s e-waste processing infrastructure to ensure we have the facilities in place to meet future demand. This initiative is a further step towards New Zealand better managing the 80,000 metric tons of electronic waste created each year from used televisions, computers, cell phones and printers,” she continues. Abilities, founded in 1959, also processes plastic wrap, cardboard and packaging.

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Intelligent interactive highway by studio

roosegaarde + heijmans

'Smart highway' by daan roosegaarde + heijmans dutch design firm studio roosegaarde and heleen herbert from heijmans infrastructure have presented the first prototypes of their 'smart highway' development. Awarded with a ‘best future concept’ by the dutch design awards, the idea will be realized mid-2013 in the netherlands. Using the latest techniques, the team is dedicated in building roads that are more sustainable, safe and interactive for both drivers and builders. Instead of focusing on the car to innovate the driving experience, roosegaarde and heijmans found it about time to innovate the highways. with smarter transportation research already disposable for use for decades, an implementation plan capable of updating the highway with new designs such as a 'glow-in-the-dark road', 'dynamic paints', 'interactive lights',

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'Induction priority lanes' and 'wind lights'. The system essentially creates roads that are more socially conscious and

interactive through the inclusion of light, energy and road signs which automatically adapt to various traffic situations.

Interactive light The lines are painted with a glow-in-the-dark powder giving light up to 10 hours

wind light The dynamic paint only becomes visible in specific situation, making highway signs relevant to driving context

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Bridgestone angelino petite electric bicycle

bridgestone angelino petite electric bicycle with 300,000 units already sold in japan, the bridgestone 'angelino assista e-bike' helps mothers transport their children using integrated child seat and safety systems. Equipped with an aluminium frame and a 240w brushless motor, it provides 37 miles (60 km) of range before needing to be recharged. Its 'auto eco plus mode' assists users according to the slope of the road. The inclusion of 'the super angel seat 2.0' provides added protection and comfort for children based on scientific experiments. A reclining function has been added to this new style of high-grade baby seat, where it incorporates a flexible urethane head guard and seat belt for ultimate safety. By adding sliding foot rests to the chair, the parents are able to adjust sizes based on a kid's growth cycles,

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and when not in use, it can be closed and transformed into a shopping basket.

3/4 view the main feature is that it has been designed with a low center of gravity with the use of 20-inch diameter fat tires, which provides it with high levels of stability and makes it easy to control and difficult to topple over even when loaded with two children. These stable tires are known as 'gotsuku futoku' sporty tires. Despite the small diameter of the tires, they have ample air volume to provide vibration suppression and stability on rough roads, and anxiety-free levels of load durability even when three people weighing up to 100kg are on the bicycle. The frame was also developed from scratch together with the tires.

The low center of gravity provides excellent handling balance and a comfortable, carefree ride both on the straights and on the bends.

in addition, the shape of the open wide frame makes the bicycle easy to pedal when wearing a skirt and prevents the knees from coming into contact with the front child seat, even when men are riding, and it has a durable and tough aluminum frame with sufficient strength, rigidity and stability to carry three people (the rider

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And two children.) the child seats are located low on the bicycle to enable children to be placed on and lifted off both the front and rear seats smoothly (the lowest design of all 3-seater bicycles.

Context use the front child seat is equipped with a reclining function, the first of its type developed within the industry. it is also fully equipped with all functions to guarantee the safety and comfort of children, including a head-guard that will protect the child's head in the event of the bicycle toppling over, adjustable head-guard and footrests that take the growth of the child into consideration, and a handlebar locking device and wide stand to prevent the bicycle from toppling over when parked. These motor-assisted functions include a main switch equipped with a digital meter that is located near at hand for easy operations, the S.P.E.C.3. Function, which provides finely-tuned assistance in alignment with the gears, and the auto eco mode plus function that automatically controls the assistance power in accordance with all cycling scenarios. The Angelino petite assist is one of a total of four small-diameter motor-assisted bicycles for three riders (rider + two children) and normal bicycles in the series -- 69,800 yen to 141,800 yen (including tax).

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Russia Taps Super-Giant Gas Field after 40-Year Wait

Putin breaks ground on the Siberia's Yamal peninsula, marking the start of commercial energy production on one of the world's largest natural gas fields.

COMMENTS0

The super-giant field -- second in size in Russia only to Gazprom's vital Urengoi deposit to the south -- is part of an Arctic project that Gazprom has been pinning its hopes on in the post-Soviet era as its older wells run dry.

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Russia's Gazprom (IW 1000/16) state energy giant on Tuesday launched production at one of the world's largest natural gas fields some 40 years after its discovery by Soviet scientists in the frozen and hitherto inaccessible Arctic.

