Plastics Additives & Compounding January/February 2005

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NewsINDUSTRY

Theromplastic compounds show strong growthin AsiaA new survey of thermoplasticcompounders by AppliedMarket Information Ltd (AMI)has estimated demand forcompounds in Asia at 7.8million tonnes in 2004. Themarket has been averagingincreases of nearly 10 percentper year since 2000. The reportadds that the industry hasgrown in line with the growthin demand for polymers overall.The market has been driven bysurging demand for compoundsin industries such asconstruction (pipe and buildingprofiles), automotive,household appliances,electronic equipment, and wireand cable.AMI adds that the nature ofcompound demand in Chinais still relativelyunsophisticated with themajority of production beingfor simple colour or PVCcompounds. Over 70 percentof the market in China isaccounted for by these types.Production of engineeringresin compounds is currentlymore limited with many more

sophisticated engineeringcompounds having to beimported.The new survey covers 641thermoplastic compounders.This includes 575independent compoundersand 66 integrated producers,for example, those that arealso manufacturing polymersuch as LG, Chi Mei and NanYa. Over half of the companiesin the listing are in China.AMI says that companiesrange from large scale, longestablished, former state-owned enterprises operated bythe leading polymer producersPetroChina and Sinopec, tomore recent Western-ledinvestments from companiessuch as Clariant, Polyone andDuPont.In addition to growth inChina, a significant demandhas also emerged in recentyears in Thailand and India.Thailand saw a particularlylarge expansion in its plasticsprocessing industry throughthe 1990s, which resulted ingreater demand for

thermoplastic compounds.The opening of the Indianeconomy has also led to aboom in plastics processingthere and a subsequent needfor greater volumes ofcompounds and masterbatch.In contrast the compoundingmarket has been contractingin Singapore. This has largelybeen because of a loss ofprocessing capacity,particularly of commodity

products to lower costlocations in Malaysia,Indonesia and Thailand, aswell as China, althoughSingapore remains asignificant user of higher endcompounds and colourproducts.Contact:Applied Market Information LtdTel: +44 117 924 9442Fax: +44 117 989 2128E-mail: info@amiplastics.com

Table 1:Distribution of thermoplasticcompound demand in Asia 2004

Source: Applied Market Information Ltd

China 58.0%

Indonesia 3.0%

S.Korea 11.2%

Malaysia 3.5%

Singapore 1.3%

Taiwan 7.7%

Thailand 6.5%

India 5.3%

Others 3.3%

Hybrid Plastics, Inc. hasinstalled an extruder line for thecompounding of POSS®

masterbatch at its new facility inHattiesburg, Mississippi in theUSA. The company says that itis intended to satisfy demandfrom customers who beganlaunching commercial filmapplications late in 2004. Asecond extruder line is plannedfor 2005. POSS (Polyhedral

Oligomeric Silsesquioxanes) isnew nanotechnology based onsilicon-derived building blocksthat provide nanometre-scalecontrol to improve the thermaland mechanical properties oftraditional polymerssignificantly while offering easyincorporation using existingmanufacturing protocols. Thesecompounds have an averagediameter of just 1.5 nanometers.

POSS nanomaterials can beused both as direct replacementsfor hydrocarbon based materialsor as low-density performanceadditives to traditional plastics.The company says that theyrelease no VOCs, and,therefore, produce no odour orair pollution. They arebiocompatible, recyclable,non-flammable, andcompetitively priced with

traditional polymer feedstocks.POSS Nanostructured®

materials can be readilyincorporated into virtually anyexisting polymer systemthrough blending, grafting orcopolymerization.Contact:Hybrid Plastics, Inc. Tel: 601.544.3466 Fax: 601.545.3103Website: www.hybridplastics.com

Hybrid Plastics commercializes POSSmasterbatch