SI Group, a leading performance additives company, announced today the decision to increase tackifier resin capacity at its Lote, India, manufacturing site by an expected 75%. The expansion will propel the site to become a regional hub for best-in-class tackifier resin production and technology.The investment addresses an increasing demand for Novolac tackifiers in one of our core regions. The expansion is slated for completion in two phases. The first phase will be completed by the end of 2021 and the second phase will commercialize in the latter half of 2022.

“We have decided to grow capacity as another step forward in demonstrating our commitment to supporting our customers’ growth and positioning ourselves as a leader in specialty additives,” said Robert Kaiser, Vice President – Rubber & Adhesives Solutions at SI Group. “This expansion will not only benefit the region’s supply, but it will also provide superior solutions at the highest reliability to our customers globally.”“This investment positions SI Group to supply regional growth and meet strong forecasts within the Indian tires & automobile sector,” stated Suresh Kalra, Vice President & Managing Director India at SI Group. He further said that these investments will strengthen the position of our customers and India’s Rubber Industry moving forward.SI Group has a long history of manufacturing tackifier resins used to enhance the performance and durability of tires. In addition to tackifier resins, the company also has a robust portfolio of antidegradants and bonding, curing, and reinforcing resins manufactured globally. This expansion follows the company’s previous announcements to also expand resin capacity in Nanjing, China, and Bethune, France.

https://siigroup.com/

With the planned acquisition of Agiplast, a leader in the regeneration of high performance polymers, in particular specialty polyamides and fluoropolymers, Arkema will be able to offer a full service to customers in terms of materials circularity, addressing growing market expectations in this field. This project, which contributes to the sustainable development of the polymer industry, is perfectly in line with Arkema’s sustainable growth strategy. Arkema plans to acquire Agiplast, a company specialized in the regeneration of high performance polymers and its historical partner in recycling operations. The company, with annual sales of around €15 million, operates a plant in Italy and has 32 employees. Agiplast’s strong know-how in mechanical recycling technologies will enable Arkema to offer high quality recycled polymers to its customers.

In October 2019, Arkema, the world leader in bio-based high performance polymers, had already launched Virtucycle, an ambitious program with Agiplast aimed at developing loops for the collection and regeneration of high performance polymers while minimizing CO2 emissions. With this acquisition, Arkema will be the first fully integrated high performance polymer manufacturer offering both bio-based and recycled materials in order to address the challenges of resource scarcity and end-of-life products. This bolt-on acquisition is thus in line with Arkema’s CSR and sustainable growth strategy, and in particular the transition to a circular economy.

https://www.arkema.com/

With the bionic inspired ADHESO gripper from SCHUNK, users can safely handle delicate parts without the risk of any residual marking. The new SCHUNK ADHESO gripper offers sensitive gripping without mechanical force or the need for any external power supply. The German Design Council honored the new technology with the German Innovation Award 2021 in the competition class “Excellence in Business to Business.”

This new way of handling is based on a principle of function from nature and uses the intermolecularly acting Van der Waals forces. Geckos are using these adhesive forces allowing them to grip to various surfaces quickly and easily. This type of gentle and residue-free handling of sensitive components opens numerous new fields of application. Ultra-light glass materials or micro-mechanical parts can be handled, but also heavy automotive or mechanical engineering components. The ADHESO technology is especially effective in hygienically sensitive environments where its strength really come to the fore: as it works without particle emission, it is perfectly suited for cleanroom applications in lab automation, medical and pharmaceutical industry as well as electrical industry. ADHESO grippers can safely grip and hold containers, syringes, wafers, or circuit boards without requiring external energy. This is a real added value in terms of operating costs but also facilitates commissioning. The competence leader for gripping systems and clamping technology won over the Council of the German Innovation Award 2021 with this functional and sustainable overall concept, and they honored the SCHUNK ADHESO in the competition class “Excellence in Business to Business,“ in the category “Machines & Engineering“ as innovation. SCHUNK developed the flexibly configurable adhesive gripper in cooperation with the young start-up company INNOCISE. Anyone who wants to use the new technology in his robotic application, can have it validated under real conditions in the SCHUNK CoLab before buying it. This ensures more safety within the planning process.

https://schunk.com/

Sourced through enzymatic process to reduce degradation of garments/fabrics Cosmo Speciality Chemicals Pvt Ltd, a wholly Indian subsidiary of Cosmo Films Ltd., announces the development of Microenz BS sourced through enzymatic process, making it an environment-friendly alkaline pectatelyase. Thus, it helps eliminating the challenges posed by the chemical when sourced through traditional processes such as high ETP load, usage of very harsh chemicals, wastage of water and time etc.

