PRA July 2020 Issue

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A S l A ’ S L E A D l N G m aga z l ne f o r t h e p las t l c s and r u b b e r l nd u s t r y

业 界 新闻 材 料 新闻: 用废塑料铺路

In this issue

Volume 35, No 254

publlshed slnce 1985

A S l A’ S L E A D l N G m aga z l ne f o r the plastlcs and rubber lndustry

Features 焦 點 內 容 13 材料新聞: 用廢塑料鋪路 16 Flexible Packaging – Globally, the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown has

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Arthur Schavemaker Tel: +31 547 275005 Email: arthur@kenter.nl

20 Extrusion Machinery – Against the back of the pandemic, extrusion

Associate Publisher/Executive Editor Tej Fernandez Tel: +60 3 4260 4575 Email: tej@plasticsandrubberasia.com

seen higher use of packaging for convenience and hygiene. This is a cue for the flexible packaging industry to enhance social responsibility through sustainable packaging

machinery firms had to resort to innovative ways like W&H and Bandera that had virtual open houses; while Reifenhäuser converted a line for producing protective garments and Nordson stepped up its flat dies for protective devices needs. Meanwhile, Davis-Standard has a latest die with short lip design and Graham Engineering, a power clamp

Senior Editor Angelica Buan Email: gel@plasticsandrubberasia.com

23 Packaging – Eric Roegner President, Amcor Rigid Packaging, offers an

Chinese Editor Koh Bee Ling

25 Recycled Materials – Matt Tudball, Senior Editor, Recycling, ICIS, gives an overall picture of how Europe is meeting its needs for rPET with ocean plastics from countries like Indonesia of the Covid-19 pandemic

Circulation Stephanie Yuen Email: stephanie@taramedia.com.my

insight into primary packaging in these challenging times

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6 Materials News

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10 業界新聞

Supplements 副 刊 In the automotive sector, plastics will remain a cornerstone material in producing smart cars that meet the mobility and sustainability requirements of today With people wanting to get out of their homes for exercise and fresh air after the lockdowns, sales of bicycles have increased.

Companies like Covestro, Continental and FCS are catering to the needs of the bicycle sector in terms of technology and machinery In the tyre sector, companies are applying the brakes on traditional rubber tyres by introducing innovative materials and connected technologies DIGITAL+PRINT www.plasticsandrubberasia.com

A S l A ’ S L E A D l N G M A G A Z l N E F O R THE PLASTlCS AND RUBBER lNDUSTRY

On the Cover The automotive sector is driving at full speed in terms of smart cars, with growing use of waste plastics, engineering plastics, lightweight designs and technological gizmos

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JULY 2020

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Industry News

M&As/Tie-ups/Investments • UK-headquartered petrochemical firm Ineos Group is to acquire petrochemical firm BP’s global Aromatics and Acetyls business for a consideration of US$5 billion: US$4 billion will be payable upon completion with the remaining US$1 billion deferred until, at the latest, June 2021. The aromatics business is a global leader in PTA and PX technology with six sites and supplies the global polyester business, which includes polyester fibre, film and PET packaging. The business’s largest manufacturing plants are in China, the US, and Belgium, and it licenses its PTA production technology to producers around the world.

• French producer of bioplastic Lactips has raised EUR13 million in new capital, led

by Bpifrance’s SPI fund, managed on behalf of the French government as part of the Investments for the Future Program, and Diamond Edge Ventures, the innovation investment arm of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp. The capital will enable Lactips to ramp up its product development and

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industrial facilities for biodegradable and water-soluble solutions.

• French chemical firm Arkema has finalised the sale of its Functional Polyolefins business to South Korea’s SK Global Chemical for EUR335 million, in line with the strategy to refocus the group’s activities on specialty materials.

• US compounder PolyOne Corporation has completed its purchase of the colour masterbatch businesses of Switzerland’s Clariant and Clariant Chemicals India for US$1.4 billion.

PolyOne also announced that it has changed its name and will now be called Avient. The business includes 46 manufacturing operations and technology centres in 29 countries and approximately 3,500 employees.

• US-based Chroma Color Corporation has acquired Epolin Chemicals that specialises in near-infrared absorbing dyes and thermoplastic compounds. Terms were not disclosed.

• C-P Flexible Packaging, a manufacturer of

flexible packaging including rollstock, premade pouches, resealable packaging and shrink sleeves has acquired Genpak Flexible from The Jim Pattison Group. Genpak Flexible is a North American supplier of compostable packaging.

• US private investment firm Inverness Graham Investments has acquired Catheter & Medical Design (CMD), which manufactures complex catheters and catheter shafts for a broad range of interventional and endosurgical applications. This is the third Inverness platform investment in the medical device outsourcing market, following Inverness’ ownership of ExtruMed and AdvancedCath Technologies.

• Toronto-based wax producer/blender IGI (International Group Inc) has acquired Rheogistics, a supplier of lubricant systems to the rigid PVC industry headquartered in Picayune, Mississippi.

• Japanese firm Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC) and German new materials startup company AM Polymers GmbH (AMP) have

entered into a joint development and commercial partnership agreement on PBT powder for industrial 3D printing.

• German chemical firm BASF and Chinese automotive manufacturer Guangzhou Automobile Group New Energy (GACNE), a subsidiary of GAC, are to further strengthen their strategic partnership to explore digital coatings solutions for the automotive industry.

• Dutch chemicals firm DSM has taken over certain parts of Clariant’s 3D printing business portfolio.

The agreement allows DSM to offer customers rapid product development iterations for filaments and pellets based on application needs.

• Alpla, a global packaging solutions and recycling specialist, is acquiring Bopla S.A. as part of an asset deal. Alpla says it intends to use the Spanish company’s expertise in the area of single-stage manufacturing technologies to expand its own product portfolio.

INDUSTRY NEWS • US-based Ascend Performance Materials, the largest fully integrated producer of PA66 resin, is to purchase the assets of NCM (Changshu) Co. and Tehe Engineering Plastic (Suzhou) Co, located in Changshu Yushan High-tech Industrial Park. The acquisition gives Ascend a flexible footprint for expansion in the region and includes the installation of compounding assets at the site along with a global R&D centre.

• US-based sustainable technology company

Anellotech has set up R Plus Japan, a new joint venture company, to invest in the development of its Plas-TCat technology for recycling used plastics. Tokyoheadquartered R Plus Japan was established by 12 cross-industry partners within the Japanese plastics supply chain.

Member partners include Suntory Monozukuri Expert (a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings), Toyobo, Rengo, Toyo Seikan Group Holdings, J&T Recycling Corporation, Asahi Group Holdings, Iwatani Corporation, Dai Nippon Printing, Toppan Printing, Fuji

Seal International, Hokkaican and Yoshino Kogyosho.

• Italian chemical firm Eni and its subsidiary Versalis and COREPLA (the National Consortium for the Collection, Recycling and Recovery of Plastic Packaging) are pooling their expertise to collect and recycle plastic packaging, with a particular focus on non-mechanically recyclable plastic mix.

Meanwhile, with the European Union having unveiled its Circular Economy Action Plan, which outlines the EU’s

transition toward a future circular economy, early this year, a new plan demand s traceability of plastic packaging to ensure its recyclability in future.

A cross-company cooperative project known as R-Cycle has been established.

Machinery firms like German machinery maker Reifenhäuser has joined R-Cycle with Arburg, Brückner Maschinenbau and Kautex Maschinenbau also participating in the project, along with the Institute for Plastics Processing (Institut für Kunststoffverarbeitung – IKV) at RWTH Aachen University.

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Industry News

New Plants/Capacity Expansions • French firm Total is to work with PureCycle Technologies to develop a partnership in plastic recycling.

Total will purchase part of the output of PureCycle Technologies’ future facility in the US and assess the development of a new plant together in Europe.

• Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia (Amatil) and packaging firm Dynapack Asia are to build a bottle-tobottle grade PET recycling facility in Indonesia.

• LyondellBasell, the world’s largest licensor of polyolefin technologies, has licensed its Hostalen Advanced Cascade Process technology to Sinopec Hainan Refining & Chemical for a new 300 kilotonnes/year HDPE facility to be built in Yangpu, Hainan Province, China.

LyondellBasell has also licensed its Spheripol technology to Indian Oil Corporation for a 450-kilotonne/

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year PP plant to be built in Panipat, Haryana State, India.

• Indonesia’s state-owned energy producer PT Pertamina and CPC Corp of Taiwan are to develop a previously announced integrated petrochemical complex at Balongan, West Java, Indonesia, with an investment of up to US$8 billion and start up planned for 2026.

Pertamina and CPC will each hold a 45% stake in the joint venture with the remaining 10% reserved for potential participants. The petchem complex is the third phase of expansion of Pertamina's Balongan refinery.

The refinery, which will supply naphtha feedstock to the complex, will be expanded by 20% to 150,000 barrels/day.

• Mitsui Chemicals and subsidiary Prime Polymer Co. (owned 65% by Mitsui Chemicals and 35% by Idemitsu Kosan) have launched operations at Mitsui Prime

Advanced Composites Europe B.V. (ACE), a joint venture first established in 2018 with Mitsui. Located within Chemelot Industrial Park in the Netherlands, ACE marks Mitsui’s first PP compounding site in Europe, with a capacity of 30,000 tonnes/year.

• German chemicals firm BASF will close its manufacturing facility in Erie, Pennsylvania, US, in 2021. The facility produces process catalysts used primarily in the petrochemical industry.

• Japan’s Showa Denko (SDK) has expanded production lines to produce vinyl ester resin (VE) and synthetic resin emulsion (EM) at the premises of Shanghai Showa Highpolymer (SSHP), a Chinese subsidiary of SDK. • Brazilian biopolymers firm Braskem has completed construction of PP production

facility in La Porte, Texas. It has a capacity of over 450 kilotonnes/ year and has the capability to produce the entire PP portfolio including homopolymer, impact copolymer and random copolymers.

• China’s state refiner Sinopec Corp has started up a US$6 billion new refinery and petrochemical plant in south China, making it the country’s third integrated complex to start operations in the past 18 months.

Situated in coastal city of Zhanjiang, it comprises a 200,000 barrel/ day crude oil refinery and an 800,000-tonne/ year ethylene facility, built at a cost of US$6.2 billion. Two other complexes with combined refining capacity of 800,000 barrels/day have started up since early 2019, one built by privatelyowned Hengli Petrochemical Corp and the other

by Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp.

INDUSTRY NEWS • French bioindustrial solutions firm Carbios is constructing an industrial demonstration plant for the enzymatic recycling of PET plastic, near Lyon, in France’s Chemistry Valley.

The first phase is scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2021, for licensees (estimated capacity between 50-100 kilotonnes/year).

• Japanese firm Teijin has increased the production capacity of its Germanyproduced chopped carbon fibre type Tenax-E HT C604 6mm by 40%.

So far, demand of European customers has partly been satisfied by Teijin’s Mishima plant in Japan.

• Germanyheadquartered machine manufacturer KraussMaffei has officially opened its new plant in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, thereby doubling its production capacity in China.

Phase 1 of the Jiaxing plant, which was announced last year, comprises a floor area of more than 58,000 sq m,

with an additional 37,000 sq m reserved for future use in Phase II of the building project.

• Automotive firm BMW Group has opened its new EUR15 million Additive Manufacturing Campus for the production of prototype and series parts, along with research into new 3D printing technologies, and associate training for the global rollout of toolless production.

Last year, BMW produced about 300,000 parts by additive manufacturing.

The centre currently employs up to 80 associates and operates about 50 industrial systems that work with metals and plastics.

Another 50 systems are in operation at production sites around the world.

• German speciality chemicals firm Lanxess has broken ground on its new APAC Application Development Centre (AADC) at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP). It is the

first company to start construction work at its site at the Shanghai International Chemical New Materials Innovation Centre.

In September 2019, Lanxess signed a MOU with SCIP. In November 2019, the firm announced its plan to establish an integrated AADC to further strengthen its innovation capabilities in China and the Asia-Pacific region.

