President’s Message

Dear SPE South Texas Chapter Members, 

I hope this message finds you well. It is with great honor and enthusiasm that I introduce myself as the newly elected President of the South Texas Section of the Society of Plastics Engineers.

As I step into this role, I am deeply humbled by the opportunity to serve such a dynamic and accomplished community of professionals. Our chapter has a rich legacy of technical excellence, collaboration, and leadership within the plastics sector, and I am committed to building upon that foundation with fresh energy and purpose.

My vision for the coming term centers on three key pillars: engagement, innovation, and growth. I aim to foster stronger connections among our members through meaningful events, technical programs, and outreach initiatives. We will continue to champion innovation by spotlighting emerging technologies and best practices that shape our industry. Many will be presented at the International Polyolenfins Conference, held each year. And most importantly, we will invest in the growth of our future leaders through mentorship and student involvement.

I invite each of you to be an active part of this journey. Your insights, participation, and support are what make our chapter thrive. Together, we can create a vibrant platform that not only advances our profession but also strengthens our community.

Please feel free to reach out to me with your ideas, questions, or simply to connect. I look forward to working alongside you and making this a remarkable chapter year.

Warm regards,

Jason Ball,
President, SPE South Texas Chapter
Jason.ball@reterra.com
www.linkedin.com/in/jason-ball-35032520

SPE International Polyolefins Conference 2026 – The Largest Polymer Conference in the World Dedicated to Polyolefins

Mark your calendar: Galveston, Texas February 23-26, 2026, Monday-Thursday

The 51st annual SPE International Polyolefins Conference will take place Feb 23-26, 2026, once again at the Galveston Island Convention Center in Galveston, Texas. The technical program will include traditional topics around polyolefin manufacture (catalyst, process), formulation (additives, modifiers), melt-processing (extrusion blow-molding), design (molecular through assembled articles), and applications (from packaging to durables). It will also include sessions covering recycling and circularity, regulation and public policy, microplastics and analytical, and artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Esteemed plenary speakers include Jan Kalfus, Executive Director of S+P Global; Rob Flores, VP Sustainability for Amcor, and Prof Rigoberto Advincula of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. They will address, respectively, the state of the industry, circularity challenges and solutions across the value chain, advanced recycling technologies, AI applications, and DOE research programs.

On Monday afternoon, two 2.5-hour tutorials will overview the fundamentals of blown film extrusion/troubleshooting, and reactive extrusion. This training will be presented by Paul Waller, Plastics Touch Point Group, and Ashok Adur, Everest International Consulting, respectively.

The exhibit will feature more than 60+ exhibitors highlighting new products and services critical to the polyolefins industry. A student poster session will host 20 posters in the Exhibit Hall, supporting the industry talent pipeline. A number of student awards and scholarships from the proceeds will be presented.

Click for more information

On the conference

To Exhibit

To Sponsor

Please note this Schedule change-we are moving to a Monday-Thursday conference.

Fall Kick-Off Astros Event

A good time was had by all at the annual SPE-STX Fall Kick-off at Minute Maid Park. The evening began with a networking/social in the boardroom then to watching the Astros take on the Rangers and win!

Don’t miss this SPE South Texas Section Event next year. This is a member benefit as the Section absorbs a part of the ticket price!

Spotlight Member

Yangwei Liu is a Senior Research and Business Chemist at Kaneka North America, where his research focuses on development of acrylic and methacrylate butadiene styrene (MBS) impact modifiers and processing aids for thermoplastics including PVC, PMMA, PC, PBT, Nylon, PET, PP, etc. The applications include construction, automobile, and food packaging areas.

He serves on the board of directors for both South Texas Section (STX) and Polymer Modifiers and Additives Division (PMAD) of the Society of Plastics Engineers, and American Chemical Society Greater Houston Section (ACS-GHS). He is also the past president of Southeast University Alumni Association in Southern America and Washington DC Area.

Yangwei holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Georgetown University, M.S. from College of William and Mary, and B.S. from Southeast University. Outside of work, he is an avid reader and volunteer passionate about making a positive impact on the community. If you’d like to exchange ideas on sustainability, social service, or books, connect with him.

