Moplen School Commencement
The Advanced Training course sponsored by HMC joint-venture associate LyondellBasell (LYB) in collaboration with the Sapienza University of Rome is returning to the Giulio Natta Research Centre at LyondellBasell's Ferrara, Italy site – where the first production of Polypropylene took place in 1957.
The post-graduate Moplen School course was established to train high-level professionals with specific skills in the field of polymerization processes and polymeric materials.
The 2020 edition of the Moplen School will involve ten young graduates from Thailand, Korea, Mexico, Greece, Lebanon and Italy. From HMC Polymers, Banyen Teangtun, Senior Technology Engineer, and Rattapon Insawangwong, Product Industrialization Engineer will spend the next six months in degree studies at the International Moplen School in Ferrara.
This collaboration will further assist the technology transfer process between HMC and LyondellBasell's R&D facility in Ferrara, and clearly support HMC's upcoming new PP Production Line IV which will start up in year 2022.
For more than 25 years, the Ferrara site has organized high level degree courses at the Giulio Natta Research Centre, first in partnership with the University of Ferrara and now with the University of Rome, Sapienza.
The course is divided into two parts: during the first month, assisted by LYB technicians and professors from Sapienza University, students learn LyondellBasell's proprietary technologies in detail with respect to processes, technologies, catalysts and product applications, and put what they learn into practice at the state-of-the-art pilot plant facilities and labs.
Then, in the following months, each student, will gain experience in the field by developing a thesis assigned according to each student's focus and company needs, on topics concerning different areas of research: from organic synthesis and chemical processes to analytical chemistry; from polymerization processes to patent studies and circular economics.
The Moplen School will conclude with the awarding of the Foschini Prize to the best thesis.
"We believe that the Moplen School is an opportunity for everyone to grow", said Antonio Mazzucco, Director of the Ferrara Research Centre of LyondellBasell.
Our engineers Banyen Teangtun and Rattapon Insawangwong, will have the same opportunity to learn at Moplen school as two of their HMC colleagues who have previously completed the course.
HMC is continuously focused on the development of new technology and the advancement of our employees to expand the capabilities of our PP product portfolio and enable our customers to have a clear material advantage in their respective markets.