• US materials firm SiO2 Materials Science is investing US$163 million to expand its Auburn facility after securing a US$143 million contract to supply the federal government with vials and syringes to support the Covid-19 vaccine effort. Over the past ten years, SiO2 has developed its patented vial platform, which combines a plastic container with a microscopic glass coating on the inside that is ideal for biological drugs and vaccines. The completed 70,000sq-ft facility will increase

the production capacity of SiO2’s injection moulding operations.

• Thailand’s PTTGC and HongKong-based compounder Dynachem are collaborating on PP compounding in Thailand.

PTTGC has taken up 41.5% share in Dynachisso Thai Co, which operates 30,000tonne/year PP compounding plant located in the Amata Industrial Estate in Chonburi Province.

• South Korea's Hyundai Motor Group and LG Chem are studying the feasibility of setting up an electric vehicle (EV) battery cell manufacturing in Indonesia.

The size of the investment and its production capacity have not been decided.

In recent years, battery maker LG Chem has set up separate ventures with both General Motors and Geely Automobile Holdings. LG Chem supplies batteries to Hyundai, Tesla and other automotive makers.

JULY 2020

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Materials News

Paving the roads with waste plastics Recycling waste plastics by downscaling for road construction is a cheaper and more effective technology that wants for wider adoption, says Angelica Buan in this report.

Recycling: how much is enough?

Are we recycling enough plastics? Based on a 2017 published study, by authors Roland Geyer, Jenna Jambeck and Kara Lavender Law, as of 2015, only 9% of the 6,300 tonnes plastic waste generated has been recycled. Meanwhile, 12% was incinerated and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment.

By 2050, the volume of plastic wastes in landfills would have nearly doubled at 12,000 tonnes if current recycling trends continues, the authors forecast.

In short, we are not recycling enough and if recycling is done at all, whether it is effective even at the local level. For the most part, waste plastics are incinerated, dumped onto landfills, with some ending up in oceans, or shipped to countries that lack proper recycling infrastructure.

On the other hand, some experts contend that recycling is not the ultimate solution to stop the deluge of waste plastics. Geyer and co-authors of the above study observed that recycling “only delays, rather than avoids final disposal (of plastics)”.

And this is considering that the majority of recyclable plastics at final disposal can only be recycled up to two times, according to according to Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser in a 2018 report published in Our World in Data.

It is, thus, not surprising that the recycling rate cannot offset the increasing production rate of plastics. International non-profit organisation Plastic Oceans estimates the global plastic production at 300 million tonnes/year, half of which is for single-use or disposable purposes.

Nonetheless, recycling offers a huge market potential, based on a report by Transparency Market Research, which says recycling could potentially hustle US$60 billion by 2027 nearly doubling in value from US$34 billion in 2018.

Building up plastics use in packaging and construction Historically, two sectors, packaging and infrastructure (building & construction) consume the largest amount of plastics. US-headquartered market consultancy Smithers projected the plastic consumption of packaging at 69.8 million tonnes by 2024, growing at a CAGR of 3.5% from 58.6 million tonnes in 2019.

Building and construction, meanwhile, utilised nearly 55 million tonnes of plastics in 2016, according to Germany-headquartered market research group Ceresana. Plastics in building are used mainly for films, cables, pipes, profiles and covers, sheets, fastening components, glazing, coatings, and membranes.

The increasing construction activities boost applications for plastics and by 2024, the global construction plastics market is forecast to exceed US$106 billion, growing at a CAGR of 6.9%, according to a report by AMA Research.

Preference for plastics in construction application is due to the materials’ thermal conductivity, insulation, durability and long life span; scratch and corrosion resistance, versatility, flexibility and cost-effectiveness, among other beneficial properties.

Recycling plastics by downcycling them show promise to alleviate the world from its solid waste burden. Downcycling, also called cascading, is the process of converting discarded plastics like water bottles, shopping bags, wrappers, sachets and the like, into new products of lesser quality – Recycling waste plastics by downscaling these into new products in the case of road building – in the asphalt of lesser quality like modified plastic asphalt for road construction mix.

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Materials News Waste plastics take the high road The world needs more roads as economies expand, development surges, and population increases. The World Bank estimates a total US$34 trillion of road investments required to achieve the global sustainable development goals (SDG) agenda adopted by all UN-member countries. To date, total infrastructure investments are at US$26 million, thus, leaving an US$8 million investments gap.

flooding”. The Zwolle bike path is equipped with sensors to track the road’s performance, including temperature, durability and the number of bike passages.

Utilising waste plastics for road building is, however, not a novel concept. In early 2000, Professor Rajagopalan Vasudevan, an Indian scientist from the Thiagarajar Engineering College, Madurai, broached the “frugal technology” concept of modified bitumen with waste plastics. In 2002, he paved a 60-ft road within the Madurai campus with the plastic bitumen mix in ratio of 5 g of plastics per 50 g bitumen. He has since paved 5,000 km of plastic roads in 11 states across India.

Vesudevan, who contends that banning plastics has adverse impact on the low income sectors, explains the process of plastic modified bitumen as easy and that requires no complex machines. The plastic wastes are shredded into as small as 2 mm pieces and the shredded plastic is added into the hot aggregate, which is thereafter blended into the bitumen. The plastic coats the stones in a The 30-m long pilot plastic road in Zwolle consists of recycled plastics equivalent to thin film, resulting in good more than 218,000 plastic cups binding.

The need for more roads has opened up an avenue The method, aside from helping to stem the for waste plastics to be put in good use, by mixing amount of plastic waste in India, estimated at 62 them up in asphalt and with traditional road building m i l l i o n t o n n e s / y e a r, w i t h o n l y 2 4 % o f w h i c h i s materials (sand, stone, gravel, cement). recycled, according to data from the UNDP (United The PlasticRoad project, a collaboration between Nations Development Programme)” SGP, has also road construction specialist KWS, drainage and water h e l p e d g e n e r a t e j o b s f o r t h e c o u n t r y ’s i n f o r m a l plastic pipes maker Wavin recycling workers, such as the waste or rag pickers. and French oil and gas group Moreover, Vesudevan said that the plastic-modified To t a l , c l a i m s a s t h e w o r l d ’s bitumen improves road strength and reduces road first plastic road. The 30-m fatigue. long pilot plastic road opened in Zwolle, the Netherlands, in Industry initiatives stem plastic waste in Asia September 2018, and consists V i e t n a m i s A s i a ’s f a s t e s t r i s i n g e c o n o m y t h a t of recycled plastics equivalent is hinged on its rapid industrialisation and to more than 218,000 plastic urbanisation. On the other hand, it has also been cups. listed in the 2015 Stemming the Tide report by the

According to the partners, Professor Rajagopalan Ocean Conservancy and the McKinsey Centre for Vasudevan's modithe PlasticRoad will “allow for Business and Environment as one of Southeast fied plastic bitumen roads to be built faster with less Asia’s largest marine waste pollution contributor. technology has since impact on the surroundings In 2017 alone, the country generated approximately paved 5,000 km of and less CO2 emissions. The 3 8 , 0 0 0 t o n n e s o f m u n i c i p a l w a s t e s . H o w e v e r, plastic roads in 11 improved drainage will also recycling rates of collected wastes lag at a measly states across India. help to build resilience against 10-15%/year, according to the Vietnam Environment (Screengrab from Youheavy rainfall and reduce Tube) Administration.

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Materials News While the goals of this initiative are on the roll, cross-sector businesses are allying to put their sustainability solutions into concrete action, literally, by building plastic roads.

I n 2 0 1 9 , D o w Vi e t n a m a n d t h e country’s industrial zone developer Deep C completed the first asphalt road using recycled plastics at the l a t t e r ’s H a i p h o n g p r e m i s e s . T h e road has a total length of 1.4 km, and utilised 6.5 tonnes of flexible packaging or more than 1.7 million flexible wrappers.

The post-consumer recycled plastic, mostly flexible packaging such as PE film, was sourced from local waste collector URENCO Haiphong. The recycled plastics The Zero Plastic Waste City project collaboration between The Grameen Creative were cleaned, dried and shredded Lab and The Alliance to End Plastic Waste in Vietnam aims to increase waste before being mixed with aggregate collection rates of unrecyclable wastes at a temperature between 150-180°C. The situation hatched an initiative for the Zero Once mixing is complete, the asphalt is then paved, Plastic Waste City project – a collaboration between resulting in longer lasting, more durable roads.

Germany-headquartered The Grameen Creative Lab Upon successful execution of the project, more and The Alliance to End Plastic Waste, a cross-value asphalt roads using recycled plastics will be stretched chain non-profit organisation composed of over 40 all over the Deep C Industrial Zones. global companies engaged in the manufacture, sales The Philippines has similarly embarked on and recycling of plastics. utilising recycled plastics for building roads.

The project takes on the increase of waste G i v e n t h e c o u n t r y ’s s u r m o u n t i n g p l a s t i c s w a s t e , collection rates of waste types currently considered and the government’s initiative to fortify its road unrecyclable, and to raise the amount of waste being infrastructure programmes, utilising waste plastics reused for new purposes. It is expected to bring a is an inexpensive technology not yet seeing wider positive socio-environmental impact in Vietnam. adoption.

The Philippines has a regulated single-use plastics policy in place, yet, its plastics waste is increasing yearly. Accor ding to a 2019 report by GAIA (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives), 57 million shopping bags are used throughout the Philippines, or 20.6 billion pieces/year. With the popularity of products retailed in sachets, the per capita consumption of such packets is at 591 pieces/year.

The Philippines gets a taste of plastic roads with SMC's recycled plastic modified asphalt laid on a 1,500-sq m pilot test site in Cavite

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Materials News It is thus timely that San Miguel Corporation ( S M C ) , o n e o f t h e c o u n t r y ’s l a r g e s t d i v e r s i f i e d conglomerates, has introduced the use of recycled plastics in road building, which according to its President/COO Ramon S. Ang is to help reduce the impact of plastic waste on the environment. SMC will be working with materials company Dow Chemical for the project that will use hard-to-recycle plastics as an alternative raw material input to asphalt for road building.

Ang said that diverting scrap plastics from lan d f i l l s t o ro ad c o n s tr u c tio n is a n e n v ir onm entfriendly method of disposing them, citing likewise the benefits of using recycled plastics for road surfacing include improved stability and durability of roads, increased skid resistance that improves road safety, longer lifespan of roads, lower asphalt costs, and less waste destined for landfills.

Dow has worked on projects that use plastics for modifying the properties of bitumen, used in the making of asphalt, which has been tested in Vietnam (above), India, Indonesia and Thailand.

Initially, SMC will test out the technology in small municipal roads, as well as sidewalks and parking lots. If the technology proves effective and meets all safety and quality requirements, the company may roll it out for larger infrastructure projects, Ang said.

The modified asphalt uses recycled plastic waste, which acts as a binder together with bitumen, and was laid on a 1,500-sq m pilot test site at a new logistics centre in General Trias, Cavite. The test

site was chosen as it will be used primarily as a marshalling area for trucks with heavy loads, including 18-wheelers and heavy equipment.

Some 900 kg of plastic waste, equivalent to some 180,000 sachets and plastic bags, were used for the test site. Independent lab testing done on SMC’s recycled plastics road asphalt shows that it exceeds the standards of the Department of Public Works and Highways. The company said that pending further testing, it can build recycled plastics roads in its facilities as well as major infrastructure projects.

Meanwhile, Dow Thailand in 2018, partnered with Amata Corporation and Thai petrochemical group SCG on a pilot project for the Amata Smart City in Chonburi. The initiative is expected to help stave off Thailand’s increasing plastic waste.

Thailand’s Pollution Control Department (PCD) estimates the country’s plastic waste generation has increased at 12% to 2 million tonnes/year. Thailand was ranked the sixth largest marine polluter in the 2015 Ocean Conservancy-McKinsey report.

Thus, the plastic road project in Amata City makes use of 1.3 tonnes of waste plastics, or approximately 100,000 plastic bags, for roads that stretch 2,600 sq m.

