Material Insights: March 26, 2012

Shifts in material production made by styrenics leader Styrolution are featured in this week's Material Insights video. By the end of the year, Styrolution will no longer source polystyrene and styrene monomer from a plant in Marl, Germany. The plant is operated by Styrolution co-owner Ineos Group. At the same time, Styroluiton is moving forward with plans to increase ASA capacity in South Korea by mid-year and to add more capacity for ABS and related materials in India by 2014. Progress in PLA bioplastic recycling als is featured in this week's video. In a recent webinar on the topic, officials with PLA recycler BioCor and PLA maker natureWorks each said their efforts to recycle the plant-based material have seen expanded volumes recently. In 2011, BioCor converted 600,000 pounds of PLA into recycled PLA. The video wraps up with news that Japanese materials firm Tiejin will spend almost $8 million to build a composites development center in Auburn Hills, Mich. The new center is part of Teijin's push to create large-volume carbon fiber production for the auto market.