Embarked on the key product innovation principles of multi-functionality (performance oriented), process optimisation (energy, water and time saving) and sustainability (eco-friendliness), the advancement of Microenz BS ensures less fabric and garment damage as Pectatelyase degrades the pectin from the primary cell wall of cotton without degrading the cotton itself, improved functional finish, lower yarn coefficient of friction, increased yarn elongation for improved weaving efficiencies, improved emerising and brushing properties, no degradation of cellulose and lower weight loss while being safe and easy to use as well as eco-friendly. The chemical Microenz BS works in a way which is specially designed for the end users using alkaline pectatelyase as pectatelyase degrades the pectin from the primary cell wall of cotton without degrading the cotton itself. Microenz BS can also be used successfully for combined desizing and bio-sourcing (CDB). The dosage used for application is exhaust with doses 1.0% to 1.2%.On this new innovation by the company, Mr. Anil Gaikwad, Business Head, Cosmo Speciality Chemicals said “For medium and darker shades on cotton yarn & knitwear, we suggest a one-bath-two-step pretreatment process. We propose an enzymatic pectinase treatment with Microenz BS 1.0 to 1.2% in combination with a mild peroxide bleach. This process includes a pectinase treatment as well as a mild peroxide bleach. The mild conditions lead to a softer handle in comparison to alkali-treated goods. Furthermore, bio-scoured cotton shows relatively good hydrophilic properties.”

cosmofilms.com

Today’s modern homeowners are constantly seeking ways to express their individuality. The last few years have seen a proliferation of home decor items made with thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) and this trend is expected to continue as TPE innovation offers more distinct advantages with its soft-touch, smooth surface and easy processing features.

KRAIBURG TPE, a global manufacturer of thermoplastic elastomer compounds offers custom-engineered TPE solutions for the home decorative market.
Aesthetic design trends are constantly evolving and the ability to be aware of these trends and apply them appropriately can be critical to a product’s market success. In a sea of competition, the visual and tactile appearance of a physical product is often the initial and most important impression a customer has of any given brand and product.
Home décor items are usually produced by using soft, smooth and easy-to-shape materials, and this is where TPEs fulfil the requirements with its soft-touch, smooth surface and the design flexibility into various shapes.
TPE advantages

There are many obvious advantages of using TPEs for home decorative items. First and foremost, design flexibility which is processible through multi-component injection moulding and extrusion in various shapes. In terms of aesthetics, TPEs offer a plethora of colouring options, including colour effects for more design flexibility.
TPEs are available in a wide hardness range – from VLRH (very low rubber hardness) to Shore D, allows designers to flexibly apply on various decoration elements to enhance the appearance of the end products. TPEs are also high elasticity with excellent compression set, which is ideal for sealings and meeting standards for watertightness and dustproofs.
Diverse home decorative applications

KRAIBURG TPE’s specially designed home decorative TPE compounds possess excellent adhesion to plastics such as PA, PP, ASA, PC, PC/ABS, PMMA, PE, PBT and SAN. As such, they are suitable to be applied on home décor items such as photo frames, lamp shades and as decorative elements on lamps, wall decorations such as mirror frames, wall trimmings and many other decorative applications.
For enhanced durability, our TPE compounds offer high quality surface finishing with good scratch and abrasion resistance. This makes them ideal for applications on decorative sculptures and figurines. Thanks to these superior characteristics, they can be applied on anti-slip elements for decorative items, figurines and damping elements on side tables and cabinets.
KRAIBURG TPE also provides worldwide consistent colour quality with various precoloration options available to its customers everywhere.

www.kraiburg-tpe.com

• Life-cycle assessment (LCA) shows greenhouse gas emissions of Bornewables polypropylene go beyond carbon neutrality: Reduced by at least 120% compared to virgin polypropylene (at Borealis’ gate).
• The Bornewables product range of polyolefins offer the same high performance levels as virgin polyolefins and can be recycled in the same way
• EverMinds in action: Bornewables help value-chain partners meet their climate and sustainability goals

Borealis’ Bornewables product range of polypropylene provides significantly smaller greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to polyolefins made from fossil-based feedstock, according to a new LCA study.