In time to come, we may see more plastic roads sprouting up in other countries in Asia. While the region may have deficits in advanced recycling infrastructure, its adoption of plastic roads may be heralded as a more feasible solution to curb plastic waste, even without banning plastics.

新聞 并购/合作/投资

業 界

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• 总部位于英国的石化公司 Ineos Group 考虑斥资 50 亿美元收购石 化公司 BP 的全球芳香族和乙酰 业务：交易完成时将支付 40 亿美 元，其余的 10 亿美元将延至最迟 于 2021 年 6 月支付。芳烃业务是 PTA 和 PX 技术的全球领导者，拥 有六个站点，并提供包括聚酯纤 维、薄膜和 PET 包装在内的全球 聚酯业务。该公司最大的制造厂 位于中国、美国和比利时，并向 世界各地的生产商授权其 PTA 生 产技术。 • 法国生物塑料生产商 Lactips 已 经筹集了1300 万欧元的新资 金，由 Bpifrance 的 SPI 基金， 该基金代表法国政府进行管理， 作为“未来投资计划”的一部 分，以及 Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp. 的创新投资臂膀 Dia m o n d Edge Vent ur es 所领 导。新资金将使 Lactips 加快其 产品开发和工业设施，以生产可 生物降解和水溶性的解决方案。 • 法国化学公司 Arkema 已完成将 其功能聚烯烃业务以 3.35 亿欧元 脱售予韩国 SK Global Chemical 的行动，这符合该集团重新将业 务重心放在特殊材料的策略上。 • 美 国 混 炼 商 P o l y O n e Corporation 已完成以 14 亿美元 收购瑞士的 Clariant 和 Clariant Chemicals India 的色母粒业 务。PolyOne 也宣布易名，现称 为Avient。该业务包括在 29 个国 家的 46 个制造运营和技术中心， 以及大约 3500 名员工。 • 美 国 的 C h r o m a C o l o r Corporation 收购了Epolin Chemicals，后者专门研究近红 外线吸收染料和热塑性化合物。 收购条款没有透露。 • 包括卷材、预制袋、可重新密封 包装和收缩套在内的软包装制造 商 C -P F lexible Packaging 已从 The Jim Pattison Group 手中收 购了 Genpak Flexible。Genpak Flexible 是北美洲可堆肥包装的 供应商。 JULY 2020

• 美国私人投资公司 Inverness Graham Investments 收 购了Catheter＆Medical Design（CMD），该公司生产 复杂的导管和导管轴，广泛用 于介入和外科手术应用。这是 Inverness 继持有 ExtruMed 和 AdvancedCath Technologies 后，于医疗设备外包市场进行的 第三次 Inverness 平台投资。 • 位于多伦多的蜡生产商／混合商 IGI（International Group Inc） 已经收购了 Rheogistics，后者是 总部位于密西西比州皮卡尤恩 的硬质 PVC 工业润滑剂系统的 供应商。 • 日本公司 Mitsubishi Chemical C o r p o r a t i o n ( M C C ) 和德国的 新材料初创公司 AM Polymers GmbH（AMP）已就工业 3D 打 印用 PBT 粉末达成联合开发和 商业合作协议。 • 德国化工公司BASF和GAC 的子公司，中国汽车制造商 Guangzhou Automobile Group New Energy (GACNE) 将进一步加强彼此的策略伙伴关 系，以探索汽车行业的数字涂料 解决方案。 • 荷兰化工公司 DSM 已经接管了 Clariant 的 3D 打 印 业 务 组 合 的某些部分。该协议使 DSM 可以根据应用需求为客户提供 针对长丝和粒料的快速产品开 发迭代。 • 全球包装解决方案和回收专家 Alpla，将收购 Bopla S.A.，作 为资产交易的一部分。Alpla 表 示，它打算利用这家西班牙公司 在单阶段制造技术领域的专业知 识来扩展自己的产品组合。 • 美国最大的 PA66 树脂全面综合 生产商 A s c e n d P e r f o r m a n c e Materials，将收购位于常 熟玉山高科技产业园的 NCM (Changshu) Co.和Tehe Engineering Plastic (Suzhou) C o . 的 资 产。 有 关 收 购 使 Ascend 能够灵活地扩展其在该 地区的业务足迹，并包括在现场 安装配混资产和全球研发中心。

• 位于美国的可持续技术公司 Anellotech 已经成立一家新 的合资公司 R Plus Japan， 以投资开发其用于回收废旧塑 料的 Plas-TCat 技术。总部 位于东京的R Plus Japan是 由日本塑料供应链中的12个 跨行业合作伙伴成立。成员伙 伴包括 Suntory Monozukuri Expert（Suntory Holdings 的子 公司）、Toyobo、Rengo、Toyo Seikan Group H o l d i n g s 、 J & T Recycling Corporation、Asahi Group Holdings、Iwatani Corporation、Dai Nippon Printing、Toppan Printing、Fuji Seal International、Hokkaican 和 Yo sh i n o Ko g y os ho。 • 意大利化学公司 Eni 及其子公司 Versalis 和 COREPLA（国家塑 料包装收集，回收和回收协会） 正在汇集它们的专业知识来收集 和回收塑料包装，尤其侧重于不 可机械回收的塑料混合物。

与此同时，随着欧盟公 布了其循环经济行动计划，该 计划概述了欧盟向未来的循环 经济过渡，今年初，一项新计 划要求塑料包装具有可追溯 性，以确保其未来的可回收 性。一个称为 R-Cycle 的跨 公司合作项目已经建立。像德 国机械制造商 Reifenhäuser 这样的机械公司已经加入了 R-Cycle，Arburg、Brückner Maschinenbau 和 Kautex Maschinenbau，连同 RWTH Aachen University 的塑料 加工研究所（Institut für Kunststoffverarbeitung– IKV）也参与了此项目。

新工厂／产能扩张。 • 法国公司 Total 将与 PureCycle Technologies 合作，建立 塑料回收利用的合作伙伴关 系。Total 将采购 PureCycle T e c h n o l o g i e s 在美国未来工 厂生产的部分产品，并一起评 估在欧洲的新工厂的发展。

業界新聞 • Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia (Amatil) 和包装公司 Dynapack Asia 将在印尼建立瓶对瓶级的 PET 回收设施。 • 全球最大的聚烯烃技术许可 商 LyondellBasell，已将其 Hostalen Advanced Cascade Process 技术许可给 Sinopec Hainan Refining & Chemical， 用于在中国海南省杨浦建设的 一座年产能 300 吨的新 HDPE 工厂。

LyondellBasell也将其 Spheripol技术许可给 Indian Oil Corporation，用于在印度 哈里亚纳邦 Panipat 建造一座年 产能 450 吨的 PP 厂。 • 印尼的国有能源生产商PT Pertamina 和台湾的 CPC Corp将在印尼西爪哇省的巴 隆岸开发一个先前宣布的综 合石化中心，投资额高达 80 亿美元，计划于 2026 年启 动。Pertamina和CPC将各自 持有合资公司45%的股份，其 余10%留给潜在参与者。该石 油化工中心是Pertamina的巴 隆岸炼油厂扩建的第三阶段。 该炼油厂将向该综合石化中心 供应石脑油原料，炼油厂将扩 大20%，至每天15万桶。 • Mitsui Chemicals 及其子公司 Prime Polymer Co.（Mitsui Chemicals持有65%股 份，Idemitsu Kosan持有 35% 股份）已在 Mitsui Prime Advanced Composites Europe BV (ACE) 开展业务，这是 与Mitsui 于 2018 年首次成立 的合资企业。ACE位于荷兰 Chemelot 工业园区内，标志着 Mitsui 在欧洲的第一个 PP 复合 厂，年产能为 3 万吨。 • 德国化工公司 BASF 将于 2021 年关闭其在美国宾夕法尼亚 州伊利的制造工厂。该工厂 生产主要用于石化行业的工 艺催化剂。 • 日本的 Showa Denko (SDK) 扩大了生产线，以在 SDK 的中 国子公司，Shanghai Showa

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H ig h p o l y m e r ( SSH P ) 所在地 生产乙烯基酯树脂（VE）和合 成树脂乳液（EM）。 巴 西 生 物 聚 合 物 公 司 Braskem已经完成在德克萨 斯州拉波特的PP生产设施的 建设。它的产能超过450吨／ 年，并且能够生产包括均聚 物、抗冲共聚物和无规共聚物 在内的整个 PP 产品组合。 中国国家炼油企业Sinopec Corp已在华南地区投资60亿 美元新建炼油厂和石化厂，使 之成为中国第三个在过去18 个月内开始运营的综合工厂。 它位于沿海城市湛江，包括一 个日产20万桶的原油提炼厂 和一座年产80万吨的乙烯装 置，耗资62亿美元。自2019 年初以来，又有两个综合炼油 能力为80万桶／天的综合工 厂启动，其中一个由私有的 Hengli Petrochemical Corp 建造，另一个则由Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp 建造。 法国生物工业解决方案公司 Carbios 正在法国化学谷里昂附 近建造一座工业示范工厂，采 用酶法回收 PET 塑料。第一阶 段计划于 2021 年第二季度，针 对被许可方启动（估计容量为 50-100 吨/年）。 日本公司 Teijin 已将其德国 生产的短切碳纤维 Tenax-E HT C604 6mm 的产能提高了 40%。到目前为止，Teijin 公司在日本三岛工厂的产能 已经部分满足了欧洲客户的 需求。 总部位于德国的机械制造商 KraussMaffei 正式在浙江 嘉兴开设了新工厂，使到其 在中国的产能翻了一番。去 年宣布的嘉兴工厂第一期工 程占地面积超过 58,000 平方 米，另外还有 3.7 万平方米预 留给建筑项目的第二期工程。 汽车公司 B M W G r o u p 开设了 新的 1500 万欧元的增材制造 园区，用于生产原型和系列零 件，对新型 3D 打印技术的研

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究，以及在全球推出无工具生 产的相关培训。去年，BMW 通过增材制造生产了约 30 万 个零件。该中心目前雇用多达 80名员工，并采用大约 50 种 与金属和塑料一起使用的工业 系统。另外 50 个系统正在全 球的生产现场运行。 德国特殊化学品公司 Lanxess 在上海化学工业园区（SCIP） 的新的 APAC 应用开发中心 （AADC）已经破土动工。它 是第一家在其位于上海国际 化学新材料创新中心的地点 开始施工的公司。2019 年 9 月，Lanxess 与 SCIP 签署了 谅解备忘录。2019 年 11月， 该公司宣布建立整合的 AADC 计划，以进一步加强其在中国 和亚太地区的创新能力。 美 国 材 料 公 司 Si O 2 M a t e r i a l s Science 在获得 1.43 亿美元， 向联邦政府提供药水瓶和注射 器，以支持 Covid-19 疫苗工 作的合同后，将投资 1.63 亿 美元来扩建其 Auburn 工厂。 在过去的十年，SiO2 开发了 其获得专利的药水瓶平台，该 平台将塑料容器与内部的微玻 璃涂层结合在一起，是生物药 物和疫苗的理想之选。建竣的 70,000 平方英尺工厂将提高 Si O 2 注 塑 业 务 的 产 能 。 泰国的 PTTGC 和位于香港的 混炼厂 Dynachem 正在合作 于泰国进行 PP 混炼。PTTGC 收购了 Dynachisso Thai Co. 的 41.5%股份，该公司在春 武里府 Amata 工业区经营年 产 30,000 吨的 PP 复合厂。 韩国的 Hyundai Motor Group 和 LG Chem 正在研究于印尼 建立电动汽车（EV）电池组 的可行性。投资规模及其生 产能力尚未确定。近年来， 电池制造商 L G C h e m 已与 General Motors 和 Geely A u to mo b i l e H o l d i n g s 分别成 立了合资企业。LG Chem 为 Hyundai、Tesla 和其他汽车制 造商提供电池。 JULY 2020

