Bottle Applications New
Bottle Applications New partner joins PEF bottle development Avantium (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) and ALPLA Werke Alwin Lehner GmbH (headquartered in Hard, Austria), agreed to cooperate on the development of PEF bottles. After Coca-Cola and Danone, Alpla is the third company to collaborate with Avantium on their bio-polyester polyethylene furanoate (PEF). “Avantium is very excited to have Alpla enter the Joint Development Platform for PEF bottles,” says Tom van Aken, CEO Avantium. “With Alpla’s extensive and proven know-how in PET conversion, bottle design and bottle manufacturing, Alpla will be a major contributor to accelerate the commercial roll out and industrialization of PEF. Together we have taken up the challenge to develop the supply chain for PEF as sustainable biobased packaging material to the beer and alcoholic beverage markets. ” Purpose of the collaboration with brand owners is to create a market pull for PEF, as Nathan Kemeling, Director YXY Business Development explained to bioplastics MAGAZINE. “This market pull will de-risk the value chain for other partners like feedstock suppliers, chemical companies, resin producers and recyclers, which are essential to put a new polyester on the market”, he said. Günther Lehner, Alpla CEO comments: “In the 1980’s Alpla was the first to introduce the two step PET bottle. Today we are able to take innovation a step further and introduce our customers in the food, home care and personal care area to the PEF, next generation of biobased polyester.” YXY technology Avantium’s proprietary YXY technology platform is a cost competitive catalytic technology to convert plant based materials into chemical building blocks for bioplastics, like PEF. PEF is a novel generation of 100% biobased polyester and the target is to be 100% recyclable and compatible with existing recycling technologies. Together with its partners and the recycling community Avantium is looking to find optimal end-of-life solutions for PEF. Thus PEF has the potential to replace conventional fossil resources based durable materials like PET. According to Avantium, PEF has significant performance benefits over PET. The barrier to oxygen is ten times higher, to CO 2 four times higher and to moisture two times higher. Further PEF exhibits a 60% higher modulus and a 12°C higher Tg. These performance benefits enable exciting new packaging opportunities like extension of product shelf life, further bottle light weighting and simplification of the production process by reducing the need for oxygen scavengers and coating layers. An independent life-cycle-analysis study by the Copernicus Institute at the University of Utrecht has demonstrated the carbon footprint of PEF is 50~70% lower than today’s PET. PEF bottles Alpla will develop PEF bottles for Personal Care/ Home Care applications, such as cosmetics and detergents and for Food applications such as sauces, dressings, baby foods and edible oils. Alpla and Avantium will furthermore work on the development of bottles for beer and other alcoholic beverages. Besides PEF for bottles, Avantium is also lining up partnerships to develop applications for PEF fibers and PEF films. Today Avantium is supplying its development partners with PEF manufactured from material produced at its Geleen pilot plant. Avantium is currently planning a 50,000 ton commercial plant, which is projected to be operational in 2016 to enable the full commercial launch of the first PEF bottles to consumers. MT www.avantium.com www.alpla.com 34 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/13] Vol. 8
Application News Elastic protective caps Thanks to the collaboration between API (Mussolente, Italy), supplier of elastomers and biodegradable compounds, and DLM (Opera, Italy), manufacturer of hydraulics and hydropneumatics, the first protective cap for quick connect couplings in 100% biodegradable soft material has been created. The for quick connect couplings offer protection from soil, rain and possible damage to the delicate hydraulic connections of the hydraulic systems present in tractors and soil moving machinery. The materials traditionally used for this application are PVC and SEBS (Styrene-Ethene-Butene-Styrene block copolymer) based compounds. The main characteristics required for this application are good resistance to UV and also temperature and weather resistance for lengthy and undefined periods of time. While in use, protective caps for quick connect couplings often fall to the ground. This gave rise to DLM’s desire to create a line of products with a low environmental impact through the design of 100% biodegradable protective caps for quick connect couplings that, in a case of an accidental loss, can be completely absorbed into the ground without, in any way, harming the environment. The challenge for API was to create the formulation of a 100% biodegradable material that could offer the same technical performance of the materials traditionally used for this application while also being suitable for transformation using the machines and moulds designed for PVC and SEBS compounds. By carrying out some modifications to the rheology of the base material and by acting on the relative composition of the constituents, API has developed a special grade of APINAT Bio perfectly suitable to be worked using the equipment available and with the required technical performance for this application. This latest application development of APINAT Bio further confirms and reinforces API’s commitment to supporting more innovative companies who are sensitive to the growing environmental problems related to creating objects with a low environmental impact. MT www.apinatbio.com www.dlmtappi.com organized by supported by 17. - 19.10.2013 Messe Düsseldorf, Germany Bioplastics in Packaging Bioplastics Business Breakfast B 3 PLA, an Innovative Bioplastic Bioplastics in Durable applications Subject to changes We thank our Sponsors Register now! www.bioplastics-breakfast.com Contact: Dr. Michael Thielen (info@bioplastics-magazine.com) bioplastics MAGAZINE [03/13] Vol. 8 35
