Sustainable polyethylene terephthalate

SUSTAINABLE POLYETHYLENE

TEREPHTHALATE (PET) INNOVATION

DuPont Teijin Films is a global leader in the manufacture of PET and PEN polyester films. Philip Yorke talked to Alan Cook, the European marketing manager, about the latest challenges facing the industry and the innovative solutions it is developing to maintain its lead in a competitive marketplace.

DuPont Teijin Films is a global 50:50 joint venture between DuPont of the USA and the Japanese chemical company Teijin. The company specialises in the development and manufacture of polyester film products and related services for a diverse range of markets and industries. These include packaging and industrial applications, advanced magnetic media and photo-systems, in addition to products manufactured for the electrical and electronics sectors. The company is a global player employing approximately 3000 people worldwide and reporting sales of €1.1 billion. Leading DuPont Teijin Films brand names include Mylar®, Melinex® and Teijin®Tetoron® for PET polyester films as well as Teonex® for PEN polyester films. In addition, the global business encompasses existing joint ventures with DuPont Hongi Films Foshan Co. Ltd of China. Delivering innovation diversity

DuPont Teijin Films offers one of the broadest portfolios of polyester films of any supplier in the world as well as an unmatched technology platform. Product and process innovation are the key drivers for the company’s success and by working closely with its customers and industry supply chains in its chosen markets, the company continues to develop groundbreaking films and targeted solutions for its customers. DuPont Teijin Films is constantly extending the threshold of these innovative solutions by inventing and developing new applications for its advanced film products.

Mr Cook said, “We manufacture our film products in Europe, the USA and Asia, offer films of between 0.5 microns to 500 microns thickness and are operational across the entire spectrum of PET film manufacture. Our core business is supplying master rolls of high quality film products to a diverse range of industries, which between them amount to more than 1200 applications. There are many new industries using our PET products today and we strive to be perceived as the premier supplier of polyester films. Our continuing success is a result of our ongoing commitment to developing innovative products that serve the changing needs of the marketplace. We are making significant investments in the longterm success of our company, both in stateof-the-art equipment and through developing products that provide added-value to end users. We operate two advanced technology centres to support our global business, one here at Wilton in the north-east of England and the other in Japan.”

He added, “We operate in a wide variety of market sectors and it can be surprising to find where polyester films can add value. The food packaging sector remains an important market for us and is one where

Emerson & Renwick

The partnership between Emerson & Renwick and DuPont Teijin Films is long established and includes many projects for bespoke coating and converting solutions.

Most of these are for 24/7 ‘cleanroom’ environment production lines which demand performance which meets or exceeds the most stringent quality and reliability targets.

Working closely with DuPont project and process specialists E&R’s design team will evaluate the production specifications and then from initial conceptual designs the final solutions are developed.

All this is achieved whilst maintaining stringent project schedules and meeting competitive cost objectives.

Emerson & Renwick greatly value this partnership and congratulate DuPont Teijin Films on their three Queens Awards for Innovation.

ABB Consulting

ABB Consulting has provided Dupont Teijin Films with technical consultancy and engineering services to help improve their performance in the areas of compliance, operations and engineering.

A strong working relationship has been forged between the two international companies. With bases across the UK and worldwide ABB Consulting pride themselves on being responsive to client needs no matter how large or small the problem. They offer bespoke, fit for purpose solutions that meet business demands whilst complying with ever tightening legislation.

ABB’s experienced and knowledgeable engineers, with operational heritage offer pragmatic judgements to provide cost effective solutions to a wide range of companies within the process sectors

Campine

The success of DuPont Teijins innovation is a result of the cooperation and synergy between 2 competent partners. Campine’s commitment as a leading member of i2a* has successfully tackled all unjust attacks on antimony. This means customers can still enjoy cost-efficient antimony catalysts in PET production without any concern.

Campine’s competence and diversified sourcing of antimony raw materials, make we can guarantee a long term availability of antimony products.

Our capability to translate the customers’ needs into new generation products, makes Campine an essential partner in the industries’ innovation circle.

*international antimony association

De Decker - Van Riet

For already more than 30 years De Decker - Van Riet has been a reliable partner of Dupont - Teijin Films.

De Decker – Van Riet is a ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified and SQAS assessed company.

De Decker - Van Riet delivers essential basic materials to Dupont - Teijin Films in Contern (Luxemburg). Deliveries are made with respect to very high safety and quality standards, using special up-to-date tailor-made trailers.

Drivers are trained in collaboration with Dupont – Teijin Films and are kept at the disposal of Dupont – Teijin Films 24H 7/7.

we have a strong position in the ‘high-end’ specialist packaging segment. In addition, the electrical and electronics industries offer us excellent growth potential for our value-added products − polyester is an excellent insulator for electric motors and is also proving to be one of the substrates of choice for advanced flexible electronics and display applications. We regularly develop new products in close partnership with our key customers to ensure that they fully meet their specific requirements.

“Our goal is to provide added value for our clients and we have achieved a lot of success in developing films with complex structures to meet the latest industry demands for greater strength, longer lifetimes and lighter weight products.”

Award winning formula

During the last nine years DuPont Teijin Films in the UK has been honoured with three ‘Queen’s Awards for Enterprise’, all in the area of ‘Outstanding Innovation’. The latest Award, in 2011, was for the company’s development of an innovative range of high-performance Melinex® polyester films for use in environmentally friendly solar photovoltaic modules. Photovoltaic cells are assembled into modules, which normally have a protective backsheet to seal them from the elements and allow long service life. Standard polyester films are a key component of backsheets due to their stability and electrical insulation properties, but for use in the exposed outer layer additional environmental resistance is required as the modules need to last for at least 25 years. DuPont Teijin Films has developed a new range of highly innovative films which meet these demanding requirements with respect to moisture stability, resistance to ultraviolet light and other properties to tailor them precisely to the application. They also offer the possibility of lower costs and, crucially, the ability to meet increasing demand.

In future, advanced products from DuPont Teijin Films including heat stabilised Melinex® PET and Teonex® PEN film grades will also play an important role in the manufacture of tomorrow’s flexible solar cells as their increased dimensional stability enables them to be processed at high temperatures.

In the healthcare industry the demand for advanced PET products also continues to grow, with material requirements becoming ever more demanding and the list of applications becoming increasingly diverse. However, this growing market is also a challenging one due to the increasingly complex regulatory frameworks that apply to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. DuPont Teijin Films has the experience and the systems capability to meet these complex needs and it contributes to the improvement of the healthcare of people all over the world. Applications in this area include use as the substrate for medical test strips, particularly for the home testing of blood glucose levels in diabetes care, ensuring clarity in medical labelling and safeguarding long life for the important information carried on health cards.

Mr Cook said, “Healthcare is an increasingly important market for us and our commitment to innovation makes us well placed to serve it. We are also leading the field when it comes to environmental responsibility and we have developed our processes so that our manufacturing waste is virtually 100 per cent recyclable. In addition, we have pioneered the use of kerbside-collected polyester waste and have a range of products that replaces virgin polymer with this post-consumer waste. Overall the company culture of DuPont Teijin Films is bound by the core values of DuPont; safety and health, quality, respect for people and ethical behaviour. Adding outstanding innovation to this culture will ensure a successful future both for our business and for our customers.” n