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新聞 RJA 新闻

業 界

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• 汽车零件供应商 CooperStandard Holdings 已将其欧洲 橡胶液传输和特殊密封业务，以 及其印度业务剥离给 Mutares SE & Co. KGaA。这项交易包括大约 2,500 名员工，在波兰的两处设 施，在西班牙和意大利的各一家工 厂，以及总部位于美国的公司在印 度的所有业务，但不包其位于钦奈 的公司 IT 开发办公室。 • 日本轮胎制造商 Bridgestone Corporation 收购了英国的 iTrack Solutions，后者是英国市场上用 于越野车的轮胎管理解决方案的最 大供应商之一。iTrack Solutions 提供胎压监测系统（TPMS），该 系统专门为大型推土机轮胎而设 计，能够收集有关轮胎性能和车辆 位置的实时数据。

Bridgestone 也在对巴西翻新 公司 N e w Tir e Remoldador a d e P n e u s 的商标和商业外观 侵权诉讼中胜诉。早在2015年 1 月，Bridgestone 就对 New Tyre 生产和销售带有 Turanza 商 标和 Turanza ER300 胎面花纹的 轮胎提起诉讼，据称这侵犯了 Bridgestone 的商标和商业外观 权利。 • Deutsche Bank 已向 Halcyon Agri Corporation 的子公司 Corrie MacColl 提供了 2500 万美元与可 持续发展有关的贷款，期限为三 年，并可加大和提高贷款额度至 7500 万美元。该笔贷款将用于为 公司在喀麦隆和马来西亚之橡胶园 的资本支出投资提供资金。 • 二氧化矽和合成石膏生产商Tosoh Silica Corporation 是 Tosoh Corporation的全资子公司，它 将与韩国的 Namhae Chemical Corporation 成立一家合资公司。 新公司名为 Tosoh Namhae Silica Corporation，将覆盖韩国全罗道 省的二氧化矽生产和销售。 Tosoh Silica 将持有新公司的 67% 多数 股权，而 Namhae Chemical 将持 有其余的 33% 股权。 • 作为其 Green-X Circle 计划 JULY 2020

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的一部分，位于斯里兰卡的特 殊轮胎制造商 Global Rubber Industries（GRI）已在附近的 莫讷勒格勒区建立了天然橡胶 （NR）收集中心，该计划将使当 地的 NR 农民在橡胶交易中“获得 公平的收入”。另外，该中心也为 属于 Green-X Circle 的橡胶农民 提供培训计划。 德国的 Freudenberg Sealing Technologies 在美国阿什兰开设 了工程服务中心，有关服务中心也 是该公司的油封工厂所在地。该占 地 3,100 平方尺的中心为客户提供 先进的测试方案和验证措施，并配 备了测试装置和类似设备，可以追 踪从压力、温度、摩擦扭矩和速度 功能到机械性能变化，摩擦学系统 相互作用的特征，泄漏检测及密封 件和密封组件故障分析等各方面。 法国特殊化学品分销商 SaficAlcan 已在南非约翰内斯堡成立 了新的子公司。Safic-Alcan 为 全球不同市场，包括橡胶在内的 各个行业开发并提供各种聚合 物、材料和添加剂。Safic-Alcan Southern Africa 将为南非市场及 其邻国市场服务。 澳 洲 的 轮 胎 回 收 商 G r e e n Distillation Technologies已开发 出世界首创的工艺，可将报废轮 胎（ELT）转变为高价值的石油、 碳和钢，尽管发生了大流行，但它 仍将扩大到欧洲市场。GDT 表示， 欧洲每年生产的 1200 万吨 ELT中， 只有 42% 被回收利用，这引起了 人们的兴趣。该公司正在致力使其 位于新南威尔士州西部的沃伦市和 昆士兰州南部的图文巴的前两个澳 洲加工工厂全面投产，并计划在澳 洲的格拉德斯通、沃加、吉郎、伊 丽莎白和西澳柯利设立另外五个工 厂。它也正在敲定美国、英国和南 非工厂的协议。每个工厂将具有处 理 19,300 吨 ELT 的能力，包括轿 车、四轮驱动车和卡车轮胎。 德国技术公司 Continental 在中国 常熟的电子空气悬架系统工厂已 进行破土动工。这家位于江苏省的 新工厂占地面积超过 13,500 平方 米，将于2021年第二季度开始营

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运。它将在电气化、智能和互联汽 车以及工业交通领域提供技术和解 决方案。Continental 表示，它将 进一步投资在中国的技术开发，这 显示该公司对全球最大汽车市场的 潜力和未来增长充满信心。 中国轮胎制造商 Jinyu Tire Co 在 越南西宁省 Phuoc Dong 工业园区 的越南工厂已进行破土动工。项 目的第一阶段完成后，年产能将 为 200 万 TBR 轮胎。 瑞士的 Tyre Recycling Solutions (TRS) 和 Tengzho u S D S S t a r Smith Metal Products 正在山东 省成立合资企业 - Tyre Recycling Solutions China Jointco，该处是 中国轮胎生产的集群之一。TRS将 持有该公司的 67% 股份，而 SDS 则将持有 33% 的股份，该公司将 向各种主要市场提供再生材料， 例如轮胎和铺路。该合资公司将 从 2020 年第四季度开始开发回收 ELT 汽车和卡车轮胎的生产设施， 目标是到 2023 年年产 60,000 吨 TyreXolTM。 位 于 奥 斯 陆 的 初 创 公 司 Wastefront AS 正在英国设立其第 一家轮胎回收厂。目前正在评估 站点，并计划在不久的将来开始 建设。该工厂将使用高温分解工 艺在高温下分解轮胎，将废轮胎 转化为液态碳氢化合物和炭黑， 然后将其用于制造替代燃料或研 磨橡胶的过程中。2019 成立年的 Wastefront 已从挪威国有公司和 国家开发银行 Innovation Norway 获得资金。 一站式机器人订单执行和轮胎处 理解决方案的制造商及综合商 Cimcorp，已搬迁至新的更大的美 国办事处，以容纳其不断扩大的市 场并为其在美国及墨西哥不断增长 的客户群提供服务。新办公室增加 了车间空间，可提供更多本地化的 售后服务。该工厂也将为 Cimcorp 的 3D Shuttle 解决方案提供一个 陈列室，该解决方案是一种自动存 储和检索系统（AS/RS），适用于 从货物到人订单的拣选，是电子 商务、零售和食品服务分销的理 想选择。

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Flexible Packaging

Adapting to the times with sustainable packaging Greater packaging demand during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown is a cue for enhanced responsibility by the flexible packaging industry, to go all out in promoting sustainable packaging, says Angelica Buan in this article.

Challenging times a windfall for online deliveries The ongoing lockdown worldwide has various industries reeling from low to no sales and bare minimum production capacities and outputs. However, the home delivery sector is breaking the bank with increased demand from people staying indoors and observing social distancing, and against the availability of food delivery platforms such as online takeout and ordering apps.

It is an unexpected windfall for the food delivery market, forecast to cross US$9.8 billion; and the e-commerce market, predicted to hit US$6.2 trillion by 2027, by Research and Markets in separate reports.

The common thing shared by these markets is good packaging that will ensure the integrity of fast-moving consumer goods during the handling and upon reaching the consumer.

Meanwhile, during the pandemic, an increase in demand in singleuse and flexible packaging has been noted. According to a Technavio report, this increase will significantly impact the flexible packaging market in the first quarter of the year, tapering off gradually in the next quarters. The flexible packaging market is expected to grow close to US$60 billion during the year to 2024.

Growing awareness of flexible packaging Flexible packaging that is commonly used for snack food packaging and PET bottles for drinks, accounts for 39% of global packaging, according to a report by the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies (PMMI), a North American packaging and processing supply chain body.

Food is the largest end-use industry for flexible packaging, making up for nearly half of the flexible packaging used, it said.

Driving the flexible packaging market forward is the growing consumer awareness of the advantages of flexible packaging in terms of food safety, longer shelf life and convenience, according to Imarc Group’s market report.

Additionally, PMMI stated in its 2019 market assessment for flexible packaging that the industry is demanding sustainable and consumer-friendly packaging. It cited that convenient packaging and sustainability are two major trends that are topmost pointers, and thus, manufacturers are increasing their adoption of flexible packaging designs for on-the-go packaging and recloseability.

Sustainability is also a major focus, with manufacturers using compostable The brisk demand in the food delivery sector fuels demand in and biodegradable films to meet industry single-use and flexible packaging demands, the PMMI report said.

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Flexible Packaging The emphasis on sustainability will boost the demand for sustainable and recyclable packaging alternatives, which augurs well for the flexible packaging market, Imarc reported.

Europe’s circularity agenda for flexible packaging Europe is a forerunner in the global flexible packaging manufacturing space. The region’s market share is also growing owing to an increasing demand for lightweight and easily transportable packaging. The region also prioritises sustainability as well as other important packaging properties, such as extended shelf life, rising standards of hygiene, and ease of use, according to Mordor Intelligence.

The European flexible packaging market size is anticipated to be worth US$9.4 billion by 2025, citing an audit by the Market Data Forecast.

Greater emphasis on sustainability is placed along this growth.

It also underpins a newly unveiled initiative, the Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging (CEFLEX), a partnership of over 160 European companies, associations, and organisations, which has set a comprehensive guideline to help the flexible packaging value chain design recyclable consumer packaging solutions and accelerate a circular economy.

and recycling infrastructure to make all flexible packaging circular.

The initiative focuses on polyolefin-based structures as these represent over 80% of consumer flexible packaging in the European market. The guidelines cover the key elements of flexible packaging including the materials used, barrier layers and coatings, size, shape, inks and adhesives.

It will engage brand owners and retailers to work with their packaging converters, material producers and others in the value chain to develop mono-material solutions that comply with the circularity agenda.

Recyclable packaging for a zero-waste “new normal” The virus pandemic has the world knuckling down on hygiene so much so that using disposable packaging can help avoid the risk of transmission.

Expecting a spate of plastics from discarded packaging, manufacturers are rolling out new portfolio geared at creating environmentalfriendly packaging products that are recyclable, degradable or contain fewer plastics.

PPC Flexible Packaging, a US-based supplier of custom flexible packaging, has launched its PPC Green sustainability range, which includes new recyclable and compostable pouches. Earth Pack is a fully recyclable pouch that can be recycled with the How2Recycle Label initiative, a standardised labelling system that clearly communicates recycling instructions to the public.

The new Bio-Pouch is a plant-based renewable and compostable pouch that will biodegrade in industrial composting facilities as per the conditions set by ASTM D6400.

The CEFLEX initiative aims to produce higher quality recycled materials to be kept in the economy and used in a wider number of sustainable end markets

Officially launched in July, CEFLEX’s Designing for a Circular Economy (D4ACE) guidelines have been developed collaboratively with the entire flexible packaging value chain. The aim is to produce higher quality recycled materials to be kept in the economy and used in a wider number of sustainable end markets. In turn, this will help support much needed investment in the sorting

PPC Flexible's new Bio-Pouch is a plant-based renewable and compostable pouch that will biodegrade in industrial composting facilities JULY 2020

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Flexible Packaging

Plastopil has launched a ready-to-recycle flexible packaging range, including 100% PET for MAP tray lidding films.

PPC Green also highlights PPC’s sustainable manufacturing practices at each of its six manufacturing sites, which include recycling and re-use of raw materials and packaging.

Israel-headquartered flexible packaging producer Plastopil has launched a ready-to-recycle flexible packaging range that includes 100% PET for MAP tray lidding films, 100% PP for TFFS systems, and 100% PE for pouches, VFFS and HFFS flow applications. The packaging enables a 100% mono PET-based tray to be topped with Plastopil’s 100% mono top lidding, with the benefit of a PET sealing layer. By eliminating the need for a PE/ PP sealing layer, it enables 100% recyclability of the bottom, according to Plastopil, adding that the film range exhibits anti-fog properties and sealing capabilities, which prevent contamination from a variety of sources.

Plastopil’s fully recyclable PP for TFFS systems comprises a mono-forming bottom and nonforming top lidding; while the PE range is for pouches, VFFS and HFFS flow applications, offering a high barrier construction of MDO PE, designed for stand-up pouches and flow pack applications.

