Demand and consumption of TPEs makes it the fastest growing segment of polymers industry

Plexium, an event management company with a focus on plastics and polymers, recently organized 2 days conference on April 7, 8 on 'Thermoplastic Elastomers', in association with Chatsworth Halls PLC, Singapore, at ITC Grand Maratha Sheraton, Mumbai. The 2 day event was chaired by Mirisch Damani, a founder and a co promoter of Plexium and Managing Director of Zylog Plastalloys, a leading compounding company in India. The conference had 17 papers in technical sessions, authored and presented by eminent experts from global fraternity, who are specialist in their specific areas of TPEs. The highlight of the conference was key note speech, delivered by Dr. Krishna Venkataswamy, Senior Director of Global Research and Development, GLS Thermoplastic Elastomers; Polyone Corporation; USA. Mr. Damani, in his welcome address narrated how thermoplastic elastomers evolved 50 years back with commercialization of TPU by Bayer in Germany, along the commercialization of SBS by Shell, in USA. He also mentioned how demand and consumption of TPEs made it one of the fastest growing segments of plastics and polymers industry to reach current global volume of around 3.3 million tons valued at US$11 bln. He further stated that demand for TPEs, in rapidly growing Indian economy would increase as automotive, footwear, electricals, electronics, wires/cables and consumer segments show double digit growth. Dr. Venkataswamy, in his key note address, took the audience on virtual tour starting from the history of TPEs, from 1950s to current global scenerio. Technology has been a primary demand driver with lot of challenging and exciting application developments taking place globally with filing and registration of intellectual property rights. Dr. Venkataswamy further stated that future demand will come from China, India, and other emerging economies of Asia and South America. The key note address of Dr. Venkataswamy kept audience spell bound for about an hour, followed by lively and interactive questions and comments. 2 days conference covered presentations from Indian and multinational companies such as Technovinyl, Multibase, Zylog, Dow Chemicals, Basell, Eastman Chemicals, Kraton Polymers, Basf, RTP, Polyone, Arkema, Bayer Materials, Lubrizol, Merquisa, Dupont and Husky on material, technology and applications of a wide variety of topics, including styrenics, polyurethanes, copolyesters, TPVs, TPOs and polyamide based thermoplastic elastomers. Over 180 participants attended this 2 day event, sharing and exchanging their views on a most important subject of thermoplastic elastomers on a common platform making this event one of the most successful technical conferences held in India. This event was sponsored by Dow Chemicals, Basell, Eastman, Polyone, Bayer, Zylog, Technovinyl and BASF. Plexium was founded in 2005 with a charter to promote and advance knowledge in the areas of plastics and polymers in a rapidly growing Indian economy. Plexium has lined up several future events, including the exposition 'Autoplas 2010' to be held at Pune on September 16, 17 and 18, 2010.