Polyurethane experts from Huntsman are taking part in Foam Expo Europe 2019, Europe’s largest trade fair and conference for the technical foam manufacturing supply chain, from 10 – 12 September 2019 in Stuttgart, Germany. At the exhibition and during the associated speaker sessions, Huntsman will highlight the wide range of polyurethane-based foam solutions it provides, focusing specifically on mobility, comfort and construction applications.

BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, located in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, have formed the 'Cracker of the Future' consortium to jointly study how to use renewable electricity to operate naphtha and steam crackers, rather than fossil fuels, according to the reports from Geleen, Netherlands.

Biesterfeld Spezialchemie announced that two colleagues have joined the ranks of its polyurethane team to help them handle the continued growth in the PU market and ever more complex customer demands: Robert Geffken has taken on the role as polyurethane Market Manager since April 2019, and Alexander Bär has joined the company as new polyurethane Product Manager a the start of 2019.

The speciality films manufacturer Infiana announced that it will present its release liner solutions for the foam industry at the Foam Expo Europe 2019 from 10 – 12 September 2019 in Stuttgart, Germany.

Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc. has certified two process residue streams, olefins and saturated heavy methyl esters, produced at its Gresik, Indonesia, biorefinery as process residue under the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) EU system.

According to Covestro, 3D printing offers unique opportunities to produce three-dimensional, often complex shaped parts in one single step. While predominantly prototypes and sample parts have been produced in small numbers so far, many industries are increasingly interested in industrial mass production.

According to Evonik, today not only fashion items such as handbags, shoes and garments, but also everyday products like car seats and furniture are often made of polyurethane-based artificial leather as a sustainable alternative to genuine leather. It is durable, weather-resistant, easy to clean and versatile in terms of colour and design.

Cold Jet announced that it will present its new dry ice blaster PCS 60 at K 2019. The machine features the company’s patented Particle Control System (PCS), which cuts dry ice into diamond shaped particles in the exact dimensions chosen by the operator (3 mm to 0.3 mm and 28 sizes in between). This allows the user to have a greater degree of versatility in its cleaning applications. With the PCS, a plastics processor can use one machine to clean many types of surfaces, such as the surface of injection moulds, deburring and deflashing, to cleaning injection screws. Previously, a facility would need multiple machines with different aggression level capabilities to clean each, said the manufacturer.

IAL Consultants has published the eighth edition of its report on the markets for polyurethane chemicals and products in Asia Pacific. This study updates and expands upon the information included in the previous study published in 2017. It contains both PU product production and raw material consumption figures, with 2018 as the base year and market forecasts provided to 2023. The data in this eight-volume report includes raw material consumption by product type, by region, by country and by major end-use industry. The Raw Materials volume contains supply and demand data for all of the major polyurethane raw material types. The Major End-Use Markets volume contains an overview of the markets for PU products and a summary of trends and drivers.

The Center for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI) announced Riddell SpeedFlex Precision Diamond Football Helmet Liner and Dow Aquachill Cool Coating for Comfier Bedding as the finalists for the 2019 Polyurethane Innovation Award.