Austrian-based packaging and paper group Mondi has launched its new all-PE recyclable packaging, BarrierPack Recyclable, used by Dutch pet food producer Yarrah for its organic Yarrah and Dano pet food brands, and UK supermarket chain Tesco for its own-brand dishwasher tablets.

With green certification by Institute cyclos-HTP GmbH, the BarrierPack Recyclable all-PE film is a lightweight mono-material for diverse applications ranging from stand-up pouches for dishwasher tablets to resealable pouches for organic dog food.

Mondi has collaborated with Yarrah to develop more sustainable packaging for its certified organic Yarrah and Dano pet food brands. Yarrah wanted to introduce a fully recyclable pouch to replace a multi-layer laminate packaging. The pouch also needed to be resealable to keep pet food and snacks fresh, while adding convenience for pet owners.

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For Tesco, Mondi developed a fully recyclable mono-material pouch for its dishwasher tablets. With the BarrierPack Recyclable, the individual tablets can now be wrapped in a water-soluble film instead of OPP wrapping,

thus further reducing waste.

Mondi's BarrierPack Recyclable all-PE film is a lightweight mono-material for diverse packaging applications

Packaging with biobased/PCR alternatives Post-consumer recycled (PCR) resins are a latest sustainability solution from US chemicals company Dow. The recycled plastic resins are designed to harness the resources of used flexible and rigid plastic packaging to create new packaging materials, while keeping waste out of the environment, Dow said. It adds that brands and consumers are given packaging performance comparable to ones made with virgin resins while reducing carbon and energy footprints of by 20-30%, depending on the offering and application.

Flexible Packaging When used in collation shrink film, intended for secondary packaging to hold bottles, cans and cartons, Dow’s new PCR resin will help ensure products are delivered safely while also reducing the amount of plastic waste ending up in the environment. It can also be used in rigid packaging to create bottles for the home care market.

Dow’s carbon neutrality goal by 2050 encompasses enabling 1 million tonnes of plastic to be collected, reused, or recycled through direct actions and through partnership by 2030 and to reduce its net carbon emissions by 5 million tonnes/year by 2030.

Foraying in compostable alternatives for multilayer packaging, Minneapolis-based residential and commercial organic material recovery systems firm Organix Solutions has launched 2DegreesCooler, a new venture offering industryspecific biopolymer film solutions to clients in need of functional, cost-effective alternatives to plastic.

Sustainable biopolymers are used in food packaging and consumer packaged goods (CPG) applications (among others) to meet or exceed barrier protection standards against oxygen and moisture as well as provide visually impactful surfaces to apply labels and branding.

The company is looking to expanding applications of the biopolymer films beyond residential co-collection and agriculture films to consumer packaging. That includes food packaging, CPG, and ecommerce shipping, it said.

Meanwhile, speciality polyester films company Terphane has rolled out its Ecophane line of sustainable films composed of 30% or more of PCR, food-grade PET. Ecophane is suited for flexible packaging that is lightweight and easy to store and transport.

The company says not only does Ecophane utilise lesser new raw materials, it also complies with the circular economy thrust for recyclable disposable plastic packaging.

Amcor and Garçon Wines developed flat PET wine bottles made with PCR for the US market

Australian-headquartered packaging firm Amcor has its PCR-based PET bottle concepts, and in collaboration with British start-up Garçon Wines developed flat PET wine bottles, made with PCR, for the US market.

Amcor said that the PET wine bottles are shatter-proof, lightweight and infinitely recyclable, with a lower carbon footprint than glass bottles or aluminium cans. The flat shape of the wine bottle saves space and making it from recycled PET saves weight and energy, Amcor added.

Given that the flat PET bottles are reusable and resealable, combined with the benefits global consumers are finding essential in these challenging times in human and environmental health, these are also hygienic and non-polluting for the environment.

Terphane has rolled out its Ecophane line of sustainable films that is composed of 30% or more of PCR food grade PET JULY 2020

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Extrusion Machinery Vi r tu al d i s p l a y s fr o m W &H a n d Ba n d er a T h e C o v i d - 1 9 p a n d e m i c h a s c h a n g e d the way b u s i n e s s e s h a v e t o o p e r a t e , g i v e n t h e tighter restrictions.

G erm an m a c h in e ma n u fa c tu r e r W i ndmöller & Hö l s c h er ( W &H ), wh ic h h a d in itia lly p l an n ed t o e x h ib it a t th e In te r p a c k a n d Dru p a exh i b i tio n s th a t h a v e b e e n p o stponed u n t i l 2021, h e ld its fir s t Vir tu a l E x p o to p res en t t ec h n o lo g ie s a n d p r o d u c ts . H eld over two days from 24-25 June, over 2, 000 vi s i t o rs fr o m 1 2 0 c o u n tr ie s tu n e d i n f o r l i ve f l e x o g r a p h ic a n d g r a v u r e pr ess d e m o n s t r a t i o n s , t e c h n i c a l s e s s i o n s a nd vi rt u al m eet i n g s .

Bandera had a live streaming of its open house where it presented the new HDBFlex five-layer line

W&H had 2,000 participants at its first virtual expo recently

“T h e p as t m o n th s h a v e b e e n a c h a llenge e v e r y w h e r e . Ye t t h e f l e x i b l e p a c k a g i ng i n d u s t r y i s a s b u s y a s e v e r. T h a t ’s w hy it was s o i m p o rt an t fo r u s to h o ld a Vir tu a l Expo an d s h o w o ur c u s to m e r s n e w te c h n o logies a n d a p p l i c a t i o n s t h a t a r e a v a i l a b l e n ow and c an h el p t h e m r u n th e ir p r o d u c tio n mor e ef f i c i en t l y, ” s a id P e te r S te in b e c k , M a naging P art n er at W &H .

To ac c o mm o d a te d iffe r e n t tim e zo nes of v i s i t o r s , t h e Vi r t u a l E X P O w a s h e l d l i ve three t i m es a d ay. F ilme d in th e 1 2 0 ,0 0 0 ft2 W&H Te c h n o l o g y C e n t r e i n L e n g e r i c h , G e r many, an d t h e W & H A c a d e m y, tw o liv e ma c hine d e m o n s t r a t i o n s a n d e i g h t t e c h n i c a l s essions w ere b ro ad c a s t liv e .

T h e l i ve m a c h in e d e m o n s tr a tio n s i n c l u d e d t h e N o v o f l e x I I f l e x o g r a p h i c press h i g h l i g h t i n g t h e n e w R U B Y I o T s y s t e m for a n a l y s i n g p r o d u c t i o n d a t a t o o p t i m i z se p ro c es s es an d th e n e wly r e d e s ig n e d Heliostar I I g ravu re p r in tin g p r e s s .

T h e l i ve t e c h n ic a l s e s s io n s w e r e tar geted to package printers, industrial sack

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producers, paper bag manufacturers and film extruders. A session showcasing an All-PE film str uctur e as an alter native to PET for st and- up pouch applications was said to have generated significant inter est.

Other technical sessions cover ed f l exi bl e packaging topics, including sleeve handling solutions for flexogr aphic pr esses, pri nt i ng solutions for industr ial sacks, heavy dut y films for FFS sacks, remote service and paper sack pr oduction on m achiner y fr om W& H subsidiar y, Gar ant M aschinen.

M eanwhile, Italian extr usion m achi nery m aker B ander a also organised Ope n House sessions in live streaming where it presented its new H D B Flex five-layer co-extr usi on technology.

The Open H ouse star ted in M ay w i t h a fir st pr ivate session dedicated to the f i nal purchaser of the line, allowing the firm to pr eview the r unning line, ver ifying i t s pr oduction par am eter s and the str uct ure of the event live. Three live streaming sessions wer e tr ansm itted in two days, r espe ct i ng t he differ ent tim e z ones of the custom e rs.

Over 500 customers, potential customers and suppliers attended the live streaming presentation of the HDBFlex line – Heavy Duty B ag Flex. Its par tner s included m at eri al s f i rms B or ouge/ B or ealis, Fr ilvam (masterbatches m anufactur er fr om Var ese) and Industri a C r eat iva, an agency specialising in digital communication.

Extrusion Machinery Rei f e n h ä u s e r c o n v e r t s l i n e f o r p r o t e c t i v e garm en ts ; N o rds o n s t e p s u p fla t d ie s The C o vi d - 19 c r is is h a s s e e n a h ig h d e m and for g l o b al p ro d uc tio n c a p a c ity fo r h y g ie ne pro d u c t s . I n M a r c h th is y e a r, m a c h in e r y mak er R ei f en h ä u s e r h a s t e m p o r a r i l y p r o duced me t l b l o w n t o p r o d u c e r o u g h l y 1 m i l l i o n face mas k s / d ay at i t s Te c h n o lo g y Ce n tr e . T h e comp an y h as n o w c o n v e r te d a n o th e r p ilot line for p ro d u c t i o n . T h e fir s t b a tc h w ill p r o d uce 110 t o n n es o f pr o te c tiv e film fo r a g lo b a l ma n u f a c t u r e r f o r m e d i c a l c o v e r a l l s f o r u se in hos p i t al s . T h e in c r e a s e d d e ma n d is c u r r ently very h i g h f o r c ov e r a lls wo r n to tr e a t h ig hly infe c t i o u s c o ro n a v ir u s p a tie n ts . T h is v o lum e is suff i c i en t f o r ab o u t 1 .2 m illio n o v e r a lls .

R ei f en h äu s er, th e m a n u fa c tu r e r o f pla s t i c s e x t r u s i o n l i n e s , n o r m a l l y u s e s t he Tec h n o l o g y C e n t r e t o r e s e a r c h a n d d e v e lop new ap p l i c at i o n s in c o lla b o r a tio n w ith its cus t o m ers . T h e film p r o te c ts a g a in s t in fections but a l l o w s a i r ex c h a n g e , w h i c h i s v i t a l f or hos p i t a l w o r k e r s w h o m u s t w e a r o v e r a l l s for lon g p e r i o d s o f t i m e . B r e a t h a b i l i t y c o m es fro m t h e p o r e st r u c t u r e i n t h e m a t e r i a l which is p ro d u c ed b y a s p e c ia l c a lc iu m c a r b o n ate add i t i o n f o l l o w e d b y a s t r e t c h i n g p r o c e ss (Rei f en h äu s er EVO Ultr a S tr e tc h ).

T h e s a m e l i n e t y p e i s c a p a b l e o f p r o d ucing hyg i e n i c f i l m f o r u s e i n d i a p e r s , b e s i d e s cer t i f i e d m e d i c a l p r o t e c t i v e f i l m . U l t r a S tretch tech n o l o g y c a n a l s o b e u s e d i n o t h e r a d vanced app l i c at i o n s , s u c h a s r e c y c la b le A ll-P E fi lm (PET rep l ac em en t). T h e p r o d u c tio n u n it can the ref o re b e u s e d fle x ib ly to r e s p o n d to a wide vari et y o f ma r k e t d e m a n d s o u ts id e of an em erg en c y o r cr is is .

EDI dies from Nordson are used by customers for both extrusion and fluid coating systems

M eanwhile, the sur ging dem and for devices that pr otect against C ovid-19 includes sheet and coated fabr ics whose manufacture calls for flat die systems that in pre-pandemic days often had quite different uses, r epor ts Nor dson C or por ation.

“Our company’s EDI Ultraflex sheet extrusion dies have been put into service for producing PVC, acrylic, and polycarbonate shields, face guards, sneeze guards, a nd bar r ier s and our Pr em ier fixed-lip slot di es are now used for coating fabrics and filter m em br anes specifically intended to prot ect against C ovid-19,” said Patr ick M einen, Global Pr oduct Line M anager.

Reifenhäuser has converted a pilot line for protective garments JULY 2020

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Extrusion Machinery Nordson’s flat die products that are in use include the following: • Sheet dies for PVC face shields: Palram Americas has ordered a new Ultraflex sheet die, plus additional lips for diversifying the thicknesses available on its existing Ultraflex dies. The extrusion lines involved, located in the UK, US, and Israel, are for producing various gauges of PVC for clear face shields and protective barriers.