SPE Dinner at the University of Houston

62 people signed up for the SPE Dinner at the University of Houston on October 30. Professor and faculty advisor, David Jack, came all the way from Baylor in Waco with three of his students.

It was a great opportunity to

• Talk with people in person
• Hear about research at the University of Houston dealing with Plastics Circularity (Professor Megan Robertson)
• Review all the educational activities that the SPE South Texas Section (STX) is doing
• Hear about the activities of the University of Houston SPE Student Chapter
• Commemorate the $25,000 Bill & Suzanne Diecks endowment that STX is giving the University of Houston for scholarships for the SPE students

The STX President, Jason Ball presented the UH Chemical Engineering Chair, Triantofillos Mountziaris, a certificate commemorating the endowment.

View slides outlining STX Educational Activities and the Bill & Suzanne Diecks Endowment.

$32,000,000 of Polyethyline Black Balls in the Water Reservoir

This is a fascinating video describing why they poured 96 million black polyethylene balls (they call them shade balls) into the Los Angeles drinking water reservoir. There was more than one reason.

See why 96 Million Black Balls Were Released Into A Los Angeles Reservoir

The South Texas Section Celebrates 50 Years of the Polyolefins Conference

The 2025 SPE International Polyolefins Conference celebrated the 50th anniversary of this event. Over the years, many innovations and developments have been featured or introduced at the Polyolefins Conference. Therefore, a special session was developed to capture some of the history of the industry, from catalysts and polymerization to applications and markets.

Bullish on Innovation

Masud Monwar and Max McDaniel (ChevronPhillips Chemicals) recalled the discovery of HDPE by Paul Hogan and Bob Banks at Phillips. They had been testing alternative metals to modify a nickel catalyst used to dimerize propylene for aviation fuel to boost octane. When they added chromium to the catalyst, the propylene consumption didn’t balance the gasoline production, but then they found a white solid in the reactor. Phillips management was so bullish on the discovery, they signed nine licensors in seven countries before the first plant came on stream!

Vintage HDPE homopolymers were improved with butene and hexene comonomers to generate a platform of copolymers ultimately extending to LLDPE. Those innovations became the cornerstone for other developments including co-catalysts for better efficiency and properties and improved control of molecular structure. New catalyst supports activated metallocenes, resulting in many more complex hybrid structures.

Digging deeper into the technology has enabled CPChem to model the fundamentals of the catalyst and reactor interactions, including the roles of solvents, etc. And so, the work continues.

Masud Monwar Video

Ziegler-Natta: The Chrome Alternative

Ziegler-Natta catalysts have been the other major catalyst system for polyolefins over the past 50 years. Jochem Pater reviewed the history of Ziegler-Natta catalysts, particularly in bulk slurry polymerization. About the same time Hogan and Banks recognized the potential of chrome, Ziegler and Natta produced and characterized amorphous and crystalline polypropylene. The amorphous content drove innovation in separation of the amorphous content (deashing) and catalyst developments to minimize the production of amorphous content.

Hercules and Montecatini developed new processes to drive production rates in addition to isotacticity. Further developments in catalysts systems refined product properties as well as operating efficiencies. Slurry loop reactors became one of the two basic technologies delivering the large-scale polyolefin quantities required for this largest portion of the overall global polymer demand. These loop reactors were built in series by process developers like Hercules and Montecatini for tailored compositions as well as increased through-put. The introduction of liquid propylene enabled higher concentrations, higher catalyst activity, simpler processes (diluent recycle), and ultimately the global production rates we enjoy today.

Pater Video

Slurry loop reactors: enabling scale and in-line tailoring

While catalyst developments focused on optimizing product compositions, reactor engineering was expanding options at scale. HDPE tubing was linked in a loop to make hula hoops and consume stirred-slurry HDPE, but the real opportunity was pipe, which has continued for 70 years and promised large demand.

Stirred slurry reactors were configured in series which ultimately led to larger loop reactors. Loop configurations with in-cycle cooling enabled higher production rates via continuous removal of heat of reaction. Series of loops could accommodate much different reactor environments further differentiating fractions of the overall product composition.

More recently, loop reactors have been augmented with gas-phase reactors to produce heterophasic polymers with elastomers, etc. This wide range of compositions allowed single-train production of what had previously required secondary compounding.