The study was carried out by ifeu – one of the world’s most recognised, independent ecological institutes – based in Heidelberg, Germany. They analysed the life cycle emissions of Borealis’ polypropylene (PP) produced at its production sites in Kallo and Beringen, Belgium, when Neste’s renewable feedstock was used in the production to replace conventional feedstock. The study showed that from cradle-to-gate (all steps from the sourcing of raw materials to products leaving Borealis’ production site), GHG emissions are reduced by at least 120% (2.7kg of CO2 equivalent per kg of PP) compared to PP manufactured with fossil-based feedstock at the same location.
Furthermore, the Bornewables are a lower-emissions alternative to virgin PP, no matter which end-of-life option is chosen. Even in case of energy recovery, when the carbon stored in the product is released, the carbon footprint reduction still amounts to 52% compared to PP from fossil-based feedstock.
Helping customers meet their sustainability targets

Now proven to provide significant carbon emissions reductions when compared to virgin PP, the Bornewables are an example of what can be achieved through Borealis’ EverMinds platform, which promotes innovation and collaboration to accelerate the transition towards a more circular economy. The Bornewables circular portfolio is produced according to the mass balance model, by replacing conventional feedstock with an identical volume made from ISCC PLUS certified sustainable feedstock.
By choosing the Bornewables, customers can manufacture more sustainable products with reduced carbon footprint, while retaining their recyclability at the same level with their traditional counterparts. Bornewables help customers decouple from resources based on conventional feedstock. All this is possible while avoiding switching costs, and delivering the product quality and safety needed by most demanding applications, such as food packaging, automotive and healthcare.
“Now that a LCA has been carried out on the Bornewables, our customers can rely on this portfolio to reduce GHG emissions,” says Christopher McArdle, Borealis Vice President Polyolefins Strategy & New Business Development. “Life demands progress. As a proven range of circular polyolefins, the Bornewables are an excellent choice for those customers looking for new ways to meet their sustainability targets, without sacrificing product quality or performance. They are another way in which Borealis is reinventing for more sustainable living.”
www.borealisgroup.com

www.borealiseverminds.com

www.stopoceanplastics.com

Inspire young people with emotions instead of classic careers • Poor plastics image has an impact on attracting young talents • Great need for information and creation of awareness in the companies necessary • Plastics machinery manufacturer Kurtz Ersa sets a good example
The plastics industry is undergoing a transformation towards a circular economy. Common goals are resource conservation through recycling, but also CO2 reduction in the manufacture and use of plastics products. With its technology developments, plastics machinery manufacturing is making a significant contribution to the implementation of circular economy. However, the image of plastics is still poor. Often, the poor opinion of plastics products is due to a lack of information. The VDMA Plastics and Rubber Machinery Association is therefore committed to constructive dialog with industry representatives, politicians, but also with the public. This is because the critical attitude towards plastics also has a negative impact on the recruitment of young talents in VDMA member companies. Young people are increasingly demanding sustainable action from their employers. They want to identify with their company and experience that their work contributes to something good. At the plastics machinery manufacturer Kurtz Ersa, this expectation has led to a change in thinking – with success.

Kurtz Ersa scores points with junior staff for sustainability

Today, sustainability has a high priority at Kurtz Ersa, a family-owned company based in the Spessart region of Germany. In recent years, the company has successively reviewed and improved its products, its business processes and also its social behavior. In the meantime, “Sustainability” is part of the brand core, the many different sustainability projects of the company are centrally managed and strategically aligned.
In addition, the clear goal has been formulated to be climate-neutral by the 250th anniversary in 2029. “We have realized, that we have been thinking too short-term and have done too little, but the young people in our company as well as the various environmental movements have sharpened our focus,” says Managing Director Uwe Rothaug. Kurtz Ersa turns many screws at the same time. The manufacturer of plastics machinery is now focusing more on technologies for its products that conserve resources, promoting the circular economy, but also on processing alternatives to oil-based plastics. “We are looking for ways to optimize our machines with these sustainability goals in mind, but we are also moving into completely new technologies for new developments,” says Constantin Kemmer, Head of Research & Development, Kurtz GmbH. One example: Thanks to new technology, an energy saving of 90 per cent was calculated for a newly developed machine. A big step towards sustainability, Kemmer thinks. Not only in development and production, but also in sales, in administration, in the buildings and in the warehouse, everywhere Kurtz Ersa is looking for ways to initiate sustainability processes. “We are currently turning over every stone,” explains Marketing Manager Marcus Loistl. As soon as a potential for improvement is identified, it is time for implementation. “Speed is important. You see an effect quickly. That makes the efforts credible and you take others with you,” Loistl knows. The acceptance of the measures is particularly high among the younger staff. There, the commitment is also particularly high.