Nordson says that another customer that normally specialises in building products has also ordered additional lips for its EDI sheet dies in order to manufacture clear PVC face shields.

• Slot dies for filter membranes: Three dies ordered on a rush basis by one customer are for coating filter membranes,which the company says will be used in medical applications to curb the spread of the virus.

“While there continues to be a strong demand for personal protective equipment used in clinical settings, there is now also an urgent need for shields and barriers to facilitate the opening up of workplaces, retail establishments, and public spaces after weeks of lockdown,” said Meinen. “This has required the use of flat dies, both new and converted from other applications, for the manufacture of clear sheet.”

Davis-Standard’s latest die with short lip design; Graham Engineering’s power clamp US extrusion machinery firm Davis-Standard has introduced its next generation 510A die for extrusion coating applications. Engineered with an innovative short lip design and edge bead functionality, it builds on earlier generation Davis-Standard die offerings. Improvements include simplification of the die’s pre-land channel and internal deckling blade for easier cleaning and maintenance.

“Essential to this design is a motorised internal and external deckling system for safe and easy operation where internal die

Davis-Standard has introduced a die with short lip design

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AutoGrip clamp, in black, allows for simpler changeovers

channel is optimised for melt flow and deckling adjustment for precision edge bead control,” said, Michael Schröder, Head of Sales EMEA and Product Management at Davis-Standard’s German subsidiary ER-WE-PA GmbH. “This die has shown minimal or no edge trim, and the elimination of high edges during testing.

The 510A die is ideal for acid co-polymers, LDPE, LLPE, HDPE and PP resins among others for extrusion coating and lamination onto board, aluminium foil and for flexible packing applications.”

Meanwhile, a new extrusion clamp with electromechanical actuation from Graham Engineering’s American Kuhne product line is said to be safer and simpler to operate than manual devices and provides more repeatable clamping forces.

The AutoGrip power clamp reduces downtime in installations with frequent screw, breaker plate, or tooling changes. It reduces the risk of injury or burns involved in manually releasing and tightening clamps during changeovers. The torque required in manual systems to sufficiently seal the clamp assembly is particularly dangerous with large extruder sizes. In addition, the manual clamps are typically heated to temperatures of greater than 200°C, increasing the risk of injury with traditional manual systems.

The AutoGrip clamp is remotely controlled by a two-hand pushbutton controller for user safety and convenience. The drive motor and gear box are mounted above the clamp, protecting them from melt residue and making them easy to access for maintenance.

It is available for extruder sizes of 90 to 150 mm. In addition to applications involving new extruders, it can be retrofitted on many existing installations.

Packaging

Primary packaging through the pandemic

By Eric Roegner President, Amcor Rigid Packaging

A

mcor’s polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and jars serve an important purpose by protecting the products that keep us nourished, healthy, hydrated, and clean. During the Covid-19 pandemic, there have been clear shifts in shopping practices, product demand, and channel distribution.

Despite these changing consumer patterns, the role of packaging has never been more vital, enabling the safe delivery of food, beverages, healthcare products, and home and personal care items including cleaning supplies, hand sanitiser and other essentials.

These are extraordinary times which bring insights and opportunities.

Disruption demands different While PET packaging has continued to deliver on its lightweight, safety, and sustainability benefits, the Covid-19 outbreak has caused a shift in the products that consumers demand. During the first quarter, Multi-Channel Merchant reported that demand for hand sanitiser skyrocketed more than 800%. This demand created an opportunity for hundreds of US distilleries and wineries to rapidly transform their operations to produce and package hand sanitiser under guidance from the Food and Drug Administration.

Eric Roegner, President, Amcor Rigid Packaging

Amcor jumped in to assist current customers from the spirits, home, and personal care segments with their bottling needs and supported smaller distilleries as they activated locally.

Shifting from wine or spirits to hand sanitiser requires adjustments to the entire operation including a necessary shift in the packaging format, typically from glass to PET bottles.

Producing and packaging hand sanitiser locally is manual and requires all hands on deck.

Glass bottles can break, are heavy, often more expensive to transport, and not easy to recycle.

PET, however, won’t shatter – so no breaking bottle will shut the line down to remove glass contamination or to prevent an injury. In addition, according to Amcor’s Asset Lifecycle Analysis, PET bottles often have a lower carbon footprint than alterative glass bottles.

For example, Michigan-based Ugly Dog Distillery, one of the oldest craft distilleries in the US, shifted its production facilities from spirits to hand sanitiser – and they are giving it away to people and organisations that need it the most.

A McKinsey & Co. report finds consumers’ shopping behaviour has changed because of the crisis. Trips to the grocery store are less frequent and “on-the-go” convenience store traffic has declined. However, ecommerce growth, which was slow to see traction in grocery, has more than doubled during the pandemic. The report notes that sales in this channel will see a sustained post-crisis increase. As a result, the bottles and jars produced for the ecommerce supply chain must function accordingly – no leaks, breaks, or dents. Since consumers will not tolerate a poor unboxing experience, an opportunity for PET packaging has opened. PET bottles and jars stand up to the rigors of the ecommerce channel, providing benefits such as lighter weight, reduced carbon footprint, reduced freight costs, breakage and safety advantages, and easy handling and opening.

Shelter-in and socially connect On March 13, I gave a speech at a packaging industry trade show in Chicago. I haven’t travelled since. With travel restrictions eliminating face-to-face engagement, we’ve changed how we interact with our work teams and customers by incorporating more video conferencing. This technology has become the JULY 2020

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Packaging backbone of the work-from-home strategy which many businesses have enacted, as without warning our home and work lives have collided.

Now, I spend most of my time in virtual meetings – sometimes those meetings include family member cameos.

According to Computer World magazine, the demand for video conferencing apps has surged in recent weeks, with enterprise-focused mobile app downloads reaching 62 million during the week 14-21 March, the highest number ever seen.

That figure was up 45% from the week before and up 90% from the pre-Covid-19 weekly download average. Business application downloads represent the highest growth in any category in both the iOS and Google Play stores.

Today, we update profiles, share content, and incorporate the right key words and hashtags so people can find us quickly. Working through the pandemic stay-at-home orders, social media channels have enabled the supply chain to remain “open for business.” Our sales team found opportunities through social media friends and community organisation timelines. LinkedIn was where customers offered us virtual “pats on the back” for on-time deliveries and maintaining production schedules and commitments, often to their own local communities.

Driving sustainability The latest technology and research and development will continue to enable incredible transformation across the business world, including the packaging industry where PET is already infinitely recyclable 1 . As we develop new business practices in response to Covid19, we will need to adjust so we can meet new environmental challenges. Certainly, Covid-19 has increased awareness about how day-to-day activities impact our planet.

As a global organisation, we continuously push ourselves and others to achieve more and are committed to understanding challenges and advancing transformational change, categorised with three major goals: First, we are on the path to developing all the packaging we make to be recycled or reusable.

Secondly, we are significantly increasing our use of recycled materials in our packaging.

Study after study shows that consumer decisionmaking is swayed by sustainability claims on the package. This leads to our third goal of helping to increase recycle rates worldwide. That goal can be achieved by working closely with customers, suppliers, NGOs, and municipalities to develop better and easier ways to collect, sort, and recycle more of our products.

We are proud that 97% of our PET bottles and jars are recyclable in the US. And we’re working every day to advance the circular economy.

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Currently, only around 30% of PET plastic in the US is collected to be recycled, compared to Europe’s 51% 2 . It will take a strong cooperative effort across the entire value chain including producers, consumers, and recyclers, but I know that we can reduce landfill waste.

PET plastic and its unique attributes show how the “reduce, reuse, recycle” goal can be realised. PET is currently the most recycled plastic in the US 3 . With cooperation among consumers, manufacturers and waste management companies, PET bottles can end up in the recycling bin, the first step to becoming yet another PET bottle.

The Covid-19 pandemic has altered so much of our lives and its impact can also be felt across the PET bottle recycling stream. Many states have suspended bottle deposit/redemption and cities have temporarily closed their curbside recycling programs. This has reduced the availability of all recycled content, including rPET for bottles. We are helping our customers achieve their commitments to use more postconsumer materials by working with our partners and associations to get these collection programs restarted.

Meanwhile, we are finding ways to continuously improve the design and sustainability of our products. We are also minimising the impact of our operations on the environment and the communities we serve. Our global EnviroAction programme, active at all of Amcor’s 250 sites, is driving reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, waste-to-disposal rates, and water use.

With today’s increased consumer sensitivity to safety and cleanliness, PET packaging also provides a more hygienic alternative compared to aluminium cans and refillable paper cups. Resealable PET bottles and jars prevent contamination and permit no contact with compromised surfaces.

With the situation changing daily, the impact of Covid-19 is unfolding and our business continues to adapt. Our most important job is to keep our families, our employees, our customers and the environment safe and healthy.

Our strategy for long-term success and growth will support and drive differentiation for our customers, expand and make ourselves available in new, innovative ways through our networks, and push for more sustainable options and infrastructure.

1 With existing technologies including chemical recycling

2 PET Resin Association, 2012 3 NAPCOR

Recycled Materials

Ocean plastics may buoy Europe rPET market

By Matt Tudball, Senior Editor, Recycling, ICIS It certainly appears as though the recycled polymer markets in Europe are developing at a much faster pace than their virgin counterparts. There is an ever-growing interest in the growth of these markets, from the likes of brands and FMCGs, virgin polymer producers, the global petrochemical players and financial institutions.

EU legislation and the global war on plastic waste is leading to a massive amount of public and government attention being put on recycled plastics.

Major global brands are making pledges to increase the amount of rPET (recycled PET) in their PET beverage bottles.

This is to either meet or exceed the EU’s 25% target by 2025, largely driven by consumer pressure, or perhaps as a marketing ploy.

ICIS data shows Europe does not produce anywhere near enough rPET to meet that 25% target. So buyers are going to have to source from elsewhere. One option maybe ocean-bound plastic.

Bantam Materials, a REACH-registered, UK-based materials supplier that has been in the rPET business for over a decade, is one of those companies bringing oceanbound plastic into Europe from Indonesia under the name of Prevented Ocean Plastic (POP), and is working with social enterprise OceanCycle to provide fully traceable POP material to European customers.

Traceability and certification The aim of Bantam’s POP programme is twofold. First, to support local communities in at-risk areas where plastic will end up in the oceans. This can be done by incentivising communities to collect, sort and process plastic waste into high-quality recycled material. Second, to present consumers with the option to purchase products packaged in recycled material that has been proven to come from at-risk regions of the world.

Certification and traceability are the key factors that determine what defines POP compared to waste plastics collected inland. And it is the process of tracing and certifying the product that gives Bantam’s POP its slightly higher price position. However, the material Bantam is bringing into Europe is still priced within the normal free delivered (FD) northwest Europe (NWE) price range, albeit towards the top of that range.

“If the POP programme was priced one and a half or twice the price of the market and people were buying small amounts as symbolic gestures, local communities would not be supported with consistent collection and infrastructure would not be able to develop and grow for proper recycling," said Bantam Director Raffi Schieir. Price will always be an issue for

an rPET buyer, regardless of the quality or the social benefit.

As virgin PET prices have dropped through 2020, squeezing recyclers’ margins, so has the amount of rPET being used across Europe, with significant substitution away from rPET and back to virgin PET taking place over the last few months.

In essence, the purchaser of POP is paying for the benefit of saying it sourced its material from an at-risk area. In doing so, it has prevented that material from entering the ocean – a message that should resonate with consumers.

However, it is the converters who are hurt by weak margins and pressure from brands that want them to supply recycled content at the lowest possible price.

Despite the financially challenging situation recyclers find themselves in at present, POP obviously is resonating with some. Discount food chain Lidl introduced POP into its fish packaging in the UK in March.

