Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Another cold shoulder for polypropylene

So after this mornings entry, in my mail box is the March 2010 issue of "Hydrocarbon Processing", and on the cover is a lead-in title "On Purpose" Propylene. [1]
Oh the disrespect!

Propylene has been such an unloved child that the polymer industry could get by on the scraps of the gasoline industry, and now since demand is getting higher, someone is going to have to make propylene 'on purpose' and not by accident. And this is worth mentioning on the cover of "Hydrocarbon Processing.[2]

So is there a conspiracy here? Are there black helicopters flying overhead to watch if anyone is talking up polypropylene? Will I be posting tomorrow, or will I be whisked off to a super-double-secret prison in a foreign land and subjected to polyethylene boarding until I talk?


[1] (As of right now, the article is not online - the February 2010 issue is the "current issue").

[2] And elsewhere too. (13,000 hits.) Somebody is making a big deal about all this.

1 comment:

Materialist said...

This is a serious issue that will face more and more petrochemicals. As fuel refiners have continued to install 'crackers of various kinds to up gasoline production in particular, lots of former byproducts suddenly become scarce. To the refinery it's just one less minor byproduct to worry about, but to other industries these are large-volume mainstays.