K 2025 - Innovation driver for the global plastics and rubber industry
Product categories of K 2025
Covestro to build its largest TPU site in China
The company Covestro will build its largest Thermoplastic Polyurethanes (TPU) site in Zhuhai, China. The TPU site will be built in three phases. The first phase will be completed in late 2025 and the final phase in 2033.
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LyondellBasell and KIRKBI invest in APK to develop recycling technology
The two companies LyondellBasell and KIRKBI signed an agreement to make an investment in the company APK. APK has developed the unique solvent-based Newcycling® process, which separates the different polymers of multi-layer packaging materials and produces recycled materials with a high degree of purity suitable for new packaging materials.
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Sustainable plastic packaging: AI supports design and production
Plastic packaging made from recycled material? Yes, but please as high quality as possible – and recyclable! This poses great challenges for manufacturers, because the use of recycled materials still often leads to downcycling. One key to more sustainable plastic packaging lies in digitalisation. This is also where the KIOptiPack project comes in.
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Degradation of Plastic Waste using newly Developed Biocatalysts
A research team from the University of Greifswald, together with scientists from Covestro AG, has identified enzymes capable of degrading polyurethanes and polyvinyl alcohol. The research helps to establish a sustainable and environmentally-friendly process to recycle these polymers.
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Borealis Borcycle™ C chemical recycling provides circular solutions for crosslinked polyethylene for the Wire & Cable and Infrastructure sectors
The company Borealis is using its Borcycle™ C chemical recycling process to recycle crosslinked polyethylene (PE) types into recycled polyethylene. The EverMinds™ approach provides innovative and viable solutions to recycling challenges in the Wire & Cable and Infrastructure industries.
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Stable yet degradable: researchers develop chemical pre-determined breaking points in polymer chains
We encounter high-density polyethylene (HDPE) every day, for example as detergent packaging or films. HDPE is particularly stable and resistant. In terms of sustainability, however, it still has a long way to go, because its high stability is often accompanied by poor degradability.
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From the sea into the tunnel: KraussMaffei customer Oldroyd uses 100% sea plastics for its products
What do a tunnel and hiking boot have in common? Both have a membrane that prevents the ingress of rain. In the case of the tunnel, the Norwegian company Oldroyd is an expert for the membrane and its injection-molded fixing product. It uses CX machines from KraussMaffei and 100% sea plastics.
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Neste, Uponor, Wastewise Group and Borealis enable chemical recycling of hard-to-recycle plastic waste into new high-quality plastic pipes
Neste, Uponor, Wastewise and Borealis have successfully produced pipes made of cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) which was based on feedstock gained from chemically recycled post-industrial waste plastic from PEX pipe production, using an ISCC PLUS certified mass-balancing approach. The partner companies believe this project is among the first implementations of chemical recycling of PEX.
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Covestro: New ultra-durable material solution for healthcare and life sciences
Both healthcare and life sciences applications – ranging from drug delivery devices, wellness and wearable devices, to single-use containers for biopharmaceutical manufacturing – all have one thing in common. They must be tough and durable and able to withstand everyday use while maintaining their structural integrity.
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LANXESS and TotalEnergies to cooperate on sustainable styrene
Specialty chemicals company LANXESS and French energy group TotalEnergies have entered into a cooperation on the supply of biocircular styrene. Unlike conventional styrene, the raw material used by TotalEnergies is based on tall oil, which is derived from a tree resin and is a by-product of pulp production.
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The future of plastics: JKU Linz trains the plastics engineers of tomorrow
Plastics must be newly thought and designed - that is the credo at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz. From autumn 2023, courses on plastics technology will be offered here. Plastics don't just play a supporting role there, they are the star of the show. Because they are a key factor for both the present and the future.
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Ice Ice Baby! Sustainably packaged with Styropor® Ccycled™ by BASF
Imballaggi Alimentari, an Italian based company specialized in the production of ice cream packaging, has launched the Remaxigel boxes made of Styropor® Ccycled™. The boxes made of EPS (expandable polystyrene) boast excellent performance and were primarily designed for artisanal ice-cream shops.