Quality and volumes Currently, Bantam brings around 1,000 tonnes/month of POP into the European market. And in a recent webinar on ocean plastic, OceanCycle’s Ryan Schoenike said total monthly volumes could be close to 3,000 tonnes by the end of the year (although he did not specify if this was just volumes for rPET).

European food-grade material capacity for rPET in 2018 was just over 300,000 tonnes according to ICIS. Schieir has faced challenges in getting European buyers to accept that material from outside of Europe is of good enough quality to meet their needs,. But as 2025 creeps closer, and alternatives like chemical recycling are still likely a decade away, buyers are going to need to prop up their current volumes from somewhere.

In countries like Indonesia, which rely solely on bottled water to provide clean drinking water to their citizens, it allows companies like Bantam to ensure its post-consumer bottles (PCB) have the highest PET content – in Bantam’s case its PCB in Indonesia contain 99% PET. Meeting Europe’s rPET needs?

With the coronavirus pandemic still at the forefront of both the industry’s and consumer’s minds, together with weak PET bottle demand translating into weak rPET demand and no sign of a pick-up in virgin PET prices anytime soon, ocean-bound plastic will have to shout extra loud to make its voice and benefits heard in the European market.

Ocean-bound plastic volumes may be small and by no means sufficient to fill Europe’s R-PET supply gap, but it could offer an attractive addition to a buyer’s portfolio as a source of good quality recycled material, with the added benefit of preventing more plastic waste entering the ocean. And if the price levels can be maintained at a competitive level with those of European suppliers, what’s not to like about that?

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Injection Moulding Asia Automotive

Creating a smart car environment with plastics Plastics remain as cornerstone materials

The SoForm technology has applications for instrument panels, door panels and associated touch points (map pockets, console sides, mirror surrounds and seat trim).

in producing smart cars that meet the

mobility and sustainability requirements of today, says Angelica Buan in this report.

Lightweight vehicles are driving the market Fortune Business Insights, in its 2019-2026 report, forecasts a strong growth for automotive interior materials market, driven by an increasing demand for lightweight materials for automotive and e-vehicles. By 2026, the market could reach US$66.4 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 3.8% from 2019.

Lightweight automobiles contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions. In a typical car, 50% plastics by volume accounts for only 10% by weight; and a 10% reduction in vehicle weight results in 7% fuel usage savings.

In a lightweighting example, a research team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT worked with German automotive parts manufacturer Mahle Group, German automotive maker Daimler AG, plastics solutions company SBHPP/Vyncolit and tooling/ composites specialist Georges Pernoud Group to develop a camshaft module from fibrereinforced thermoset polymers. To substitute the currently used aluminium, the lightweight design, according to Fraunhofer, can reduce engine weight and assembly costs, as well as slash CO2 emissions.

C

oncept cars bedecked with technological gizmos are no longer the dream machines paraded only at car shows. Many of them are now being rolled out from production halls as prototypes for real cars frilled with smart technologies.

However, there is more to the functionalities of advanced systems in smart cars that make the sales pitch. Certainly, car buyers want to be assured of safety, fuel economy, and comfort of their vehicles.

As autonomous/driverless and AI-enabled cars are making inroads, the changing mobility trends envisage smart cars to serve as an extension of the user’s private space outside of their home or domicile. The vehicle, thus, must match the needs, purpose and expectations of the user with ease, accuracy and security for total user experience.

Consumers’ interior motives Automotive interiors, which include components like central console, infotainment systems, modules, seats and door panels, are increasingly becoming an important brand differentiator. Acumen Research and Consulting, in its report, pegs the global automotive interior market size to reach nearly US$424 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 6.1% from 2020.

As such, automotive manufacturers are taking stock of what can enhance the interior’s aesthetic appeal and user comfort.

Polymers producer Asahi Kasei Plastics North America has developed the engineered resin series SoForm, a class-A surface material. A part of the Thermylene range of chemically-coupled glass fibre-reinforced PPs, it offers low emissions and scratch resistance. It also has a haptic surface feel and improved durability, compared to competitors, Asahi Kasei stated. It is also cost-effective for manufacturers because the resins do not require paint, over-moulding or foam in Asahi Kasei’s SoForm glass fibre-reinforced PP material offers low emissions and scratch place. resistance 1 J U LY 2 0 2 0

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Injection Moulding Asia Automotive Camshafts ensure that the charge-cycle valves in internal combustion engines are opened and closed reliably and precisely. These valves are located in the camshaft module, the standard material for which is still aluminium metal. Weight reduction is one of the most effective methods for reducing CO2 emissions.

process recycles waste plastic typically sent to landfills or found as litter in waterways. With this it produces cellulose-based Trēva, which has 42-46% sustainably-sourced biobased and recycled content. When painted with NB Coatings’ paint systems, Trēva can meet the demanding Class A surface requirements as specified by OEMs. Trēva is an alternative to PC, ABS and PC/ABS for interior automotive applications at a cost-neutral position, according to Eastman. It is said to exhibit high performance with optical and birefringence properties for high clarity. It also withstands the challenges of automotive interiors, including high temperatures, humidity, UV, scratch/mar and general durability requirements. With its low VOC emissions, which is critical for interior parts, processing ease and flow for good dimensional stability, the material is a winner for automotive parts.

Meanwhile, utilisation of waste plastics is what is fuelling a collaboration by students at Eindhoven University of Technology to produce the Luca car that features a chassis made of flax, rPET and PP sourced from ocean plastics. The material used in the body is made from household waste.

Since PET can be recycled approximately ten times, by using it in a car the team wants to extend the life-cycle of PET. The outside of the composite material will be made from flax in combination with recycled plastic coming straight out of the ocean. The front and the rear part of the chassis will be made out of a tube frame from recycled aluminium.

Fraunhofer and partners developed a camshaft module from fibrereinforced thermoset polymers that, as substitute to aluminium, has lesser engine weight and helps reduce CO2 emissions

The fibrereinforced thermoset polymers are able to withstand high temperatures, mechanical and chemical stresses, such as those caused by synthetic motor oils and coolants. The camshaft module is located in the cylinder head, so normally in the upper installation space of the powertrain. Thus, by reducing weight of the module also contributes to lowering the vehicle’s centre of gravity.

Waste plastics for environmentally-responsible vehicles Regardless of the disruptions in mobility trends, plastics will remain a staple material in the vehicle manufacturing sphere.

US speciality materials company Eastman is collaborating with North American automotive plastic coatings company NB Coatings to offer its Trēva engineering bioplastic for interior Class A painted surfaces.

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Injection Moulding Asia Automotive

Automotive Sector

bolster produced in plasticmetal composite technology (hybrid technology) for the Ford Kuga SUV.

In addition to steel panels, the production of the structural component includes PA6, the easyflowing, fibreglassreinforced Durethan BKV30H2.0EF from German materials firm Lanxess.

The bolster and the fully assembled front-end module were developed and are produced by Montaplast GmbH, a global system supplier of the automotive industry with headquarters in Morsbach, Germany.

The bolster houses an actively controllable unit The Luca car features a chassis made of flax, rPET and PP sourced from ocean plastics; and the consisting of four active material used in the body is made from household waste grille shutters that ensure

In this way, the team wants to find the a demand-oriented supply of air to the engine ideal balance between strength, weight and cooling system. It contains reinforcing metal sustainability. For the body, another material inserts at the sides and in the upper chord. The will be developed. This is done in collaboration latter accommodates the highly loaded hood with an Israeli start-up, UBQ, which makes an latch. The main task of the hybrid design is to additive for plastic out of household waste. support the cooling systems and hold them in

Luca will also be efficient because in-wheel position. Numerous additional functions are also motors will be used, mitigating losses in the integrated in the bolster – such as guides, mounts drivetrain. The two electric motors will have a for the adjustment drive and fasteners. combined power of 15 kW and are powered by six modular battery packs. These can be replaced easily by full packs or even more modern batteries with new technology if this is available in the future, the team explained.

Comfort is also taken into account with Luca’s two custom-made seats and an infotainment system. With this system, among others, navigation and multimedia can be controlled and waste is taken into account.

To optimise material usage, Luca will use the driver’s smartphone as infotainment system.

In the field of view of the driver, important information like the speed of the car will be projected. This way, the driver can always monitor the road.

Smart designs with engineering plastics Thermoplastics with easy-flowing properties are usually somewhat more expensive than comparable standard materials. However, they offer advantages that ultimately pay off in terms of processing, production costs and freedom of design. This can be seen in the integrated

Lanxess’s PA6 is utilised in an integrated bolster produced in plastic-metal composite technology (hybrid technology) for the Ford Kuga SUV

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Injection Moulding Asia Automotive

Automotive

Lanxess says its PA6 can be processed at lower injection pressures, allowing the use of smaller injection moulding machines with lower clamping forces, for cost savings. Furthermore, PA6 has advantages over alternative material PP. The first advantage is that the component contains several direct threaded connections: these are more cost-efficient than using additional metal inserts. The threaded connections designed using PA6 is also more stable and has a longer service life. The second advantage is that it withstands the thermal loads that arise when the grille shutters are closed, in contrast to PP.

As well, due to the high flowability of PA6, component areas with filigree geometries can be designed with thinner walls, by around 20% in the areas subject to lower loads.

Lanxess also brought in its HiAnt engineering service to provide suggestions for the design and position of the reinforcing polyamide ribs that took account of the relevant load cases.

Meanwhile, German chemical firm BASF is launching an engineering plastic that is particularly suited for automotive parts that come into contact with hot oil. The new polyethersulfone (PESU) Ultrason E0510 C2TR is said to show good tribological properties, high oil resistance and dimensional stability also with broad ranges of temperature fluctuations.

The injection-moulding grade with a 10% carbon fibre reinforcement can be used within a wide temperature range between -30 and +180°C. It is easy to process because of its low viscosity and good flow properties.

The new grade is now globally available.

It enables the manufacture of various car parts that come into contact with oil: oil pumps, oil control pistons, pressure valves and high-speed components in automatic or manual gearboxes.

It can also be employed in new applications for alternative drive technologies.

Plastics for electric vehicles As the automotive industry makes a strong shift to electric vehicles, engineering plastics supplier Polyplastics Co. sees strong potential for its resin products in Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) parts that enable autonomous driving. The company’s Duranex PBT materials, targeted for actuators and communications equipment, are said to deliver strong durability, alkali resistance, hydrolysis resistance, and heat shock resistance.

Polyplastics is targeting its PBT grades for autonomous driving applications

In by-wire systems, the actuator requires a higher level of reliability as ADAS parts become more sophisticated and electronic controls become automated. Polyplastics’ Duranex PBT is chosen for many electric actuator parts because it continues to perform even in harsh environments. Underbody parts are exposed to water and snow melting agents from road surfaces as well as oil and other substances. These parts also heat up since they are close to the engine, motor, and other heat-generating parts. As a result, PBT is chosen in many actuator parts due to its high heat resistance, chemical resistance, and low rate of water absorption.

In communications equipment, flame retardant PBT resins are also in demand in motor applications exposed to high voltages, batteries, and charging parts. Duranex PBT 750AM is a UL V-0 grade with a high level of durability in car-mounted environments that is increasingly being used in parts that require flame retardancy in recent years.

For smart cars, plastics fit the bill and this augurs well for the automotive plastics market.

BASF’s new engineering plastic is particularly suited for automotive parts that come into contact with hot oil

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Injection Moulding Asia Bicycle Sector

Nothing like riding a bike The warmer weather and more relaxed

pandemic restrictions are drawing people outside – and more of them onto their

bikes. There are plenty of reasons for this: exercise and fitness, fresh air and the

opportunity to get out of the house. This has seen the growth of bicycle sales.

Taking to cycling In the context of abnormal climate brought about by global warming, the European Union has set a target of reducing carbon emissions by 40%. Most vehicle manufacturers are pursuing “lightweight development”, and the bicycle and electric vehicle industries have made certain progress in this regard.

Under the impact of the pandemic, commuters have changed to riding bikes to avoid the risk of infection by public transportation

market demand. In the US in Brooklyn, New York City, bicycle sales this year have increased by more than 600% over the same period.