The topic of sustainability is becoming more and more important in job interviews Some of the younger employees have only developed a sensitivity for sustainability in recent years. The skilled worker Omid Asimi, for example, did his training at Kurtz GmbH. He started it at that time because he was impressed by the machines. Over time, he also encountered criticism in his private environment and was asked why he was working for a company from the plastics industry. “I then took a closer look and realized that Kurtz Ersa is looking for ways to process plastics as sustainably as possible. I think that’s right, because plastic itself is a very important material everywhere in the world,” he says today. Product manager Michael Müller was also initially attracted to technology in mechanical engineering when he joined Kurtz GmbH. In the meantime, he pays a lot of attention to sustainability. “I started a family, built a house. We had offspring, then the mindset changes. You want to leave something for the children,” he says. Sustainability also plays an increasingly important role in job interviews at Kurtz Ersa. Young applicants in particular are less interested in a steep career with a company tablet and company car than they used to be. Instead, they want to be able to identify with the company and its values. Job advertisements are changing accordingly. “We recently advertised a position for a sales engineer in which we deliberately deviated from the usual job description and put the green idea in the foreground. We also wanted to arouse emotions with this,” says HR Manager Tina Grummet. “If we continue like this, I am convinced that we will achieve a lot,” says Rothaug. But the changes cost money. So far, Kurtz Ersa alone is paying for the now considerable costs on the way to more sustainability. The costs could be one reason why many medium-sized companies are not yet following the example of the family-owned company at the same speed. Rothaug would therefore like to see a framework for a fair distribution of the burden that defines who has to make which contribution on the way to more environmental and resource protection – from the producer to the end consumer. But he is optimistic: “I firmly believe that the world will change in terms of sustainability, and I also firmly believe that the plastics industry will manage to help shape this path.”
Video statements by Kurtz Ersa’s young talents on the topic of sustainability:

VDMA-Statement Constantin Kemmer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyz-khgkeKk

VDMA-Statement Omid Asimi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqDawV6Fq4

VDMA-Statement Michael Müller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHcs0yZwp10

dma.org

• Clariant unveils latest color trend forecast for the automotive industry

• Back to the future – looking forward to brilliant shades, metallic effects and new formulations for autonomous vehicle detection

• Experience 28 trend colors like never before in Clariant’s new Virtual Showroom

Clariant, one of the world’s best known pigment producers, has released its new Automotive Styling Shades 2025 Trendbook, including an interactive digital version for the first time.

The much-anticipated Trendbook, published every two years, highlights how globalization has made color preference more uniform worldwide than it was 20 years ago, with white still the most preferred shade in 2020 rounding off ten years of uninterrupted dominance. Yet, as people around the globe look for joy, beauty and cultural sharing after the impacts of the pandemic color is back in the air. “The 2025 edition is focused on ‘color meets culture’, exploring the inspiration and emotion that color brings to our lives and forecasting brilliant shades and metallic effects in a diverse range of color families,” says Bernhard Stengel-Rutkowski, Technical Manager Automotive Coatings at Clariant. These are Daily Relaunch – with mood lifting hues for the office commute, Value based Culture – gentle colors for a peaceful and sustainable co-existence on the planet, The Fast and the Curious – shades that shout open-mindedness and self-confidence, and Rainbow Bridge – bold colors that blaze a trail and refuse to follow the rules. Pushing the boundaries of traditional formulation knowledge, Clariant’s organic pigments are helping to solve some of the coatings formulation challenges posed by new, disruptive technologies. These include how to improve near infra-red reflectance to make dark cars detectable by LIDAR technology, essential for the safety of autonomous vehicles, or the formulation of brilliant shades when metallic effect pigments are combined with colored organic pigments.

Color at Your Fingertips For the first time, Clariant is launching a virtual version of the Trendbook along with the brand-new online and interactive Car Color Configurator, offering customers a collection of 28 new trend shades for automotive coatings. “The trend colors can be virtually selected and applied onto different car models, from a sports car to a family van, and viewed in settings that include neutral scenery, a sunset, an urban landscape or with infrared vision. This was made possible by scanning a painted panel and converting the data into a format which is compatible with common rendering software. The Car Color Configurator allows customers to collect their favorites in a personal brochure without the need to share personal data,” Stengel-Rutkowski continued. With the launch of this cutting-edge tool Clariant has combined its pigment and color formulation expertise with trend scouting and made those shades available digitally. Find out more about Clariant’s range of organic pigments for Automotive Coatings in general, and in particular about how the featured “Pigments in focus” Hostaperm Brown HFR 01, Hostaperm Blue BT-729-D & Hostaperm Blue BT-728-D synergize with new effect pigments in gold, orange, red and black.

www.clariant.com