President Vladimir Putin formally pushed the button on the start of commercial energy production at the Arctic deposit whose discovery in the early 1970s created excitement and frustration in equal measure.

The Bovanenkovo field on the Yamal peninsula at the extreme of northwestern Siberia has what Gazprom estimates is 177 trillion cubic feet of natural gas -- a figure making it one of the world's three largest.

But it also lies amid permafrost and had remained cut off from access to pipelines or even basic communication until recent years.

"The field will produce 115 billion cubic meters [4,060 billion cubic feet] of gas and that will go up to nearly 140 billion," Putin told the field's workers by live video link-up from Moscow.

"This is nearly the equivalent of how much we export to Europe," he stressed.

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The super-giant field -- second in size in Russia only to Gazprom's vital Urengoi deposit to the south -- is part of an Arctic project that Gazprom has been pinning its hopes on in the post-Soviet era as its older wells run dry.

Russia's largest company saw its exports to Europe slip last year after remaining flat for years amid lagging production and demand that is sagging on account of the global financial crisis.

Gazprom had decided on a risk-wrought strategy of ignoring fresh field development while purchasing gas from other countries as it waited for Bovanenkovo to go online.

Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller said Gazprom intended to launch nearly 150 wells this year that feed into pipelines to Europe and replace supplies lost from the currently on-hold Shtokman field project in the Barents Sea.

"We intend to create on oil and gas province (in Yamal)," Putin added in the live link-up. "We will launch dozens of new promising fields," he said.

Russia provides about 30% of Europe's natural gas imports and is the world's largest exporter of energy -- a dominant status that has seen EU nations seek import diversification and reforms aimed at breaking up Gazprom's foreign holdings.

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Metal replacement at Fakuma: PolyOne, BASF, EMS, Evonik,

DuPont, and Sabic Friedrichshafen, Germany—At the booths of the materials producers last week at the Fakuma, metal-to-plastics replacement revealed itself as one of this year's dominant themes.

PolyOne "Replacing metal with polymer solutions is one of the significant ways we help our customers improve their products and grow their revenues," said PolyOne's Holger Kronimus, Vice President Europe and general manager Engineered Materials Europe.

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With benefits such as a higher performance-to-weight ratio; reduced total costs due to part consolidation and the elimination of secondary assembly operations; greater design freedom offered by plastics; and easy handling and corrosion resistance properties, manufacturers and product developers are increasingly turning to metal replacement solutions. On display at PolyOne's booth at Fakuma were two examples of customers' products that were formerly made of metal but that have now been re-engineered in plastic, using PolyOne's polymers solutions. The first, a rigging block made by FKD in the Netherlands, incorporates four of PolyOne's products, resulting in considerably improved physical performance and durability. The completely assembled blocks use OnForce LFT long-fiber reinforced polymers for the required mechanical strength and 50% less weight; two formulations of LubroOne to reduce wear and friction for easier operation; and Bergamide polyamide, which provides toughness and resistance to saltwater for reduced maintenance. Finnish LED manufacturer Kruunutekniikka Oy opted to replace the aluminum in its Coolics LED light fixtures with Therma-Tech materials from PolyOne. LEDs are a sustainable lighting option, as they consume less energy and release less heat than conventional lighting. However, managing the heat generated by the LEDs is critical to maintaining useful life and energy efficiency. The Therma-Tech materials are being used in thermal management components, i.e. the socket, cooling heat sink, transfer pad and trim in LED lighting. Replacing metal heat sinks with these new materials makes it possible to consolidate parts and better manage hot spots, resulting in longer LED lifetimes as well as reduced weight, lower manufacturing costs, and improved in-service performance.

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BASF At the BASF booth, it was clear that metal-to-plastic replacement was an important focus - "and it's all about composites", says Sabine Philipp. "It's a pull from the market. In automotive, we've reached the limit of what we can do with short-fiber reinforced materials. Further lightweighting to meet emission standards means replacing the metal in the car bodies as well, and that means using composites." Metal replacement for BASF has also expanded from almost solely being automotive related into a surprising number of other sectors. Metal mounting brackets used to install solar cell systems on roofs, for example, can now be produced from BASF's extremely rigid polyamide grade Ultramid A3WG10 for which, says BASF, "a service life of 20 years can be verified by means of ISO 4892-2 Cycle 1. “A prototype for a photovoltaic panel ground mount, also with engineering plastic components, was on display. Gardening tools are another area in which material requirements can be unexpectedly high. The new plug-in garden tool system from Freund Victoria Gartengeräte has a connecting piece made of Ultramid Structure, a high-strength long glass fiber-reinforced PA. The inner backbone of long-glass fibers, revealed by ashing the part, was also shown, offering an x-ray-like look at the actual structure of the part. Automotive applications were also well represented, including the first production application for the new heat-resistant BASF polyamide Ultramid Endure. Montaplast, a Germany-based global supplier to the automotive industry has selected the material for a heat shield in the charge-air manifold in Daimler's four-cylinder diesel engines. In the charge air manifold, fresh air and hot exhaust gases mix, creating high temperatures and strong turbulence.

