THE WOODLANDS, Texas - (April 29, 2014) - Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP (Chevron Phillips Chemical) is pleased to announce that The Plastics Academy has posthumously inducted heritage employees J. Paul Hogan and Robert L. Banks into The Plastics Hall of Fame. The ceremony took place on April 27 at the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) ANTEC® 2014 Conference in Las Vegas.
As inventors of modern plastics, Hogan and Banks were selected for their discovery of a catalyst that transformed ethylene and propylene into solid polymers and established the foundation of the global polypropylene and high density polyethylene industries.
In June 5, 1951, Phillips Petroleum Company (now Phillips 66, which owns 50 percent of Chevron Phillips Chemical) researchers Hogan and Banks were attempting to convert propylene into gasoline when they discovered crystalline polypropylene. This discovery led to the development of a new catalytic process for making both polypropylene and high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Today, these plastics are used in thousands of applications. Polypropylene and HDPE are essential materials in a variety of consumer-product goods such as food packaging and films, coolers, detergent bottles, crates, bottle caps and closures, kayaks, and water and natural gas pipe.
"This posthumous Hall of Fame Award preserves the legacy of Hogan and Banks because they were truly the founders of today's linear polyolefin plastics industry," said Jon Ratzlaff, president of SPE and a technical services manager for Chevron Phillips Chemical. Their discovery of polypropylene and polyethylene has withstood the test of time and the catalysts they invented to make the polymers spawned applications and business opportunities that now provide millions of jobs around the world."
Additionally, Chevron Phillips Chemical is proud to announce that Dr. Ashish M. Sukhadia, global polyethylene applications manager for Chevron Phillips Chemical, was elected as a Fellow of SPE.
Sukhadia achieved this honor in recognition of his work in developing novel processing-structure-property and process-scaling relationships in polyethylene blown films. He also uncovered the effects of polymer structure and rheology on film optics and has made extensive technical contributions to the effects of long chain branching and rheology on polyethylene processing and performance.
Sukhadia played a major role in the development and commercialization of Chevron Phillips Chemical's metallocene-based mPACT™ linear low density polyethylene and has been a key leader and contributor in all aspects of Chevron Phillips Chemical's polyethylene technology developments over the past 20 years.
Only 289 members worldwide, counting the 2014 inductees, have been elected to this prestigious SPE Fellow status since it was established in 1984.
"I'm extremely proud to be a member of such a select group and attribute this recognition to the company culture supporting intellectual and scientific curiosity that has existed at Chevron Phillips Chemical since the beginning," said Sukhadia. "Brilliant colleagues and management support have made this work and recognition possible."
About the Plastics Hall of Fame
The Plastics Hall of Fame was established in 1972 to recognize those Americans who, through their dedication, work, and accomplishment, have contributed most significantly to the growth and success of the plastics industry. Administered by The Plastics Academy and the National Plastics Center and Museum, it has a special wing dedicated to permanently record and display the accomplishments of these men and women. New living inductees are elected every three years by a majority vote of the living members of the Hall of Fame and are honored at the triennial National Plastics Exposition (NPE). Between NPEs, posthumous inductees are honored.
About Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP
Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC, one of the world's top producers of olefins and polyolefins and a leading supplier of aromatics, alpha olefins, styrenics, specialty chemicals, plastic piping and polymer resins. With approximately 5,000 employees, the LLC and its affiliates own more than $9 billion in assets, including 37 manufacturing and research facilities in eight countries. Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC is equally owned by Chevron U.S.A. Inc., an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, and by wholly-owned subsidiaries of Phillips 66, and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas. For more information about Chevron Phillips Chemical, visit www.cpchem.com. Also, follow us on Twitter: @chevronphillips.