SPE plans meeting on polyurethanes.

The South Texas Section of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), in partnership with the Polymer Materials and Additives Division of SPE and the Thermoplastic Materials and Foams Division of SPE, is sponsoring the International Polyolefins Conference 2007, to be held February 25-28 at the Wyndham Greenspoint Hotel in Houston, TX.

The plenary session on "Globalization--an update," will be chaired by Bill Diecks of Chevron Phillips Chemicals and Donna Davis of ExxonMobil Chemical. Presentations will be given by Bob Bauman of Chem Systems/Nexant, Bill Hicky of Sealed Air and Kurt Swogger of Dow Chemical.

Session 2 on "Reactive extrusion and PO modification/functionalization," will be chaired by Abdelhadi Sahnoune of ExxonMobil Chemical. Presentations will include the following: "Control of free radical chemistry during extrusion and compounding," Mohamed Esseghir, Dow Chemical; "Application of counter rotating non-intermeshing twin screw extruders to reactive extrusion processes," Chris Tucker, NFM; "Synthesis and characterization of long chain branched isotactic PP via metallocene catalyst and t-reagent," Michael Chung, Penn State University; "Improved functionalized polyolefins via reactive extrusion," Syed Abuzar, Chemtura; "Reactive processing of polypropylene--clay nano-composites," K. Jayaraman, Michigan State University; and "Interfacial adhesion control between crosslinked polyolefin layers in wire and cable applications," Tim Person, Dow Chemical.

Session 3 on "Advances in catalysts," will be chaired by Hayder Zahalka of Chemtura.

Session 4 on "Next generation polyolefins--applications," will be chaired by Leonard Cribbs of Lyondell Chemical. Technical presentations will include: "Clarified PP--a new benchmark," E. Santamaria and Hieu-Dinh Phan, Rika International Ltd.; "Machine direction and film properties," Ryan Breese and Jeff Strebel, Lyondell Chemical; "Loop reactor," speaker from ChevronPhillips Chemical; "EVOH copolymers," Gary Woodell, Eval Americas; "Cyclic olefin copolymers," Jandy Jester, Topas; and "Development strategies for medium to small polyolefins producers," J.O. Buhler-Vidal, Polyolefins Consulting.

Session 5 on "Advances in additives and modifiers," will be chaired by Thoi Ho of Dow Chemical.

Session 6 on "Advancements in polyolefin film," will be chaired by Andanda Chatterjee of Kaneka Texas. Technical presentations will include: "Metallocene PP in cast film applications," Daniele Bugada, Basell USA; "High clarity and gloss PP blown film," Rodolfo Mier and Mark Miller, Total Petrochemicals USA; "Quantification and characterization of gels in PE film," Thomas Butler, Blown Film Technology LLC, and Chuck Mork, Dow Chemical; "Novel polyolefin films from fibrous webs," Gene Joseph, 3M; "New developments in ionomer technology for film applications," Barry Morris, DuPont; and "Polybutene-1: Exploiting its unique properties to enhance the performance of other polyolefins," Omar Boutini, Basell USA.

Session 7 on "New performance polypropylene," will be chaired by Donna Davis of ExxonMobil Chemical. Technical presentations will include: "Global supply/demand with impact of import/export finished goods," speaker from Nexant; "PP licensing," speaker from Spherizone Decision; "PP catalyst," speaker from Indelpro, Mexico; "New PP products," speaker from Grace; "PP trends and drivers," speaker from Borealis; and "New products' requirements," speaker from Basell USA.

Session 8 on "Durable applications of polyolefins," will be chaired by Tom Walsh of Walsh Consulting and White Jee of Ineos.

Further information on SPE Polyolefins Conference 2007 is available from Suzanne Biggs [phone] or [e-mail].