Recently, the petrochemicals feedstock supply trend in the major regions of the world has changed. The Middle East is now facing a natural gas scarcity due to increasing demand and inefficient utilization of subsidized natural gas by the energy intensive industries, leading to supply restrictions and posing a threat to the global petrochemical market. Simultaneously, USA, Brazil and European countries have discovered new feedstock source and have benefited from the discovery of shale gas and pre-salt reserves. China is turning to coal as a petrochemical feedstock. Ethane cracking yields very low percentages of mixed C4s. from which butadiene is extracted. Also, propylene and MTO projects produce no C4s. A consequent tightening of supply of butadiene (BD) and propylene from the change of feedstock slate is on the cards. Read more in Major petrochemical producing regions experience change in feedstock scenario

Thin-walled plastics packaging is used in a wide range of industries for containers and lids that are used in both food and non-food applications as well as glass and can replacement for meat. Material developments offer improved organoleptics, excellent transparency, energy savings, high impact resistance, excellent flow characteristics, design freedom, etc. To be updated on the latest developments, read Material developments in thin wall packaging

Electric vehicles – plug-in hybrids and battery powered – will comprise nearly 20% of the global market for light vehicles in 2030. The development of powerful, long-lasting batteries and ready access to a reliable power grid for recharging remain the critical issues for the success. The need to increase EV mile range, paralleled by the inherent advantages of plastics, particularly that of lightweight, will drive the use of lightweight plastics in EVs. To know about parts in which plastics can find increasing application, sustainable use of plastics in the long-term, the major challenges to be overcome, etc, read Use of lightweight plastics in EVs to drive penetration rates and growth

Means by which polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) enables capacitors to store and release large amounts of energy quickly has been discovered, In the case of the PVDF mixture, the atoms change their state all at once, which means that you get a large amount of energy out of the system at very little cost in terms of what you need to put into it. Hopefully these findings will bring us closer to developing capacitors that will give electric vehicles the same acceleration capabilities as gasoline engines. Read more in Polyvinylidene fluoride enables capacitors store and release large amounts of energy quickly