New KraussMaffei line in China promotes environmental care
November / December 2009
Thanks to the support provided by the German Technical Cooperation, the first KraussMaffei Berstorff ZE75/KE250 Schaumtandex line can be delivered to a Chinese polystyrene producer. This project was promoted within the frame of the International Climate Protection Initiative by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) on the basis of a resolution of the German Parliament. The line in question is designed for the production of thermal insulation boards made of extruded polystyrene foam (XPS) in different thicknesses using the eco-friendly blowing agent CO2. The background to this technical solution is the phase-out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (CFC) and partly halogenated hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) that are still being used as blowing agents in many countries all over the world.
China still has to deal with a building area of several billion m² where the national energy-saving requirements introduced by the government in 2001 are not complied with. In Northern China, in particular, enormous amounts of heating energy are wasted due to non-insulated facades and the environment is thus needlessly polluted. For the few insulated buildings, mainly XPS insulating boards expanded by means of ecologically damaging HCFCs (like R22/R142b) are used. The blowing agent released from these boards depletes the ozone layer and presents a substantial greenhouse potential thus leading to the dreaded global warming effect.
The Schaumtandex ZE75/KE250 extrusion line is suitable for the use of environmentally friendly blowing agents (like CO2, for instance). The downstream cooling extruder KE250 ensures optimum cooling of the blowing agent containing melt. Owing to innovative screw geometries, higher output rates can be achieved and the fine-cell XPS foam produced presents an outstanding quality. The board processing line is designed for continuous treatment of boards with different lengths and thicknesses and milled edge profiles on all sides. The production capacity of the new line amounts to 200,000 m3 per year.
Borouge and Borealis feature innovative wire and cable solutions
November / December 2009
Borouge and Borealis, the world’s leading providers of innovative, value creating plastics solutions for the wire and cable industry, participated in the Wire Southeast Asia exhibition held at the Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre (BITEC) in Thailand from 13 to 15 October 2009.
Wire Southeast Asia is a key platform for progressive companies seeking to penetrate regional markets like Thailand, with its strong manufacturing base and mega infrastructure projects particularly in the transportation, telecommunications and public utility sectors, and developing Indochina markets such as Vietnam.
At the show, Borouge has demonstrated their ongoing commitment to investing in and providing innovative material solutions for communication and energy cable networks to their customers in the Southeast Asian region. Borouge has also conducted a customer seminar to share the lessons learnt from their 50 years of experience in producing a comprehensive selection of products that integrate advanced research technology programmes with rapid product development capability.
Borouge is in a unique position to deliver value to the wire and cable industry in this region by providing access to Borealis’ extensive portfolio, which covers applications ranging from low, medium, high and extra high voltage cables to flame retardant cables, telecommunication cables and fibre optic cables. At the seminar, the companies have presented their full range of innovative wire and cable solutions, including Borcell, Casico, Superclean, Supersmooth, Supercure and SuperTR, based on their unique proprietary Borstar and XLPE (cross-linkable polyethylene) technologies.
“We have a proven track record that is built on more than 50 years experience and know how, culminating in an extensive product range that has a solution for all wire and cable applications,” said Michael Bjorn, vice president of Borouge’s Business Unit for wire and cable. “Our innovations are inspired by our customers’ needs and we aim to be their preferred partner in providing solutions that add value throughout the value chain, both in the production and installation of wiring and cable networks, and extending the lifespan of these products.”
Notwithstanding the current economic climate, Borouge and Borealis are committed to investing in the future of this market. Borealis is currently investing in a new 350,000 tonnes per year low pressure low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant in Stenungsund, Sweden – which will come online in 2010 – to enhance the company’s capability to provide advanced materials for the wire and cable market. It builds upon the cross-linkable polyethylene (XLPE) capacity that came on stream in the second half of 2007. Borouge is also planning to build a low pressure low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant in Abu Dhabi specifically targeted at the wire and cable markets of the Middle East and Asia. This plant is scheduled for completion at t he end of 2013.
Stretching performance limits
November / December 2009
ExxonMobil Chemical is demonstrating at M-PLAS 2009 the benefits of its latest range of customised film formulations designed for high performance thin-gauged cast stretch hand wrap film applications.
This latest product innovation from ExxonMobil features three flagship products in its polyolefin-based materials platform: the two high-performance Exceed and Enable metallocene polyethylene (mPE) resin brands; as well as the Vistamaxx propylenebased elastomer, for better cling performance optimised according to applications.
The latest generation Enable mPE resins allow for downgauging of up to 20% without sacrificing critical mechanical properties – the downgauging potential helps both converters and end users to address market demands for reduced film thickness in order to achieve the lowering of working capital through material savings and lower inventory.
ExxonMobil’s latest Enable metallocene technology brings new improvements to processability.
The three-layer film structure ExxonMobil is featuring at M-PLAS for stretch hand wrap film applications – a formulation that contains Enable mPE 20-10CB, Exceed mPE 3518CB and Vistamaxx 6102 resin, at a 12μm film thickness – display mechanical performances that are superior to that of a thicker conventional stretch film. Key advantages of the film formulation include a significant improvement in tear resistance, higher toughness for stiff hand wrapping that eliminates the need for multiple wraps, and enhanced holding strength – all factors that result in achieving better load integrity and lead to increased opport-unities to wrap more demanding loads.
The ease of the manual hand wrapping process itself is also showcased, as ExxonMobil’s film formulation allows for an improvement in term of ergonomics and safety considerations for plant operators.
