Building & Construction
Building & Construction PLA blends in building and construction By: Dan Sawyer Global Leader, New Business Segment Fabric Sunshade Eneco (Photo: M+N) NatureWorks Blair, Nebraska, USA Performance, health, and sustainability drive biopolymer use in building material development and sales In hospital corridors, patient rooms, and operating theaters, along corporate hallways, offices, and meeting rooms, and gracing modern sports stadiums, sustainable materials are being used on walls, floors, and for window treatments. A number of trends motivate this new and growing interest in sustainable building and construction materials. The rise of national and international programs such as The U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification and Living Building Challenge (LBC) raise awareness and stimulate interest in new materials and energy conservation practices. Both governments and the public demand the use of intrinsically safe materials in terms of health and wellness. There is a greater understanding, appreciation, and need for smaller carbon footprint solutions and materials that contribute to these lower environmental impacts. Suppliers in the building and construction industry have reached out to materials companies such as NatureWorks for new high performance solutions to master these changes. In the case of Ingeo biopolymer (PLA), durable products for wall and floor coverings have necessitated development of new blends and formulations. With the recent upgrades in manufacturing capabilities at the NatureWorks facility (Blair, Nebraska, USA), Ingeo PLA formulations utilizing newly offered durable grades are finding interest that can lead to higher bio-content in building products. Inpro and Alpar Architectural Products are two companies excelling at utilizing biobased products in building and construction materials with advanced formulations developed using Ingeo PLA. Inpro Inpro (Muskego, Wisconsin, USA) is a global manufacturer of door and wall protection, washroom systems, expansion joint systems, privacy systems, elevator protection systems, and architectural signage. The company is committed to making and servicing products that protect the appearance of buildings and the health and safety of the people who use them. G2 BioBlend ® is an internationally available option on hundreds of Inpro products, including rigid sheet wall cladding, corner guards, wall guards, handrails, and kickplates, to name just a few. G2 BioBlend is a composite Ingeo PLA/PETG formulation that offers a non-Polyvinyl Chloride (non-PVC) option in wall and door protection products – sheeting that resists dents and dings. G2 BioBlend has been tested and meets the requirements of the GreenGuard Environmental Institute (UL Environment, Marietta, Georgia, USA) and the State of California for low emitting products as tested by Air Handrail (Photo: Alpar) 10 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/15] Vol. 10
Building & Construction Quality Sciences (Atlanta, Georgia, USA). It is a USDA BioPreferred ® material. By introducing the industry’s first comprehensive recycling program for vinyl products in 2002, Inpro led the movement toward closing the loop in the manufacturing process – a key component of making building products more sustainable. Inpro includes G2 BioBlend in this recycling program. For every pound of used material that’s returned, Inpro will issue a $ 1.50 credit toward new Inpro products. Inpro has issued both an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and a Health Product Declaration (HPD) for G2 BioBlend to make public the composition of the material in order to establish its environmental health and safety attributes for optimum transparency. Alpar Architectural Products Alpar’s mission is to provide high-performance building products that have the least possible environmental impact. The company from Wassaic, New York, USA was founded on the ideas that environmental and social responsibility should be central to its business strategy and that building product manufacturers have a duty to reduce toxins in the environment. As such, Alpar is committed to providing only products that are 100 % free of PVC and that contain renewable or recycled materials. Alpar developed and introduced wall and corner guards, sheet wall protection, handrails, and crash rails made from an Ingeo blend developed by Stratsys Advanced Materials Center. These Ingeo products contain more than 90 % renewable content, exceed Class 1 requirements for flame spread and smoke density, and meet or exceed the mechanical performance requirements for wall protection. In 2014, National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) Sustainability, a division of the global independent public health organization NSF International (Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA), assessed and provided third-party verification of a Health Product Declaration for Alpar on the company’s natural color Ingeo-based wall protection products. With the introduction of LEED v4 update and this standard’s emphasis on chemical composition reporting, Alpar used the Health Product Declaration process as a means to provide product transparency and help its customers achieve LEED v4 MRc, Option 1 and Option 2 requirements through this third-party verification, the first listed under NSF’s program. M+N Textiles bioplastics MAGAZINE readers may also remember another building and construction material from M+N Textiles (Delfgauw, Netherlands) who launched the first sunscreen fabric in the world made from plants in 2012 (bM 06/2012). Their REVOLUTION ® line of sunshades celebrated another first and was recently awarded with Cradle to Cradle Certified Gold certification. www.natureworksllc.com www.co2-chemistry.eu Carbon Dioxide as Feedstock for Chemistry and Polymers 29 – 30 September 2015, Essen (Germany) 4 t h Conference Team Michael Carus CEO michael.carus@nova-institut.de Barbara Dommermuth Programme, Poster session +49 (0)2233 4814-56 barbara.dommermuth@nova-institut.de Dominik Vogt Conference Manager, Organisation, Exhibition, Sponsoring +49 (0)2233 4814-49 dominik.vogt@nova-institut.de Jutta Millich Partners & Media Partners +49 (0)561 503580-44 jutta.millich@nova-Institut.de For the 4 th year in a row, the nova-Institute will organize the conference „Carbon Dioxide as Feedstock for Chemistry and Polymers“ on 29 - 30 September 2015 in the “Haus der Technik” in Essen, Germany. CO 2 as chemical feedstock is a big challenge and chance for sustainable chemistry. Over the last few years, the rise of this topic has developed from several research projects and industrial applications to become more and more dynamic, especially in the fields of solar fuels (power-to-fuel, power-to-gas) – but also in CO 2 -based chemicals and polymers. Several players are very active and will showcase some enhanced and also new applications using carbon dioxide as feedstock. The conference will be the biggest event on Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) in 2015. Attending this conference will be invaluable for businessmen and academics who wish to get a full picture of how this new and exciting scenario is unfolding, as well as providing an opportunity to meet the right business or academic partners for future alliances. Free booth – only a 2-days conference entrance ticket is needed! Early Bird Reduction of 15% until the end of April 2015. Discount code: earlybird2015 More information can be found at www.co2-chemistry.eu Venue Haus der Technik e.V. Hollestr. 1 45127 Essen, Germany Tel: +49 (0) 201/18 03-1 www.hdt-essen.de Organiser nova-Institute Chemiepark Knapsack Industriestraße 300 50354 Hürth, Germany bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/15] Vol. 10 11
