NEWS
JUST BRIEFLY
Plastics industry at tipping point
A SENIOR manager at Coca-Cola Company in North America says the industry is at a ‘tipping point’. “The plastics industry for single-use bottles, for beverage containers, is under attack. There’s a negative perception that is real for the industry. Consumers are avoiding buying our products,” said Penny Walter, manager for strategic procurement sourcing for closures. “As an industry, we need to come together and have one voice, to educate consumers about the benefits of plastics and to properly recycle,” said Walter at the Plastics Caps & Closures conference in Chicago. “We want 50% recycled content. It’s a big gap. Where’s that material going to come from? We’ve got to close that gap,” she said. “If you want to do business with CocaCola, I highly suggest you take this seriously,” added Walter.
ExxonMobil’s €160 million upgrade at UK ethylene plant
EXXONMOBIL is to make a £140-million (US $173-million) investment in upgrading key infrastructure at its ethylene production plant in Mossmorran, in eastern Scotland. The project, to run through 2019 and 2020, will improve plant reliability and reduce the frequency of flaring, which has seemingly been an issue at the site. The plant was reportedly shut down for a month in mid-August for ‘remedial maintenance’ as a result of an unplanned flaring. A portion of the £159-million (US $196-million) investment, according to ExxonMobil, will go toward implementing technologies that reduce the impact of flaring, including a state-of-the-art flare tip, which will reduce noise and vibration. In operation since 1986, the Fife plant uses natural gas liquids (NGLs) from the North Sea as feedstock to produce 830 kilotonnes of ethylene per annum. 20
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The team at the PESC lab in Pretoria incluces (in front) Justin Marsberg (technical manager), Maria Marsberg (financial director), Dr Isbé van der Westhuizen (lab manager) and Masilo Makwela (polymer technologist); back row: François Prinsloo (quality manager & senior technologist), Graham Marsberg (MD), Godfrey Bulose (lab technician) and Sipho Zingwe (workshop assistant)
PESC lab achieves ISO accreditation – first in SA New, state-of-the-art testing equipment, compliant with latest international standards
PRODUCTIVITY Engineering Services and Consultants (PESC), an independent polymer and plastics testing laboratory, successfully obtained SANAS accreditation for ISO/IEC 17025 at the end of July, a first of its kind in South Africa. François Prinsloo (Ndip & BTech Polymer Technology), PESC lab quality manager, says ISO 17025 accreditation is awarded for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. Owned by husband and wife team, Graham and Maria Marsberg, the laboratory is based in Centurion, Pretoria, and not only services the Gauteng region but also national and international clients. PESC was established 18 years ago, with the laboratory founded in July 2015. The company is efficiently run by a team of highly experienced, competent staff in the fields of polymer testing, electrical and mechanical engineering. PESC applies the knowledge and experience of productivity enhancement and production monitoring in its own facility, with real-time monitoring of laboratory conditions, ovens and pressure units. The laboratory boasts new, state-of-theart testing equipment, compliant with the latest international standards. “The lab can do a wide variety of testing for the polymer industry, including but not limited to. quality control testing such as melt mass-flow rate,
polymer density, mechanical strength determinations, carbon black content, pigment and carbon black dispersion, material melting points and oxidation induction time, material identifications, impact strength determinations, material softening point determination, ash and filler content, and many more. PESC has also recently acquired a UV testing machine to accommodate customers in need of such tests.” says Prinsloo. Other services include: • Failure investigations of polymeric goods such as plastic piping, liners, synthetics, etc. • Customer specific and specialised audits • Custom equipment builds, such as hand brake testers, pressure testing apparatus, coefficient of friction testers, automation and control systems • Professional reporting structures specifically developed on national and international engineering and science practices The lab now also offers specification development to the polymer and plastics industry, where the lab advises customers on specific testing that would be required to determine a product’s properties and performance. After some research, development and testing, PESC writes a unique standard that has been specifically developed to meet the products’, customers’ and end-users’ requirements. www.pesc-lab.co.za
2019/10/06 11:39