Turning point for eco-friendly packaging

The global plastics and rubber industry put their most advanced solutions to aid manufacturers at K 2019. The benefits of these game-changing production solutions are creating a big difference, and the future generation can look forward to a more sustainable, responsible and highly creative plastics and rubber products. This is the second part of the K 2019 show coverage by International Plastics News for Asia where we put emphasis on notable exhibits.

 

Joint presence of 3 big players

Borealis, Borouge and NOVA Chemicals joined forces at K 2019 where they shared how they have been part of the plastics industry's commitment towards innovation, application development and circular economy.  While each of the three companies operates as a legally independent entity, all benefit from the strong and stable backing of their shared owners: Austria-based OMV, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Mubadala.  The frontline initiative Project STOP was co-founded by Borealis and SYSTEMIQ in 2017; the two companies have since been joined by Borouge and NOVA Chemicals as strategic partners.  The Alliance to End Plastic Waste joined Project STOP as a strategic partner. The Alliance’s three-year collaboration with Project STOP is set to focus on the regency of Jembrana, a new Project STOP city partnership, located on the northwest coast of Bali.  

 

The three companies showcased the many ways their commitment to bring about a circular economy of plastics. At the press event, Alfred Stern, CEO Borealis;  Lucrèce Foufopoulos, Executive Vice President Polyolefins, Innovation and Circular Economy Solutions, Borealis; Wim Roels, CEO at Borouge Pte,  and John Thayer, SVP Polyethylene at NOVA Chemicals gave an overview of the collaboration. 

 

“Building tomorrow together” at the K 2019 means collaboration with partners and customers, renewed dedication to Value Creation through Innovation, and promoting increased mindfulness with regard to plastics circularity. Borealis and Borouge are supporting the global automotive industry by engineering lighter weight, high-performance solutions for a growing range of automotive parts. Taking centre stage at the joint K 2019 stand is the NIO ES8. It is the flagship model of the successful Chinese electric vehicle maker NIO that unites top material performance and sleek design; numerous interior and exterior parts have been produced using innovative Daplen™ and Fibremod™ compounds.  

 

                              Representatives from Borealis, Borouge and NOVA Chemicals during the press conference at K 2019  

 

The joint effort of Borealis, Borouge, and Henkel led to the development of novel and highly circular flexible packaging solutions. Two stand-up pouches combine virgin polyethylene (PE) and high amounts of PCR. These solutions offer even better packaging circularity while maintaining excellent shelf appeal. One pouch developed in the course of this value chain co-operation contains 30% Ecoplast-produced PCR.  In collaboration with several value chain partners, Borealis and Borouge have developed a series of new, monomaterial pouch solutions based on PE and PP which expand the range of more sustainable options for the flexible packaging industry. Borealis announced the commercial launch of BorPure™ RF777MO. Based on the proprietary Borstar® Nucleation Technology, this new resin fulfils value chain demand for high-quality solutions offering excellent organoleptics.  

 

Engineering breakthrough 

Since its founding, Wilmington Machinery has built equipment to meet customer-specific applications. Within the past year, the company has built and installed two new vertical presses, installed a second complete plastic pallet moulding system, and re-engineered the MP800 structural injection moulding and Series III rotary blow moulding machines lines. 

 

The re-engineered MP800 injection unit incorporates a first-in, first-out, reciprocating screw of 30:1 L/O and an in-line accumulator arrangement. The design maintains the ability to compound both virgin and recycled resins with various fibrous and non-fibrous additives for strength and reducing the cost of the moulded component. The redesigned Series III rotary blow moulding models ensure reduced cost and delivery times and much more standard commercial componentry than its predecessor. Other advantages include a smoother running machine that is faster to set up, increased bottle production, more versatility, and a longer life. The Series III B also incorporates many of the features previously found on the Wilmington SB Series (small bottle) including dual cam actuation for performance and versatility, rotary timing valves for blow functions, plumbing of blow functions and mould cooling to the platens for faster setup, and more. 

 

                                                          Mr. Russ La Belle, President, Wilmington Machinery 

 

According to Russ La Belle, President of Wilmington Machinery, the Wilmington machinery are built to meet the needs of customers for reliable, highly efficient blow moulding solutions.  He also mentioned the complete Pallateer system that includes the moulding machine, a mould for a Wilmington designed pallet, robot pallet removal / conveyance plus nitrogen generating, resin blending / loading and mould chilling equipment.

 

 

Sustainable packaging solutions

 

ExxonMobil introduced Rethink Recycle with Vistamaxx™ performance polymers at its K 2019 exhibit placing emphasis on ExxonMobil’s proven, cost-effective solution that allows increased recycled content utilisation for high-value applications. The focus on Vistamaxx™ performance polymers went beyond providing the needed properties for quality end-products as recycling took centre stage. Due to its unique molecular design, Vistamaxx™ polymers act like a compatibilizer between polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) in recycled content streams, enabling it to improve the properties of recycled content containing products. 

