Crain has issued a Call for Papers for Utech Europe 2021, which will take place from 14 – 16 September 2021 in Maastricht, The Netherlands. The deadline for the submission of abstracts has been extended to Friday, 22 January 2021.

On 5 January 2021, Lanxess announced that it is continuing to drive forward digitalisation in its production plants. Over the next three years, the company will introduce mobile operations and maintenance. In a first step, around 400,000 paper-based operations and maintenance checklists used every year will be replaced by digital equivalents, then filled out on tablets. In this initial phase, 65 Lanxess plants in Germany, Belgium and the USA will benefit from this modernised process, said the company.

Dryflex HiF is a family of very high melt-flow and scratch resistant TPS-SEBS materials recently launched by Hexpol TPE. The grades open possibilities to produce large scale parts via injection moulding, including automotive interior surfaces, trims and skins.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research Wilhelm-Klauditz-Institut WKI in Braunschweig, Germany, are developing the stand-up paddleboard ecoSUP with a lightweight sandwich element made from renewable raw materials. For the core, balsa wood from disused wind-energy rotor blades is being used – a sustainable solution for their high-quality recycling. The outer shell consists of bioplastics which are reinforced with regionally available flax fibres.

Chem-Trend has launched two new release agents for FRP applications – Chemlease 5127 and Chemlease 5128. According to the company, the two silicone-free, solvent-based universal release agents combine proven technologies with ease of use.

BASF announced that its new Elastollan Soft Touch Feel thermoplastic polyurethane series creates new design possibilities with its exceptional touch, feel, and performance. With Meiban’s laser texturing Innovation Meiban Skin (IMS) technology, Elastollan is making headway in the consumer electronics accessories market.

According to Henkel, with its wide range of technologies and know-how, the company is a supplier of complete solutions in the automotive industry and especially for electric vehicles. Products for conductive coatings and thermal interface materials, as well as assembly adhesives and liquid seals, are used to protect battery packs in electric cars. An important prerequisite for maintaining the service life of electric batteries is a permanently functioning seal for the battery housing in the car underbody.

Covestro announced that it has developed a sustainable cast elastomer solution that enables the offshore industry to reduce its environmental impact and carbon footprint. The polyurethane elastomers are based on cardyon polyols, which contain CO2 and are said to offer the same good performance as corresponding petrochemical-based elastomers.

Perstorp announced that it has developed a production concept to produce methanol from a large variety of recovered end-of-life streams and hydrogen from electrolysis. Project AIR will build a first-of-a-kind, large scale, commercial Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) unit to produce sustainable methanol. The methanol plant will be unique in the sense that it is a combined CCU and gasification process where CO2, residue streams, renewable hydrogen and biomethane will be converted to methanol. Perstorp plans to do this in cooperation with Fortum, Uniper and Nature Energy.

Dow announced the launch of a new generation of low cyclics, low volatile silicone Vorasurf surfactants. According to the company, flexible polyurethane foam formulators now have access to a set of higher performing surfactant options for mattresses, couches, and other upholstered furniture with improved sustainability profile.