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Previously, an aluminum shield and built-in sensor were used. An intelligently designed plastic insert made of this heat-resistant plastic has now replaced these. The plastic functions as a thermal insulator, while halving part weight. Moreover, holes have been added in the side of the shield to produce a specific turbulence in the charge air. EMS With a huge sign reading "Our Metal is called Grivory," this company's focus on metal replacement was evident from across the show hall. "It's our core competence," agreed a spokesperson at the booth. The company produces an impressive range of polyamides, to which it most recently added Grivory GVX and HTVX. These grades are based on new reinforcement technology that increases transverse strength and stiffness for producing thin-walled components with high resistance to internal pressure and tangential stress, shorter cycle times, and lower component weight. As transverse shrinking is also reduced, significantly less warpage occurs. While EMS was showcasing the numerous automotive applications - under the hood, lighting, the steering column of the BMW 5 and 7 series - its Grivory grades are also found in demanding applications in, for example, the sports sector. The Swiss BMC Impec bicycle frame consists of a carbon tube structure with, at the nodal points, frame joints designed as two half shells, which are bonded under precision control with the frame tubes during assembly of the frame, and carry a lifelong guarantee. The half-shells are made with what BMC calls "a revolutionary compound composite material" made by EMS, which provides the required bending stiffness, strength, shock-absorbance and weight savings. The frames were tested by professional riders during the Tour de France. Evonik At Fakuma, Evonik showcased its expanded Vestamid HT plus polyphthalamide

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(PPA) product portfolio, which now includes PA6T and PA10T, as well as variants with a glass-fiber content of 45%. "Our portfolio expansion is precisely aligned to the demands of the market," said Dick Heinrich, director of Business Management. "Our customers can expect particularly great things from the launch of new tribologically equipped polyphthalamides and water/glycol-resistant options for the automotive industry." A charge-air duct, typically a metal application, made of PPA from Evonik was used in a Lotus Exige racing car during the DMV Touring Car Championship in June. DuPont The eyecatcher at the DuPont booth in Friedrichshafen was The Generation by Knoll, a high-end office chair featuring renewably sourced DuPont Hytrel RS TPC-ET for the flex back net and DuPont Hytrel TPC-ET and Crastin PBT for the dynamic suspension control. Knoll invited DuPont early on into the design of the chair. According to Rick Tobar, Development Programs Manager at DuPont: "As well as introducing lots of different samples, we demonstrated how the different materials could be used and how the designers could extract the maximum value out of them in terms of balancing functional attributes against design needs... such as increased support while maintaining the necessary flex." The Flex Back Net and the Dynamic Suspension control work together to give the chair its flexibility and structure, yet still retain the memory of its original position. The Dynamic Suspension control is a simple, non-mechanical control concept that provides a smooth, weight-compensated ride. Without the complexity of metal links or springs, the control uses one-third of the number of parts of a traditional ergonomic chair mechanism.

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The chair is also 20% lighter than most high performance chairs on the market. Sabic Sabic has also become an important player in the area of LED and lighting, and not only because the company makes polycarbonate (PC). Sabic's LNP Konduit compound for thermal management in a new white formulation is the material of choice for private label lighting manufacturer Leedarson Lighting, which uses the compound for heat sinks in two of its light-emitting diode (LED) retrofit bulbs. Compared to aluminum and other metals, thermally conductive compounds typically have lower coefficients of thermal expansion that help reduce stresses from differential expansion. They also weigh significantly less than aluminum. LNP Konduit compounds offer tremendous flexibility to designers, who benefit from the freedom to create complex shapes and achieve part integration using injection molding instead of traditional stamping, casting, and secondary finishing required by metals.