 

Overcoming the barriers to using recycled material

One of the major barriers to using recycled material is the need for costly and time-consuming separation of incompatible plastics. By allowing incompatible PE and PP plastics to mix in the melt, Vistamaxx™ performance polymers can reduce the need for separation. This provides manufacturers with the opportunity to produce higher-quality products, increase utilisation of recycled content and access new alternate lower-cost raw material sources. As Brahim Ahmindache, Market Developer EMEAF, Vistamaxx™ performance polymers at ExxonMobil: “ExxonMobil’s focus at the K show is related to recycling and improving sustainability through Vistamaxx™. With everybody wanting to find solutions to cope with recycled materials, we looked at how Vistamaxx™ can add value to these end-use products. For instance, Vistamaxx™ enables downgauging while retaining the same mechanical properties.” Mr. Ahmindache went on to explain that with Vistamaxx™, it has become possible to reduce the wall thickness for injection moulded parts, while increasing the use of recycled material. “With Vistamaxx™, it is possible to use recycled materials and improve the production process for a wide range of applications such as adhesives, automotive, blow moulding, etc. Where PP and PE are required, adding Vistamaxx™ can improve the mechanical properties yet use less virgin materials and use more recycled materials.”

 

For packaging, Vistamaxx™ has become an ideal solution due to its low melt temperature. In rigid packaging production, Vistamaxx combined with recycled materials enable more elasticity in caps for less breakage, so there is less scrap. For trays, Vistamaxx™ added to pure PP provides more impact resistance and strength for less breakage.  In flexible packaging, Vistamaxx™ combined with PE, such as Exceed™ XP, Exceed™ and Enable™, can help improve the sealing of the packaging, including lowering sealing initiation temperatures for energy savings, in food applications, and all the food grades comply with the various health and safety standards in various regions.  

 

Stand-up pouches (SUPs) can now be made using recycled material from full PE laminated SUPs and virgin performance PE polymers, thanks to a collaboration between ExxonMobil, Hosokawa Alpine AG, EREMA Engineering Recycling Maschinen und Anlagen GmbH, and Henkel AG & Co KGaA Company.  According to Lily Ma, North Asia Performance PE Market Development Manager, ExxonMobil: “ExxonMobil has been able to provide circular solutions that help contribute to closing the circular loop. In particular, the new SUP packages combine 30% recycled SUP PE with 70% virgin ExxonMobil performance PE polymers and are well-suited for non-food applications, such as detergents.” Ms. Ma also stressed that in 2019, ExxonMobil has been able to help close the loop by developing full PE recyclable packaging and recyclable full PE laminated solutions through MDO technology that also improves the packaging’s overall appearance.  

 

Flexible packaging is structurally a highly complex product requiring different material layers to enable it to meet a wide range of property requirements. This complex mix of materials poses the main challenge for recycling flexible packaging today. In this area, ExxonMobil introduced full PE laminated SUP packaging solutions as a replacement for conventional multi-material structures which can be difficult to recycle. These full PE SUPs can be easily recycled where facilities to collect and recycle plastic films exist. Exceed™ XP, Exceed™ and Enable™ performance PE polymers, and Exact™ plastomer products are ideal for SUP packaging films as they deliver excellent stiffness, toughness, sealing and optical properties. 

 

For industrial packaging, the collaboration between ExxonMobil, Windmöller & Hölscher (W&H) and Grupo Armando Alvarez resulted in the development of 40-micron, 5-layer polyolefin dedicated (POD) collation shrink film, which includes 30% recycled PE, according to Adeline Duponchel, Market Development Manager, PE EMEAF. “The collation shrink film maintains performance due to the inclusion of Exceed™ XP and Enable™ performance PE polymers and ExxonMobil™ LDPE in the formulation. This innovative solution enables us to keep the performance and mechanical properties, such as toughness, stiffness and shrinkability and optics, for industrial packaging. Hence, the thin gauge plus the exceptional strength makes the shrink packaging ideal when transporting the product,” Ms. Duponchel explained.  Ms. Duponchel also stated another challenge in using recycled PE is that it can degrade the properties of the polymer: “How many times can you do that and what is the boundary? In the case of ExxonMobil, we have extended the boundary of using recycled materials.  In this heavy duty sack, for example, developed in collaboration with Reifenhäuser who provided tracing technology, we use 37% recycled PE from heavy duty sacks without compromising performance – even when the fourth cycle of recycled material is being used.  Using Exceed™ XP performance PE and ExxonMobil™ HDPE in the formulation maintains the package integrity of the new heavy duty sacks, even when multi-cycle recycled PE is used.”