Plastics News editor Robert Grace reported the following items from Interplas 2002, held Sept. 30-Oct. 4 in Birmingham, England.
Curtis restructuring former ICO color unit
British compounder Curtis Plastics Ltd. is busy restructuring the Impact Colours masterbatch business it acquired in January from Houston's ICO Inc.
Curtis, headquartered in Luton, England, said it has transferred its own masterbatch operations to the acquired firm's site in Rushden, England, where the products will be made under the Impact brand name.
Meanwhile, the company said it will produce specialty compounds at its existing Luton facility, under the Compact brand name.
Gary Alecock, managing director of Curtis, said in a news release, ``Impact Colours will trade as a division of Curtis Plastics Group and it is our intention to rapidly expand this business over the next 12-18 months.''
CP Chem PE plant to begin operating
A polyethylene plant in Qatar - a joint venture between Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP and Qatar Chemical Co. Ltd. - is to begin operating by year's end. The plant will have two lines capable of producing more than 1 million pounds per year of resin, as well as ethylene and 1-hexane feedstocks.
The operation in Messiaed, Qatar, will produce Marlex-brand high and medium density PE resins using loop-reactor technology from Chevron Phillips. The materials are targeted mostly for the European market.
The 4-year-old venture, Qatar Chemical Co. Ltd. of Dohar, is 51 percent owned by Qatar Petroleum and 49 percent by Chevron Phillips.
The partners said a second olefins project is under development and is to begin operating in 2007.
Briefly ...
* Polymerupdate.com of Mumbai, India, has struck a deal allowing its users to access online machinery dealer MachinePoint Ltd.'s database of used machinery. MachinePoint is based in Valladolid, Spain. ... G.T. Tools Ltd. of Sutton-in-Ashfield, England, announced it will be the sole supplier in the United Kingdom of plastic injection molds to Shanghai Sharp Mold and Manufacturing Systems Co. Ltd. of Shangai, China. ... The London-based Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining launched its new plastics and rubber division Oct. 1. IoM3 was formed in June from the merger of the Institute of Materials and the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. ... Entek Extruders of Lebanon, Ore., has opened a service office in Uttoxeter, England, headed by Stephen Jones, a 16-year veteran of the twin-screw compounding and extrusion business. A sister company, Entek International Ltd., makes plastic sheet for battery separators on 10 twin-screw extrusion lines in Newcastle on Tyne, England.