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Progress reported on rating energy consumption of

injection presses

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, GERMANY -- A European project to introduce labeling on injection molding machines that gives a rating for their energy consumption has completed the first stages. However it will be at least a year before the labeling system is launched by European machine makers. The project was started in 2011 by Euromap, the European association representing plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers. It forms part of the plastics industry’s response to the European Commission’s Energy Related Products directive, which seeks to reduce the energy consumption of industrial machinery by 20 percent by 2020. The project has worked on developing a standard approach to measurement of energy consumption in injection molding machines. This work has now finished, announced VDMA, the German machinery association, at a forum on its Blue Competence energy efficiency program which it held last week during the Fakuma 2012 exhibition in Friedrichshafen. But before the labeling system is launched, machinery makers are being given time to improve the energy consumption of their product ranges so that they achieve an A rating at the launch. “Everybody is being given the chance to get into the best classification,” said Karlheinz Bourdon, vice president of technologies at KraussMaffei, who is involved in the project. Speaking to European Plastics News after the forum, he said there is no fixed timetable, but he hopes an announcement on the labeling system can be made by the time the K2013 exhibition takes place in October next year.

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Bourdon said he expects non-European manufacturers of injection molding machines to also take up the energy labeling system after it has been launched. Other Euromap initiatives have been adopted around the world, he said. Peter Neumann, president and CEO of Engel, said the labeling system should encourage all machine manufacturers to raise standards in energy efficiency. “With such an initiative, you introduce a ‘push’ into the industry. That’s something I see as very positive,” he told European Plastics News.

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A small but mighty force

PLAINFIELD, CONN. -- Westminster Tool Inc. President Raymond Coombs expects his employees to come up with at least two new ideas a month.

“There is a passion for innovation with every person in this country,” the executive said Oct. 3 during an interview at the company’s Plainfield headquarters plant.

New ideas are the backbone of Westminster, which Coombs started 13 years ago as a part-time venture from the basement of his house. Its first parts were for a printing press.

Today, high-end values like high-speed milling and robotics help keep costs low, but the dynamic factor in the firm’s success is its 28 employees, said business development Vice President Mark Ypsilantis.

The company follows what Coombs calls “an idea system” — “where in order to work, you have to start with two ideas a month,” he said.

“And then we actually implement them and train people,” Coombs said.

At the start, Coombs said employees feared they might run out of ideas. But the ideas keep coming. So far, a total of 780 ideas have been offered and more than 560 of them implemented.

“When I started the business, all the other guys were going the other way” — that is, getting out of the mold making business, Coombs said.

Employees have helped build the company, Coombs said. Sales have jumped from $3.5 million in the last two years to $5 million this year, he said.

“Today everybody is thinking: ‘What can I do to make the company better?’ ” he said.

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Westminster employees’ ideas range from the simple to the complex, but the aim is the same.

The cup dispenser near the water cooler always dropped two cups, and despite using the machine for years, Coombs admitted that he never thought about it much — until an employee suggested crimping the tube so only one cup dropped at a time. That single and very basic idea saved the company $128 a year, Coombs said.

Another idea, of unplugging a water fountain that was no longer in use, created $400 in savings.

Increased efficiency and higher morale are two major consequences of the idea program.

Westminster emphasizes cross-training and is quick to move people around to improve efficiency. In fact, the firm shuts down twice a year for a day of training.

The latest seminar — troubleshooting on the Internet — focused on teaching employees how to do research on their projects.

Over the last three years, Westminster has diversified at its 13,000-square-foot facility in Plainfield.

It now builds manufacturing cells for high-performance composite materials used in the aerospace industry, and has found another niche working with resin transfer molds.

The company also does low-volume production of high-performance plastic materials to replace metal in parts, and that business is gaining ground, Coombs said.

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But Westminster’s mainstay is mold making — with capabilities for up to 64 cavities and a prowess in working with molds of up to 10,000 pounds.

The company does a mixture of low-cavity and high-complexity work. The newest piece of toolmaking equipment is a five-axis Deckel Maho milling machine that has helped boost Westminster’s aerospace work.

In late September, the company added its third injection molding machine for tool validation, a 300-ton Toyo that complements its 110- and 150-ton Toyo presses.

Westminster’s key markets are aerospace and defense, medical-device and pharmaceutical products, and consumer packaging, particularly high-volume, high-cavitation injection molds for caps and closures.

The company has come to rely more on strategic partnerships, such as its latest — an agreement with Omni Mold Systems, a supplier of standardized mold components based in Lisbon, Conn.

Westminster also teamed up with a number of other companies to host a demonstration day Oct. 3 for customers who wanted to see how dovetail collapsible core mold technology works.

The DT collapsible core was supplied by Roehr Tool Corp. of Hudson, Mass.