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SABIC enables Scientex in developing worlds first PP flexible food packaging using PCR ocean bound plastic
SABIC, a global leader in the chemical industry, collaborates with Scientex in the packaging value chain to enable the manufacturer to develop material for the world’s first flexible food packaging made based on advanced recycled OBP, using SABIC® certified circular polypropylene (PP). The material is being used in a premium brand noodles packaging sold in Malaysia.
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Bioplastics for medicine: sustainability and quality in harmony
The healthcare field produces lots of medical plastic waste. The idea of designing medical products with sustainability in mind is certainly not new. However, medical-grade plastic materials must meet strict regulatory requirements, often prompting the aspect of sustainability to take a back seat.
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Back to the cycle: #tide turns ocean plastic into high-quality recyclates
Plastic is a resource without which our life today would not be possible - and thanks to recycling, we can even use it several times over. However, we know from reports what can happen if the recycling process does not run properly: the plastic sometimes ends up in the sea. Getting it back into circulation from there and turning it into a usable product is not easy.
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Automated simulation software creates a world map of polymer properties
"Materials informatics (MI), a new branch of materials research that combines materials data with data science, is gaining traction," said co-corresponding author Yoshihiro Hayashi, assistant professor, Institute of Statistical Mathematics in the Research Organization of Information and Science (ROIS).
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Covestro and Lanxess cooperate to produce more sustainable raw materials with reduced CO₂ footprint
Chemical companies Covestro and LANXESS are cooperating in the energy-intensive production of basic chemicals at their Lower Rhine sites in Germany and make them more climate friendly. LANXESS procures chlorine, caustic soda and hydrogen from the ISCC PLUS-certified sites of Covestro in Leverkusen and Krefeld-Uerdingen.
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Suraj Logistix adopts innovative solutions for a more sustainable cement packaging
Woven sacks are made of a single polymer family and are therefore already quite easy to recycle. Sustainability requirements for packaging products have increased worldwide and at the same time the need to develop better packaging products to protect the packed commodity has also gained further importance.
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Bio-based flame retardants for bioplastics in electrical engineering and electronics
Fraunhofer researchers, in collab with industrial partners, have achieved initial success in the development of bio-based flame retardants in bioplastics. In the future, it could therefore be possible to utilize plastics in electronics and electrical engineering that consist of 100% bio-based materials. Processing was tested by means of compounding, injection molding and additive manufacturing.
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Turning plastic waste into a valuable soil additive
University of California, Riverside, scientists have moved a step closer to finding a use for the hundreds of millions of tons of plastic waste produced every year that often winds up clogging streams and rivers and polluting our oceans.
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Full speed ahead: Sumitomo (SHI) Demag expands fast-cycle all-electric platform
Engineered specifically for high volume packaging, medical and automotive applications requiring the highest processing precision in the fastest cycle time, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag is accelerating its global expansion of the IntElect platform.
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Plastics industry meets Metaverse: igus presents products in virtual reality
Studies show that we are up to nine times more likely to remember something we have experienced in virtual reality. This knowledge can also be interesting for the plastics industry. With the iguversum, igus has created a digital space in which the manufacturer's products can be discovered. In the future, engineering projects will also be carried out there.
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Performance meets circularity: fibre-reinforced plastics become recyclable
Recycled plastics are often less efficient than new plastics. But they can be upgraded - namely by using fibre composites. In turn, they make the plastics difficult to recycle. The All-Polymer project shows how both are possible: high-performance materials and a closed cycle.
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Silicone sponge captures unknown bacteria
Microorganisms populate nearly any habitat, no matter how hostile it is. Their great variety of survival strategies is of huge potential in biotechnology. Most of these organisms, however, are unknown, because they cannot be cultivated. To make better use of this "microbial dark matter", the KIT) has now developed a "sponge" made of porous, formable silicone.
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BASF and StePac partner to develop sustainable packaging for shelf-life extension of fresh produce
BASF SE and StePac Ltd. have joined forces to create the next generation of sustainable packaging specifically for the fresh produce sector. Supplying StePac with its Ultramid® CcycledTM, a chemically recycled polyamide 6, BASF will provide its partner greater flexibility to advance contact-sensitive packaging formats to a higher sustainable standard within the circular economy.
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