Smithers Rapra announced the appointment of Steve Peel as Manufacturing Leader. He will support the technical processing team and specialised manufacturing services at the Shawbury site.

Total recently inaugurated the world’s largest olefin cracker based on ethane in Ras Laffan, Qatar. With a production capacity of 1.3 million t of ethylene per year, the Ras Laffan Olefin Cracker (RLOC) will feed the new Qatofin polyethylene plant inaugurated in Mesaieed last November. Total Petrochemicals, through its participations in Qapco and Qatofin, joint ventures with Qatar Petroleum, holds 22.2% of RLOC. The other partners are Qatar Petroleum and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company.

Müller Plastics has increased its production capacity. A modern compounding unit has been completed at Plant II in Lichtenfels. The company said that the costs for this unit are around EUR 1 million.

Lanxess has increased prices worldwide for its hydrazine hydrate, Levoxin and dihydrazine product groups by 10 %, effective 1 July 2010.

Kraton announces a general price increase in Europe, Africa and the Middle East of EUR 150/MT for its SBS and OE SBS polymers and compounds.

iSmithers, the information business within Smithers Rapra, has joined an eight-strong consortium that will produce a ‘REACH Toolkit’ to aid the European polymer industry in its implementation of REACH.

Josep Ferrarons Espinós took over the Rowa distributorship in Spain and Portugal and is now helping to beef up the Group’s activities on the Iberian peninsula. He is responsible for all group products and interests.

Kuraray has announced that it will increase prices of its Septon and Hybrar elastomers effective 1 July 2010.

Hans Wobbe, 57, will be leaving the management of Engel Holding on 31 July 2010 for personal reasons.

Hilti Deutschland GmbH makes use of Kraiburg TPE materials for the components that go into its tools. Kraiburg TPE custom-developed a soft formula for a novel cover cap that keeps dust and grime away from the inner workings of machines such as rotary hammer drills and demolition hammers.