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JCI wins award for ComfortThin seat

BURSCHEID, GERMANY -- Johnson Controls has received an award for its ComfortThin seat, which replaces urethane foam pads with coil springs. The automotive seating company received the accolade at the ÖkoGlobe awards, held Oct. 17 in Cologne, Germany. The jury chose this year’s winners of the international environmental award for the mobility industry from more than 110 applications, a greater number than ever before, JC said. “ComfortThin convinced the jury, since Johnson Controls successfully transferred lightweight and recyclable materials from other industries to an automotive product. Also, this seat creates additional weight saving potential through shorter bodywork, thus reducing fuel consumption,” commented Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, spokesperson for the ÖkoGlobe jury. As part of a design partnership with British luxury mattress manufacturer Harrison Spinks, Johnson Controls has developed an automotive seat with a thin profile, which replaces conventional urethane foam pads with pocketed coil springs from the bedding industry. The new technology will be available for 2015 models. Testing of the seat in modified production cars has been positive and has piqued the interest of automakers, Johnson Controls said.

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Eastman launches a recyclable extrusion blowmolding resin

for packaging applications

Eastman Chemical Co. has expanded its portfolio of resins with the addition of the Aspira One, a new recyclable PET polymer tailored specifically for extrusion blowmolding (EBM) processes and packaging applications such as clear handleware and large-size bottles. Eastman touts the new PET polymer as providing an "optimal balance of recyclability, product performance, production efficiency and aesthetics versus alternative polyester resins available to the EBM market." "We recognized we had a gap in our product line," Ron Salati, global market development manager, specialty plastics packaging for Eastman, told PlasticsToday.

"We had the opportunity to round out our portfolio and offer extrusion blowmolders a new look for container resins." The polymer is compatible in the PET recycle stream and carries RIC 1. In July, Aspira One received resin recognition from the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR) for meeting the PET Bottle Critical Guidance Document protocol. Before, it was impossible to combine clarity, EBM manufacturing, and environmental responsibility for large containers, Eastman stated.

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The crystal-clear clarity of Aspira One allows consumers to see the contents of their packages, potentially providing valuable product differentiation and shelf appeal for brands. For bottle performance, the material offers toughness and is free of BPA and halogens. In contrast with other polyester resins for EBM, Aspira One is an amorphous, melt-phase produced material, according to Eastman. Aspira One pellets are not crystalline or solid-stated, they can be dried and processed at lower temperatures than other PET resins. Another feature is that the crystallization of bottle flash regrind is not required, because Aspira One pellets are amorphous and thereby compatible with the regrind in a dryer setup. In addition, Aspira One does not melt fracture at high extrusion rates, giving it high clarity on all EBM platforms. Salati said that the company is currently running trials and they anticipate several companies, including major global beverage brands, will begin using Aspira One starting in 2013. "Everyone has been very accepting and we've gotten positive responses," he said. "Our product is always very desired in the market but the only negative was the issue around recyclability in the PET stream. With our new product, we're still keeping our proven technology, it's just now going to fit in the recycled stream, which is one of the desires customers have."

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DuPont unveils 'jounce' bumper

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, GERMANY -- DuPont Co. has used the Fakuma trade event to highlight two high-performance applications it hopes will appeal to the automotive sector. The materials group worked with injection blow molding equipment specialist Ossberger to produce the 'jounce bumper' component, which forms part of a vehicle's shock absorber system. Made from DuPont's Hytrel thermoplastic elastomer, the component has been tested by a number of car makers over rough terrain for thousands of kilometres. Independent tests said the part allows better steering feedback and improved roadhandling "compared to polyurethane parts." Patrick Cuzac, DuPont's automotive director Europe, said: "The jounce bumper is an example of DuPont listening to market needs and developing a superior solution, while providing all the necessary collaborative support needed to bring an idea from design to commercialization." DuPont declined to reveal which car makers might take up the technology, although a spokesman said it had ascertained a demand for the part and it could see its way into a range of models next year. The group also revealed an expanded portfolio of its Zytel long-chain polyamides, with new grades that delivered flexibility and salt stress cracking resistance similar to PA11 and PA12. The resulting polyamides offer "functional attributes that make them suitable for use into automotive and commercial vehicle applications, including fuel and air brake lines, typically the domain of [nylon] PA12", the group said in a statement.