Schneider Video

Solution reactors: Accommodating low melting point polyolefins

In the mid 1950’s, DuPont developed solution polymerization for low melting point polymers built on Ziegler-Natta catalysts. The key was accommodating solutions rather than requiring slurries. Solvents were selected to facilitate operations and separations, and series reactors were developed to expand cooling options which facilitated higher production rates. By the early 70’s, Mitsui began pushing the densities lower, even below LLDPE; and the discoveries of metallocene catalysts by ExxonMobil and Dow further pushed PE densities to 0.865 g/cc and below.

Solution reactors are smaller than gas-phase reactors, with lower residence times for fast transitions between product compositions. They accommodate the tackier compositions associated with very low density. High viscosities of very high molecular weight limit the product range, and higher reactor pressures and solvent recovery require additional hardware and cost.

As with other process platforms, series solution reactors enable multi-modal compositions for tailored product properties and processability. Examples include tailored sealing temperature curves for package integrity and speeds as well as balanced toughness with density for moisture barrier. Tailored MWD can also facilitate solid-state orientation for package appearance and stiffness/toughness.

Solution Reactors Video

Gas-phase reactors enable larger-scale production and energy efficiency

Gas-phase reactors tend to be larger due to lower operating pressures. Recycling the reactor gas in-line allows high heat removal for faster reaction rates. While gas-phase reactors have been developed with vertical and horizontal stirred operations (especially for polypropylene), the most common design is a fluidized bed. Fluidized beds approach perfectly stirred reactors. This limits their transition times between reactor compositions, however it also supports composition control. The first Union Carbide Unipol™ gas-phase reactor started up in 1968, producing HDPE. Within 10 years, higher comonomer addition rates pushed the product window to include LLDPE. Higher production rates (via enhanced cooling) and lower-density products were achieved with limited liquid recycle, known as “condensed mode”. In 1995, Exxon commercialized metallocene catalyst operations for gas-phase PE, expanding capacities (for the same reactor size) as “super-condensed mode”. Today as much as a third of global PE production is produced via gas-phase polymerization.

Gas-phase Reactors Video

Looking forward

The SPE International Polyolefins Conference was inaugurated in 1975 when the US Gulf Coast (from Lake Charles to Corpus Christi) produced a very large portion of the global polyolefin supply. It remains a major global supply point as well as a global technology center. Join us at the 2026 International Polyolefins Conference as we discuss ongoing developments and the technologies supporting them.

Why should you join SPE?

SPE benefits and programs are designed by plastics professionals for plastics professionals. You get only the "good stuff," from experts working in the field every day. No "fluff," just substance!

• access to relevant content
  
• connection to a global community
  
• live technical events
  
• career support
  
• and so much more…

When you become a member of SPE, choose to join the South Texas Section at no additional charge. Doing so will allow you to keep abreast of all International Polyolefins Conference happenings as well as section news and you will also receive our newsletter.

Do you know of someone that would benefit from joining the Society of Plastics Engineers?

Feel free to forward this newsletter to them and invite them to join today. Joining is easy, simply scan the QR code and follow the directions.

Also, don’t let you membership expire – you don’t want to miss out on the advantages membership offers! Check out all we have to offer and JOIN US today!

Join us today!

Plastics Information: Check It Out

Houston Public LibraryThe Houston Public Library on McKinney has resources on plastics and polymers. Check out their catalog. If you are not near the McKinney location, you can arrange to pick up your books at your local branch.

The Fondren Library at Rice University has the most complete collection of books on plastics and polymers. This is also a prime resource for patent and trademark information, as well as other US Government documents. You cannot check out books there unless you join Fondren Library [$50], but you can arrange for books to be sent to your library by inter-library loan. Use their catalog.

The next best place to browse is at the MD Anderson Library at the University of Houston central campus. South Texas Section has donated many plastics books to this library. If you plan ahead, you can get a TexShare library card from a library where you are a member, which will allow you to check out books from any U of H library. Their catalog is here.

Officers

Need to contact one of us?

Web Content/Section Coordinator

Janell Helton
Houston, TX 77084
713-503-6729
jdhelton@comcast.net