News Photo: Grafe GRAFE
News Photo: Grafe GRAFE Advanced Polymers GmbH (Hall 7.1 - Booth C/25) www.grafe.com Masterbatches for biodegradable plastics The Grafe Group has developed biodegradable colour masterbatches available in the same brilliant colors and with the same technical characteristics as the „classic“ masterbatches. With these newly developed products, Grafe meets the challenges of increased environmental awareness and ever stricter environmental legislation. With immediate effect the Grafe Group will offer masterbatches for colouring biodegradable plastics under the brand name “Biocolen“. Plastics made from renewable raw materials pave the way for using closed recycling loops. Compostability of bioplastic products containing inorganic mineral pigments or organic synthetic dyes is reduced. However, products made with Biocolen masterbatches, which are produced with vegetable dyes, are completely biodegradable. “Stricter environmental legislation governing the use of plastics is bound to come - the political powers will see to that. Even today, we are already supplying the necessary raw materials to the plastics processing industry“, said Matthias Grafe, Manager of the Grafe Group. Nanostarch: the highlight of the year Novamont, leading company in the area of biodegradable polymers driven by its vision of “Living Chemistry for Quality of Life” and winner of the award “European Inventor of the Year 2007”, will announce a further highlight at the K2007 show in Düsseldorf. Novamont has achieved a further significant technological breakthrough with Mater-Bi ® nanostarch, a range of products engineered to substantially improve the end-use performances of Mater-Bi grades containing starch, while maintaining its certified biodegradability even in home composting conditions. Nanostarch technology, patented by Novamont, will be a very powerful tool to produce super tough materials even in conditions of very low humidity, definitively overcoming the limitations of starch-based materials. Several applications will benefit of these new breakthrough of Novamont technologies to be announced at the K2007 show. Novamont is increasing its industrial capacity due to the new Biorefinery integrated in the territory NOVAMONT S.p.A. (Hall 6 - Booth E09) www.novamont.com show preview Oct. 24-31, 2007 Düsseldorf, Germany Plastics - made by Nature! ® Photo: FKuR FKuR together with Fraunhofer UMSICHT present their competence in the area of biodegradable films and compounds. “One of many highlights“ says Patrick Zimmermann of FKuR, “is a translucent film similar to HDPE“. Other examples include a wide range of biodegradable plastics primarily made of renewable raw material, e.g.: Bio-Flex ® (PLA/co-polyester-blends), Biograde ® (cellulose ester blends) or Fibrolon ® (Plastic-Wood-Compounds). Application examples are mulch films, waste bags, bottles made from PLA-blends and numerous injection moulded applications. FKuR Kunststoff GmbH (Hall 7-level 1 - Booth A20/A22) www.fkur.com , www.umsicht.fraunhofer.de 14 bioplastics MAGAZINE [03/07] Vol. 2
New PHB formulation Biomer from Krailing, Germany introduce a new PHB formulation “with mechanical properties at least as good as polypropylene, if not better“, as Urs Hänggi of Biomer puts it. PHB is made of renewable resources, totally biodegradable (anaerobic and aerobic). Biomer‘s PHB compounds are free of catalysts, neither thrombogenic nor immunogenic. They offer a good creep resistance, faster cycle times and thinner walls, thus more complex structures become possible. The compounds are best for injection moulded technical applications. Biomer (Hall 7-Level 2 - Booth B30) www.biomer.de Polyethylene from bio-ethanol At the company’s Technology and Innovation Center the Brazilian company Braskem has developed the first internationally certified (ASTM D6866) polyethylene made from 100% sugarcane based ethanol. The “green polymer“ developed by Braskem – a high-density polyethylene, one of the resins most widely used in flexible packaging – is the result of a research and development project in which already around 5 million US$ have been invested. To find out more, read the detailed article in this issue or meet Braskem at their Booth in Düsseldorf. New masterbatches PolyOne will introduce a range of new additive masterbatches designed to enhance the performance of biopolymers. Among these are • Enhanced impact & ductility of PLA sheet while maintaining transparency • Increase anti-fog properties for PLA film Besides the new masterbatches PolyOne will show the earlier developed color and additive masterbatches. The color masterbatches are especially designed to comply with the strict EN 13432 norm. The additive masterbatches offer improved processing and enhanced application performance PolyOne (Hall 8b - Booth G46) www.polyone.com News Braskem (Hall 6 - Booth E80) www.braskem.com.br Other companies exhibiting at K‘2007, that are involved in bioplastics but unfortunately did not provide us with detailed information in time for this issue are: Biotec Distribution, www.biotec-distribution.eu Hall 5 - Booth B13-3 and Hall 7-level 2 Booth E45 CONSTAB Polyolefin Additives GmbH, www.constab.com Hall 7-level 1 - Booth C20 Kaneka Belgium N.V., www.kaneka.be Hall 7a - Booth D32 Kuraray Europe GmbH, www.kuraray.eu Hall 7a - Booth D06 Marubeni Europe Plc, www.europe.marubeni.com Hall 7a - Booth D02 SpecialChem, www.specialchem.com Hall 5 - Booth B41 Technamation Technical Europe GmbH, www.technamation.com Hall 8b - Booth F8 Toray Industries, Inc., www.toray.com Hall 7a - Booth D32 Vanetti S.r.l. - Masterbatch, www.vanettimaster.com Hall 7-level 1 - Booth C03 VTT Technical Research, Centre of Finland, www.vtt.fi Hall 11 - Booth C70 Wells Plastics Limited, www.wellsplastics.com Hall 5 - Booth B40