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Jindal Poly buying ExxonMobil BOPP films

business

NEW DELHI -- An Indian company has agreed to buy ExxonMobil Chemical Co.’s global biaxially oriented polypropylene films operations, which comprise one of the world’s largest BOPP film manufacturers. New Delhi-based Jindal Poly Films Ltd. said it signed the deal on Oct. 26, but it did not release terms. The company announced the acquisition to the Bombay Stock Exchange. ExxonMobil has a leading position in BOPP films in both North America and Europe. Plants included in the deal are in Shawnee, Okla., LaGrange, Ga., Virton, Belgium, Brindisi, Italy, and Kerkrade, Netherlands. A BOPP plant in Belleville, Ontario, is not included in the agreement and will be closed in the first half of 2013, ExxonMobil spokeswoman Margaret Ross said in a telephone interview from ExxonMobil’s head office in Houston. Belleville is ExxonMobil’s highest cost BOPP producer, Ross explained. The BOPP films sale “is part of a long-standing practice to review assets and their potential value to others,” Ross said. The deal is contingent on regulatory approvals. Neither ExxonMobil nor Jindal posited a likely timeline of its completion. “We are excited to buy this business due to its excellent portfolio of premium products along with industry leading technology and R&D,” noted Jindal CEO Hemant Sharma in a news release. “We are equally excited to be acquiring an experienced and capable workforce.” The agreement includes a technical center and sales office in Macedon, N.Y., and regional business and sales offices in Luxembourg, Spain, United Kingdom, Poland, Singapore, Italy, Germany and China.

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ExxonMobil makes clear, metalized and white OPP films sold to converters in the packaging and labeling markets. The global BOPP films business employs about 1,500. Plastics News recently estimated the company’s North American film sales at $530 million. Jindal Poly is part of the diversified BC Jindal Group which has interests in flexible packaging, photographic products, thermal power generation and steel. Jindal Poly claims to have the world’s largest single site for production of BOPP and biaxially oriented PET films in Nasik, India. Jindal’s current combined capacity for BOPP and PET films is 741 million pounds per year. The business had sales of $452 million for the year ended in March, the company said in a news release.

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Thermally conductive compounds reduce vehicle

weight via metal replacement

US compounder RTP Company (Winona, MN) has introduced new thermally conductive compounds targeted at replacing metal components in automotive heating and cooling systems. The new products have been specially formulated to increase the thermal management design options available to automotive industry engineers as they strive to reduce vehicle weight in order to improve fuel efficiency. "The automotive market is putting more emphasis on eliminating metals in order to reduce vehicle weight and increase fuel efficiency," said Neil Hardwick, Conductive Products Marketing Manager for RTP. "These thermally conductive compounds give engineers the opportunity to redesign heating and cooling systems in ways that have never before been possible." Automobile systems that are ideal candidates for redesign using thermally conductive compounds include both air-cooled and liquid-cooled systems for batteries, emissions control, lighting modules, and electric vehicle thermal management. Thermal conductivity characteristics can be incorporated into a variety of base resins including polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), nylons (PA), polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), and polyphthalamide (PPA) among others. All RTP Company products are available worldwide through their global network of full-service facilities that provide technical support from design through finished part production. "RTP Company's newest thermally conductive compounds actually provide thermal conductivity values that exceed that of stainless steel," according to Hardwick.

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In-plane thermal conductivity values up to 35 W/m.K can be achieved using a variety of additives and can be either electrically insulating or electrically conductive. As a custom compounder, RTP has the ability to modify these thermally conductive compounds to meet the performance requirements of specific heating and cooling applications. Thermally conductive compounds offer many benefits over aluminum or stainless steel for vehicles according to RTP. Advantages plastics offer over metal materials include: the ability to provide electrical isolation, reduction in part weight by up to 50%, lower manufacturing costs and simplified production using efficient injection molding processing, and longer system lifecycles by eliminating corrosion. Some thermally conductive compounds can also provide EMI shielding properties in addition to thermal conductivity. This is crucial feature for a replacement material in automotive system where metals have been used in a dual role as both an EMI shield and a heat sink. Building on years of experience formulating EMI shielding compounds, RTP says that it can even increase the shielding effectiveness of its thermally conductive compounds when necessary. Product data sheets for baseline thermally conductive compounds are available here.

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Case Study: Two-shot mold reduces cost, improves quality

It wasn’t too many years ago that moldmakers and their customers worked in different silos. The customer would throw the RFQ over the wall to the moldmaker, who in turn would quote the mold as designed and throw back a price for the mold. The customer would provide a purchase order and the job would begin over the past decade, as OEMs in the automotive industry and their Tier 1 and 2 suppliers have become more and more dependent upon the expertise of the moldmaking industry, those silos have come down. Collaborative efforts have resulted in a number of changes: more involvement at the front-end of the project by the moldmaker; more collaborative efforts on the part of the moldmaker’s engineering team with the customer’s engineers; and a greater effort on the part of the moldmaker to be innovative and creative in providing solutions—not just replicate a part print. Industrial Molds Group, which consists of Industrial Molds, a manufacturer of high-performance plastics injection molds, and its sister company, Pyramid Plastics, an injection molding company, are noted for the companies’ dedication to working closely with their customers to develop creative solutions to challenging problems. Sometimes the solution wasn’t what the customer had in mind when they approached Industrial Molds. In one recent project, a customer came to them for help on a part for the automotive industry. Their process had always required molding the parts in a nylon resin in one injection molding press, then moving the parts to another injection molding press nearby, placing the parts into the cavity of a second mold, and overmolding the nylon parts with a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE).

