Blow Moulding
Blow Moulding Biodegradable packages for dairy products The Technological Institute of Plastic (AIMPLAS, Valencia, Spain) has been coordinating a European two-year research project in which eight partners participate in the search for a new material, biodegradable and resistant to thermal treatments, to be used in the manufacture dairy products. The project, started in May 2013, is called BIOBOTTLE and its aim is creating multilayer and monolayer plastic bottles, as well as bags to package dairy products and which are not required to be separated from the rest of the organic wastes at the end of their brief lifespan. Europe is the biggest consumer of dairy products in the world, with an average of 261 kg per capita per year, according to the data provided by FAO in 2011. It supposes the generation of an important volume of waste, principally high density polyethylene bottles. This material is completely recyclable and its post-consumption management should not be a problem, but, in fact, only between 10% and 15% of it is recycled, according to data in 2012. Milk bottles and bags are packages which can be used only once, so a big volume of waste is generated. In addition, an exhaustive high temperature washing is required in recycling to eliminate any waste products and subsequent odours. So, it is especially interesting for the dairy industry, and an added value for the manufacturers, to introduce the elaboration of packages which can be thrown away when they are used, along with the rest of the organic wastes. For this, AIMPLAS and the rest of BIOBOTTLE’s partners are working on developing a biodegradable material which allows manufacturing of big multilayer bottles or bags, like the ones used for milk or milkshakes, as well as the monolayer bottles, which are smaller, used to package probiotic products. Biodegradable and resistant to sterilization and pasteurization One of the main difficulties with which the researchers of this project must deal is finding a biodegradable material which complies with the same requirements of the traditional packages currently in use, including the resistance to thermal treatments such as the sterilization or pasteurization. For this, it is expected to modify the current commercial biodegradable materials through reactive extrusion to overcome the thermal limitations in the current biodegradable ones available in the market. BIOBOTTLE is a European Project in the Seventh Framework Programme, with a fund of €1 million. Seven companies and technological centers from five different countries work with AIMPLAS: Germany (VLB), Bélgica (OWS), Italy (CNR), Portugal (VIZELPAS y ESPAÇOPLAS) and Spain (ALMUPLAS y ALJUAN). MT www.aimplas.es [iStockphoto/monticelllo] 22 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9
Blow Moulding (Composing: bioplastics MAGAZINE/iStockphoto/Berc) Avantium raises €36Mio Investment On June 5, 2014 Avantium (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) announced that it has closed a financing round of €36 million ( million) from a consortium of iconic strategic players. This unique consortium consists of Swire Pacific, The Coca-Cola Company, Danone, Alpla, and existing shareholders. With this capital raise the new investors affirm their commitment to advancing PEF, Avantium’s next generation packaging material. Proceeds will be used to complete the industrial validation of PEF and finalize the engineering & design of the first commercial scale plant. As part of its strategy to use responsibly sourced plant based materials for PEF production, Avantium will validate the use of 2 nd generation feedstock. Follow on investments were made by existing shareholders Sofinnova Partners, Capricorn Venture Partners, ING Corporate Investments, Aescap Venture, Navitas Capital, Aster Capital and De Hoge Dennen Capital. Tom van Aken, CEO Avantium stated: “Closing this financing round with Swire, The Coca-Cola Company, Danone, ALPLA and our existing investors underpins their commitment to making PEF bottles a commercial success. PEF is a 100% biobased plastic with superior performance compared to today’s packaging materials and represents a tremendous market opportunity. Our proprietary YXY technology to make PEF has been proven at pilot plant scale as we are now moving to commercial deployment.“ Philippe Lacamp, Swire Pacific’s Head of Sustainable Development said, “We are excited to invest in Avantium, which has an impressive track record in developing breakthrough technology. This investment aligns with our sustainable development strategy to build and develop a portfolio of promising early stage sustainable technologies to reach commercial scale. The technology that Avantium supplies represents a pathway to the next generation of bio-based packaging materials, and has huge potential application for our existing bottling businesses.” Yu Shi, Director Next Generation Materials and Sustainability Research at The Coca-Cola Company comments, “By advancing smart technology, we believe performance and sustainability can go hand-in-hand to make a world of difference for consumers, the environment and our business. Avantium’s breakthrough technology continues to offer a promising pathway for supporting both our efforts to commercialize renewable, plant-based plastics and develop unique properties for packaging to drive new growth. We are pleased to further expand our existing partnership with Avantium through this latest investment.” Frederic Jouin, Director of Danone Nutricia Packaging Center comments: “We participate in this venture as we believe in the future of bio-based plastics for our packaging, with a potential significant reduction in carbon footprint and enhanced barrier properties compared to PET. With this investment, we re-affirm our will to launch a 100% bio-based bottle not in direct competition with food and 100% recyclable and our wish to accelerate this launch on the market.” Jan van der Eijk, Chairman of the Avantium Supervisory Board, adds; “It is a remarkable milestone in the biobased chemicals industry that large brand owners, such as The Coca-Cola Company and Danone jointly invest for the first time in a company like Avantium. Together with the investment of Swire and Alpla, it is clear to us that the market is willing to back winning technologies, such as PEF”. www.avantium.com bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/14] Vol. 9 23
