DuPont Helps Nike Tee Off Golf Ball

Many of us at Resin Resource are avid golfers so we found this story from Plastics News especially interesting as it combines business information with leisure activity.

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DuPont Helps Nike Tee Off Golf Ball

DuPont Co. and Nike Inc. are joining forces to make golfers’ dreams come true — with a golf ball that goes farther and straighter, thanks to a core made from a DuPont plastic material.

Wilmington-based DuPont and Nike — the sports giant based in Beaverton, Ore. — unveiled the Nike 20XI golf ball on Feb. 15. The ball — which will be commercially available in late April — has a core made of DuPont’s HPF-brand ionomer, a specialty thermoplastic resin.

 Read the rest of the story >

The Russian Plastics Industry Opens Up

Here is a press release we found interesting....

Polypropylene Up 3 Cents, Double-digit Increase on the Horizon

The 3-cent price increase that hit the North American polypropylene market in December is looking like the calm before the storm -- since an increase of as much as 20 cents per pound is bearing down on buyers for January.

Both moves are the result of a series of unplanned outages that hit propylene production sites throughout the U.S. Gulf Coast beginning in late November. Most recently, Dow Chemical Co.’s St. Charles plant in Hahnville, La., has experienced production problems for propylene, polyethylene and related products because of a Jan. 3 electrical outage.

Startup problems at a propylene site run by new firm PetroLogistics in the Houston area have added to propylene tightness, or at least to that perception. Although the site — a former ExxonMobil Chemical facility — would have added less than 5 percent to the region’s total propylene supply, it was expected to alleviate some of the supply pressure experienced by existing propylene makers. PetroLogistics now is expected to resume production by the end of the month.

And a longer-term factor affecting propylene supply — and, as a result, regional PP prices — is continued use of lower-priced natural gas as a petrochemical feedstock over crude oil. The ethane derived from natural gas produces less propylene than crude oil-based naphtha does, but the economics of the situation means that a switch back to crude is unlikely.

As a result, the regional PP market is looking at an extended period of tight propylene supplies.

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Hey, Somebody Call the Hyperbole Police

We liked Don Loepp's blog post from last Friday and wanted to share it. We agree, Don.

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Whenever you read a statistic in a story like this — “The amount of plastic produced since the beginning of the Plastics Age is enough to wrap the world in plastic bags six times over” — you can thank a journalism school professor. (That example came from the trailer for the film Plastic Planet, which opened in U.S. theaters Jan. 14.)

Journalism school teaches budding reporters to put data in terms that are easy to understand. Don’t just write “one part per million,” they say. Write that “it’s the equivalent of a shot glass of whiskey in a railroad tank car full of water.”

So when researchers described the “Great Garbage Patch” as an island of plastic twice the size of Texas, the news media — naturally — repeated the description.

Except it’s not true.  Read the full post>

New Fully Biodegradable Thermosetting Resins

Modern synthetic resins are made from fossil sources, are not biodegradable and can only be burned under strict precautions due to the release of toxic substances. Prof. Gadi Rothenberg and Dr. Albert Alberts of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) have discovered a range of new thermoset resins made from renewable raw materials which are fully biodegradable, non-toxic and non-hazardous. This according to azom.com.
 

Most plastic products for domestic or construction use consist of three-dimensional networks of cross-linked polymers. These are thermosetting plastics. A classic example is the Bakelite resin produced from the reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. This material is still used to bind wood fibers in pressed wood such as medium density fiberboard (MDF) and formica. Synthetic resins are widely used in the construction industry. The resin of urea / formaldehyde is used Medium Density Overlay (MDO), a combination of concrete and plywood, used in concrete molds.

Completely biodegradable bioplastics

By selecting the right raw materials and process conditions for the cross-linking reaction the scientists, who work for the UvA's Heterogeneous Catalysis and Sustainable Chemistry research group, were able to make a range of bio-plastics ranging from hard foam material to flexible thin sheet materials. These are non-toxic and biodegradable. The process requires no toxic ingredients and no harmful substances are released from combustion. Moreover, the raw materials are readily available at competitive prices on the world market.

The new plastic could replace polyurethane and polystyrene in the construction and packaging industries. This also applies to the epoxy resins used for panels such as MDF. The follow-up research will focus on new applications and process development and upscaling.

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