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This process was being impacted by physically moving the parts from one press to the other, something that added time and cost, and risked damage to the parts. To reduce the cost of producing this part, the customer had automated the process. But because of the extremely small size of the parts, automating the process proved extremely challenging: The parts were so small that it was difficult for a robot to grab and place the parts correctly in the second molding press, which in turn created quality problems. “The customer knew they would have problems following the processing path they had always taken,” said Engineering Account Manager Kerry Smith. “Their question to us was ‘How do we transfer these parts successfully to another press?'” Smith explained that Industrial Molds’ engineering team didn’t see this challenge so much as a logistical problem—how to move these small parts from one press to another—but rather one of better processing technology. “From their viewpoint, they had a logistics problem that included how to pick the parts from one mold and place the parts successfully in the second mold using a robot, which proved very difficult. Even if they could do it, that process wouldn’t get them to where they needed to go,” Smith added. The customer was getting pounded on part price, something that wouldn’t improve if they followed their traditional manufacturing process. The current cost structure included two molds, two injection molding presses, and the robotics to interface the two presses. All of this made the total cost-to-manufacture of these parts too great for them to be profitable.

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Industrial Molds, with its expertise in processing through Pyramid Plastics, convinced the customer that this part was perfect for a two-shot molding process. A two-shot mold was built that molded the nylon substrate first, then a second shot overmolded the thermoplastic elastomer to make complete parts in one press, and without the use of robotics. Pyramid Plastics has a two-shot press that was a perfect fit for the size of the mold built by Industrial Molds. Using the two-shot molding technology brought the custom’s part cost down so that even with the expenditure for the new mold, they could easily cost-justify it on their bottom line and get a quick return on investment. Smith says that a big part of Industrial Molds Group’s success, in addition to its expertise in mold design, build and processing technology, is really listening to the customer and being able to see beyond the initial problem. “We have the engineering resources as well as processing resources at our disposal to help customers accomplish more than they expected,” Smith says. “We can meet the customers’ challenges with a fresh approach that will save them money and be more productive in the long run.”

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Ban of unwashed waste import is not new

China's new plastics recycling regulations that took effects at the beginning of this month specifically mentioned the ban of any import of unwashed, post-consumer plastics scrap, which a few readers have called me to ask about. In fact the ban has existed for years. The government was simply reiterating it, because it hasn't been strictly enforced. But is it even enforceable?

According to the "Solid Waste Import Regulations" (GB16487.12), China started in 2005 to require imported post-consumer plastic containers to be "granulated and washed to the extent that there is no obvious odor or stains."

However, it didn't give details on how the scrap is supposed to washed and how an "obvious odor and stain" are defined.

The requirement failed to provide quantitative methods for evaluating scrap materials.

It was interpreted and enforced in different ways by various interest groups, Jason Wang from the China Scrap Plastics Association told me.

The Plastics Recycling Committee of China Plastics Processing Industry Association echoed that, saying that even the most fundamental standards are unclear and debatable, making the regulation impractical to enforce.

"That's why the Ministry of Environmental Protection is taking another look at the issue and asking the industry for input," said Xie Fang from the Shenzhen-based group.

Some readers also asked me about exporting electronic waste to China - whether it is subject to the same regulations for the import of plastic bottles and bags, for instance.

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It is difficult to find a definitive, explicit answer from the government regulations, but both CSPA and CPPIA-PRC told me electronic waste has been treated like any other type of plastics scrap.

But both groups also pointed out that the current policy - washed, no odor and stain - are insufficient to ensure the safety of electronic waste import and recycling.

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) contains large quantities of ABS and HIPS, Xie said. For large plastic housings, it's easy to take them off and wash them clean.

But for parts that have heavy metal or chemical residues, simply washing is not an effective way to clean away the harmful substances.

There are 100 or so government-approved Chinese companies that specialize in dismantling and recycling electronic waste, she added.

But in reality, companies that don't have the required equipment and technology are also engaged in the recycling of WEEE, causing damage to the environment and people's heath.

