Pet Projects
Standard routines and their place in continuous improvement
Features
Friendly Foams
Building the UK’s first captured-carbon polymerisation plant
Landfill vs Skyfill
How landfill might be the better option for disposal of low-grade plastics
A Battery Olympics
Getting around the limitations of battery devices with clever ways of teaming different technolo...
Lego makes plants from plants
LEGO has announced that plant-based plastic sourced from sugarcane will be used in pieces such as...
Rubbish Roads
A solution to the world’s plastic problem could be right under our feet. Toby McCartney, MacRebur...
Turning Ocean Trash into Cash
Project turns plastic waste in the sea into vehicle fuels
Usher in a New Age
THE big news this month – measured by the landslide levels of interest on our Facebook page – is ...
Modern Times
Leo Hendrik Baekeland, the inventor of Bakelite, whose work ushered in the age of polymers
Dermot Manning and colleagues at ICI – Plastic Fantastic
The commercial success of PE starts with Reginald Gibson, Eric Fawcett, Michael Perrin and Dermot...
News
ECHA publishes comprehensive plastic additive inventory
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has published a comprehensive inventory of all of the high-v...
Chemical engineers quiz MPs on science funding and single-use plastic
IN a reversal of roles, chemical engineers took the opportunity yesterday to quiz UK policy leade...
A new process for converting plastic waste to fuel
A NEW process has been developed that uses supercritical water to transform polypropylene plastic...
Report identifies challenges towards a plastics circular economy
THE European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem) has released a report identi...
Improved process for making plastics from sulfur
SCIENTISTS led by the University of Liverpool, UK have discovered a novel catalytic process for t...
New alliance combatting environmental plastic waste
NEARLY 30 companies from across the plastic value-chain, including BASF, Dow Chemical, Shell, and...
Coca-Cola Company to extend loan for novel PET recycling technology
THE Coca-Cola Company has announced an agreement extending a loan to Ioniqa Technologies, a start...
UK government announces £60m in funding for sustainable packaging
THE UK government has announced the launch of a £60m (US$76m) innovation fund to accelerate the d...
The next step for CO2-based plastics
COVESTRO’s carbon dioxide-based polyols have been used to produce synthetic sports flooring. The ...
New MOF makes plastic manufacturing more energy efficient
RESEARCHERS have developed a metal-organic framework (MOF) containing iron-peroxo (Fe2(O2)) sites...
Producing hydrogen from plastic waste
A PROCESS has been developed to convert waste plastic into hydrogen which could be used as fuel.
Ineos picks McDermott for new PDH unit
INEOS has awarded McDermott a contract for the licence and engineering of a new propane dehydroge...
New technique for recycling multi-layer packaging
CRISP packets, chocolate wrappers, and blister packets for pills are all extremely difficult to r...
Neste aims to turn plastic waste into fuel
NESTE, a producer of renewable diesel, is developing ways to turn liquified plastic waste into a ...
New process for creating biodegradable polyesters
RESEARCHERS have developed a new polymerisation process involving a light-activated catalyst that...
Stemming the flow of plastic waste
EUROPE has proposed a law banning or restricting single-use plastics, the UN has released a polic...
Top ten bio-based chemicals for UK economic growth
A REPORT from the Lignocellulosic Biorefinery Network (LBNet) has identified ten biochemicals whe...
DuPont and ADM launch bioplastic pilot plant
DUPONT and ADM have announced the opening of a pilot plant in that will be the world’s first prod...
Plastic as a heat conductor
A PLASTIC has been developed that can dissipate heat instead of trapping it, which could be used ...
Engineered enzyme digests plastic
AN EXPERIMENT to study a plastic-eating bacterium accidentally created a mutant enzyme that degra...
Unilever joins forces with Ioniqa to scale up breakthrough plastic waste recycling process
UNILEVER has formed a partnership with processing pioneer Ioniqa and Indorama, the world’s larges...
Shell shows scale of work underway at Geismar expansion
SHELL has released photos showing its progress building the world’s largest alpha olefins product...
Green LEGO gets greener
LEGO has announced that plant-based plastic sourced from sugarcane will be used in pieces such as...
Europe's first waste-to-chemistry facility provides solution for non-recyclable plastics
A FACILITY that will convert non-recyclable wastes into biofuels and chemicals for industrial use...
LyondellBasell announce plans to acquire A. Schulman
PLASTICS company LyondellBasell has announced that it will merge with A. Schulman as part of a US...
Using LEGO bricks for microfluidics
RESEARCHERS at MIT have simplified the process of creating microfluidics prototypes by building t...
Genomatica and Aquafil join forces to make bio-based nylon
GENOMATICA is working with nylon-maker Aquafil to produce one of its key feedstocks – caprolactam...
UK launches 25-year plastic waste plan
THE UK government has launched a 25-year plan to protect the environment and reduce “avoidable” p...
UK plastic recycling crisis expected
THE UK’S recycling industry says it may not be able to cope with an increase in plastic waste, as...
Locking plastic in concrete
ADDING plastic bottles to concrete could lead not only to lower carbon emissions, but improve str...
Evonik develops new process for MMA
EVONIK has developed a more efficient process to produce methyl methacrylate (MMA), a widely-used...
Petronas Chemicals, Saudi Aramco in polymers JV
PETRONAS CHEMICALS GROUP has sold a 50% stake in its PRPC Polymers subsidiary to Saudi Aramco for...
Surf and turf: replacing plastic laminates
A COMPOSTABLE biomaterial made of derivatives from lobster shells and wood could sustainably repl...
Solvay sells polyamide business to BASF
SOLVAY is selling its integrated polyamides business to BASF for €1.6bn (US$1.92bn) as it continu...
Caterpillars might not break down plastic after all
RESEARCHERS in Germany say that research earlier this year showing that waxworms can chemically b...
Chemical fire reported at Arkema Texas plant
ARKEMA has reported a chemical fire at its organic peroxide (OP) plant in Crosby, Texas, amid flo...
Chemical fire expected at flooded Texas plant
A CHEMICAL fire or explosion is expected within days at Arkema’s organic peroxide plant in Crosby...
Spraying electric rainbows
A SAFER, easier process to apply colour-changing conjugated polymer films to consumer goods such ...
Cyborg bacteria make chemicals from sunlight
“CYBORG” bacteria covered in tiny solar panels have been demonstrated to produce acetic acid from...
Sadara JV commissions last plant
SAUDI-based Sadara Chemical Company has commissioned the last of 26 plants at its US$20bn petroch...
Giving green polymers the blue light
BLUE light has been used by researchers to create an interpenetrating polymeric network (IPN) in ...
Making polysulfates and polysulfonates
RESEARCHERS using so-called “click chemistry” say they have developed a fast, easy way to make su...
First global plastics analysis
A WORLD-first study of the production, use and fate of all plastics ever made has shown that 8.3 ...
Making polycarbonate from sugar and CO2
CHEMISTS at the University of Bath, UK, have developed a process to create polycarbonate plastic ...