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PA grade deployed In monolayer

rotomolded fuel tanks An innovative polyamide (PA) 6 technology developed by DSM Engineering Plastics forms the basis of a new solution for rotomolding monolayer tanks developed by ICO Polymers (Houston, TX), a leading producer of rotational molding grades. The monolayer PA 6 solution, named Icorene 7620 Fuel Lock, was developed for small engine tanks for off-road vehicles to comply with the latest legislation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which was introduced to minimize emissions from fuel evaporation.

The new monolayer PA 6 solution is based on Akulon Fuel Lock PA 6 from DSM, originally designed for injection- and blowmolded fuel tanks that are used for engines in hand-held and ground-supported lawn and garden equipment, as well as recreational, professional landscaping, and marine applications. Icorene 7620 Fuel Lock eliminates the need for after-treatment procedures such as the environmentally challenging

fluorination process. Moreover, this monolayer solution obviates the need for complex multilayer concepts, delivering improved equipment efficiency and productivity—and therefore lower energy consumption during processing.

PA rotomolding grade realizes CARB-compliant single-layer fuel tank.

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In use, the monolayer solution ensures a durable barrier performance over the required liability period of five years, and this does not diminish over time. The easy-to-process toughened polyamide PA6-based monolayer rotomolding solution was designed specifically for the production of small engine tanks for off-road vehicles. Its development was made possible by combining ICO Polymers' expertise in rotational molding, particle size reduction and processing—and DSM's expertise in high-performance engineering materials. Heinrich Lingnau BU manager of specialty powders at ICO Polymers for EMEA region, said:"PA 6 will surely establish a position in the rotational molding market because of its combination of high strength, modulus, and relative high melt temperature." Tim Vorage, application development manager at DSM, stated: "Our newly developed cost-effective Akulon Fuel Lock for the rotomolding market is the outcome of an intense cooperation with the research department of ICO Polymers. The material not only shows a permeation factor of below 20% of the EPA limit, but it also exhibits high toughness at lowtemperatures." Besides EPA compliant tanks, Icorene 7620 Fuel Lock can be used in any applications that require low fuel permeation, low-temperature impact performance, and UV stability.

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ECAL low-tech factory - oncle sam

single kernel popcorn machine

'oncle sam' by laurent beirnaert, pierre bouvier, paul tubiana photo © nicolas genta image courtesy of ECAL university of art and design lausanne/ECAL students laurent beirnaert, pierre bouvier and paul tubiana presented their popcorn making machine 'oncle sam' as part of the 'low-tech factory' exhibition for designers' saturday in langenthal, switzerland. The project was an outcome of re-interpreting and experimenting with manufacturing processes, whereby the master and bachelor students tackled the production of the universally accepted cinema food - popcorn. The transformation focuses on a single raw kernel at a time, where an elaborate

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Contraption orchestrates the ingredients in a charmingly grandiose fashion. A tea-light candle heats a solitary grain in oil, which after some time, explodes into the fluffy result - and of course seasoned with salt for taste. The concept was exhibited over two days during the event in the ruckstuhl building - one of the multiple factories around langenthal temporarily converted into expansive exhibition spaces showcasing various designs and products. The work celebrates and values the means by which a product is created - slowing down a type of manufacture that is usually en masse to a visual spectacle that can be appreciated, acknowledged and savored. A video of the machine in use.

The work celebrates and values the means by which a product is created photo © nicolas genta image courtesy of ECAL

An elaborate contraption orchestrates the ingredients in a grandiose fashion to reach the final fluffy result photo © nicolas genta image courtesy of ECAL

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Torafu architects: AA stool

'AA stool' by torafu architects made from 2x4 canadian red cedar wood modules with legs which have been cut at a slight diagonal angle on both ends, the 'AA stool' stands at a height of 560mm, slightly above that of a typical chair offering a comfortable upright sitting position.

The combination of these simple 'A-letter' profile components allows the furniture piece to stand while at the same time providing support for the seat of the stool. designed by torafu architects, the set is comprised of two stools

Which can be arranged with one another to create a single unit? The stacking and lining up of these lets one create longer bench formations, and when not in use can laid flat for compact storage. The 'AA stool' is a continuation of the japanese firm's collaboration with ishinomaki laboratory, an initiative which is 'a place of creating something new' for the community, established by

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Designers and other creative are in the ishinomaki city of miyagi prefecture.

Their first product was the 'skydeck' which designboom covered here. A-letter profile

The height of the stool sits just above that of a typical chair

Each set is comprised of two stools

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Individual use

The stool has been designed for compact storage.

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