Machinery for the sector Taiwanese machinery firm Fu Chun Shin (FCS), with 45 years of effort and experience in the R&D of injection moulding machines, offers its two-colour injection moulding machinery for the production of bicycles, electric vehicles, automobiles and other industries.

The (FA Series) is an advanced model in the elbow oil pressure category. It upgrades the injection unit and the clamping unit in an all-round way to create diversified products with stable quality. Besides, it offers differentiated technology integration and services based on product characteristics of various industries, which can widely be used in the production of bicycle accessories, 3C, even thin food packaging containers, etc.

In addition, the two-colour machine is matched with a specific mould to form more than two-colour products one or more times according to the injection process.

FCS’s two-colour machine can be used to produce mixed colour pedals for bicycles

Generally speaking, steel accounts for over 70% of the raw materials for automobiles. According to Nomura Research Institute, it is estimated that the proportion of steel will drop to 62% by 2025, with the rest being replaced by composite plastics, carbon fibres and other materials to reduce the weight of the car body and interior decoration. Traditional automobile manufacturers, as well as the government-assisted electric vehicle and bicycle industries, all play an important role in lightweight development.

Under the impact of Covid-19 pandemic, commuters have changed to riding bikes to avoid the risk of infection by public transportation.

The European and American governments have introduced bicycle purchase and repair subsidies, and even expanded or built exclusive bicycle lanes and parking spaces, prompting a surge in

FCS’s rotary table two-component FB-R series

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Injection Moulding Asia Bicycle Sector Airless bicycle tyres Going shopping by bike or exploring one’s surroundings could be a joy if it weren’t for the many stones, shards of glass, nails and other sharp objects that will turn a perfectly good tyre into a flat mess. Taiwanese company Air Fom is now offering a patented solution for airless tyres that overcomes the drawbacks of previous airless products. It is based on an expanded thermoplastic polyurethane (eTPU) from German materials firm Covestro.

as lightweight and elastic as an air-filled tyre, can be fitted quickly and firmly on standard rims, is maintenance-free and, most importantly, recyclable, unlike the butyl rubber tubes that are used in conventional tyres.

The material solution can also benefit bicycle rental companies for whom a constant operational readiness of their vehicles is important. The independent ACT Lab LLC confirmed that the product meets the latest safety requirements for use in bicycles.

Dandelion rubber bicycle tyre The Urban Taraxagum bicycle tyre from German technology firm Continental made from dandelion rubber recently won the prestigious Red Dot Design award for the design of the tread of the tyre, which is based on the cell shape of the dandelion.

As far back as March, the ‘Dandelion Bicycle Tyre’ was recognised with the IF Taipei Cycle d&i Gold Award and last year with the sustainability award from the e-bike manufacturer Accell Group.

In the future, Continental says its long-term Taraxagum project will be to supply natural rubber from dandelion plants, which can be used for the production of two-wheel, passenger car or commercial vehicle tyres as well as other vehicle parts made of natural rubber.

Continental says it has already produced the first test tyres for passenger cars and trucks. The Urban Taraxagum bicycle tyre is the first production tyre to be manufactured using natural rubber from the dandelion plant. The tyre has been produced in the Continental bicycle tyre plant in Korbach in the German state of Hesse for two years and is available both in-store and online.

“Our dandelion rubber tyres are an important part of our extensive sustainability activities and of the ambitious goal of making our products and production processes as well as our research and development even more sustainable,” adds Claus Petschick, Head of Sustainability in Continental’s Tires business area.

Air Fom offers a solution for deflated tyres that are inflated with expanded TPU from Covestro

Solid rubber tyres have been on the market for quite a while now, but just like earlier puncture-proof products, they have their shortcomings: they do not produce the typically light driving feel of their air-filled counterparts, are often real heavyweights and, moreover, are very expensive. Today’s bicycles often have highly complex superstructures, such as sports bikes with multi-speed transmissions or e-bikes. Their Air assembly Fom’s therefore tyre inserts are requires light and elastic and can time and be mounted quickly and firmly some skill – a on standard rims true nightmare for bicycle rental companies. Moreover, the plastics that have been used up to now are often not recyclable and therefore do not represent a permanent solution.

Air Fom is now using a special technology combined with an innovative material. With the help of particle foam casting, expanded TPU is moulded into the specified shape and exhibits precisely the desired properties on the rim. The tyre insert is just

Continental’s Urban Taraxagum bicycle tyre was recently awarded the Golden Award, which is presented in the context of the Taipei Cycle Show, to honour the design of the bike tyre’s tread and sidewall as well as its production from dandelion rubber obtained from crops grown in the vicinity of the tyre factory

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Rubber Journal Asia Industry News • Automotive parts supplier Cooper-Standard Holdings has divested its European rubber fluid transfer and specialty sealing businesses, as well as its Indian operations, to Mutares SE & Co. KGaA. The transaction included approximately 2,500 employees and two facilities in Poland, one facility in each of Spain and Italy, and all of the US-headquartered company’s operations in India, excluding its corporate IT development office located in Chennai.

• Japanese tyre maker Bridgestone Corporation has acquired UK-based iTrack Solutions, one of the largest providers of tyre management solutions for offroad vehicles in the UK market. iTrack Solutions offers a tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS), which is specially designed for large earthmover tyres and able to collect real-time data on tyre performance and vehicle location.

Bridgestone has also secured a victory in its trademark and trade dress infringement lawsuit against Brazilian retread company New Tyre Remoldadora de Pneus. Back in January 2015, Bridgestone had filed a lawsuit against New Tyre’s manufacture and sale of tyres featuring the Turanza trademark and Turanza ER300 tread pattern, which purportedly infringed Bridgestone’s trademark and trade dress rights.

• Deutsche Bank has provided a US$25 million sustainabilitylinked loan facility with a threeyear tenor, and an accordion feature to upsize the facility to US$75 million, to Corrie MacColl, a subsidiary of Halcyon Agri Corporation. The loan will be used to finance the company’s capital expenditure investments for its rubber plantations in Cameroon and Malaysia.

• Silica and synthetic gypsum manufacturer Tosoh Silica Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tosoh Corporation, is to establish a joint venture company with South Koreanbased Namhae Chemical Corporation. The new company is named Tosoh Namhae Silica Corporation and will cover the production and sales of silica in Jeolla Province, South Korea. Tosoh Silica will hold the majority ownership of the new company at 67% while Namhae Chemical will hold the remaining 33%.

• Sri Lanka-based specialty tyre manufacturer Global Rubber Industries (GRI) has started up a natural rubber (NR) collection centre in nearby Monaragala district, as part of its Green-X Circle initiative, which will allow local NR farmers “to earn fair value” in rubber trade. The centre will also offer training programmes for rubber farmers who belong to the Green-X Circle.

• Germany’s Freudenberg Sealing Technologies has opened an engineering service centre in Ashland, US – also home to the company’s oil seal facility.

The 3,100-sq.-ft. centre offers customers access to advanced testing protocols and validation measures and is equipped with test rigs and similar equipment that can track everything from pressure, temperature, frictional torque and speed capabilities to changes in mechanical properties, characterisation of tribological system interactions, leak detection and failure analysis in seals and sealing components.

• French distributor of specialty chemicals Safic-Alcan has set up a new subsidiary based in Johannesburg, South Africa. SaficAlcan develops and provides a wide range of polymers, materials and additives for

various industries, including rubber, across different markets worldwide. Safic-Alcan Southern Africa will service the South African market and those in its neighbouring countries.

• Australian tyre recycler Green Distillation Technologies, which has developed a worldfirst process that turns endof-life tyres (ELTs) into high value oil, carbon and steel, is to expand into the European market, despite the pandemic.

GDT says that only 42% of the 12 million tonnes/year of ELTs generated in Europe are recycled and this had heightened the interest. The company is working to bring its first two Australian processing facilities in Warren in Western New South Wales and Toowoomba in Southern Queensland into full production and has plans for five other Australian plants in Gladstone, Wagga, Geelong, Elizabeth and Collie Western Australia. It is also finalising agreements for plants in the US, UK and South Africa. Each plant will have a capacity to process 19,300 tonnes of ELTs comprising a mix of passenger car, 4WD and truck tyres.

• German technology company Continental has broken ground on an electronic air-suspension systems plant in Changshu, China. The new facility in Jiangsu Province covers an area over 13,500 sq m and will start operation in the second quarter of 2021. It will provide technologies and solutions in the fields of electrification, intelligent and connected vehicles as well as industrial mobility. Continental said it will further invest in technology development in China, indicating its confidence in the potential and future growth of the world’s largest automotive market.

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Rubber Journal Asia Industry News • China-based tyre manufacturer Jinyu Tire Co has broken ground on its Vietnamese factory in Phuoc Dong Industrial Park, Tay Ninh Province, Vietnam.

The production capacity will be 2 million TBR tyres/year, after completion of the first phase of the project.

• Swiss company Tyre Recycling Solutions (TRS) and Tengzhou SDS Star Smith Metal Products are setting up a joint venture, Tyre Recycling Solutions China Jointco, in Shandong Province, one of the nation’s clusters for the production of tyres. TRS will be the majority owner with 67% and SDS will own the balance of 33% of the company that will offer recycled materials to a variety of key markets such as tyres and

road paving. The joint venture will develop a production facility for recycling ELT car and truck tyres starting in Q4 2020, with a target to produce 60,000 tonnes/ year of TyreXolTM by 2023.

• Oslo-based start-up Wastefront AS is locating its first tyre recycling plant in the UK. It is currently assessing sites while planning to start construction in the near future. The plant will use a pyrolysis process to break down tyres at elevated temperatures, to convert scrap tyres into liquid hydrocarbons and carbon black, which can then be used in processes such as alternative fuel or ground rubber for manufacturing. Wastefront, which was founded in 2019, has received funding from the

Norwegian state-owned company and national development bank Innovation Norway.

• Cimcorp, a manufacturer and integrator of turnkey robotic order fulfillment and tyrehandling solutions, has relocated to a new, larger US office, to accommodate its continued market expansion and serve its growing customer base across the US, as well as Mexico. The new office includes an added workshop space for more localised aftermarket services. The facility will also provide a showroom for Cimcorp’s 3D Shuttle solution, an automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) for goods-toperson order picking ideal for e-commerce, retail and food service distribution.

Tyres

Reinventing the wheel with renewable technologies Tyre companies are applying the brakes on traditional

rubber tyres with innovative materials and connected

technologies, says Angelica Buan in this article.

T

he tyre industry has been focusing on efficiency, safety and sustainability, and to achieve these is zeroing in on manufacturing practices, material sourcing and end-product designs. With the global emphasis on climate change, traditional tyres have been placed under scrutiny for their environmental impact. These include microrubbers emanating from tyre abrasion and microplastics produced from wear and tear of tyres during driving as well as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy consumption during the production process.

Sustainability and cost of raw materials used in tyres, the environmental hazards of end-of-life tyres, and improving safe driving and remote vehicle management with the advent of the connected mobility era, are just a few issues that tyre makers are devoting their R&D efforts on.

Birla and GranBio Technologies piloted the Nanocellulose Dispersion Composite (NDCTM) masterbatch for tyres, utilising nanocellulose as a rubber additive

Rubber additive synthesised from plants Replacing petroleum-based materials with ones that are derived from nature is a logical step for the tyre industry towards sustainability. With a market growth potential of nearly US$800 million within five years, according to a report by Markets and Markets, green materials such as nanocellulose are gaining traction in biobased rubber manufacturing due to their intrinsic properties, abundance and renewability. A versatile high-strength and lightweight biomaterial, nanocellulose is regarded for its relative ease of preparation in high yield, high specific surface area, and high strength and stiffness; and when used in nanocomposites, its reinforcing potential.

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Rubber Journal Asia Tyres The application of nanocellulose as a rubber additive has been piloted by India-headquartered carbon black supplier Birla Carbon, together with Brazilian industrial biotechnology company GranBio Technologies using its BioPlus nanocellulose technology, in a breakthrough innovation in Nanocellulose Dispersion Composite (NDCTM) masterbatch for tyres.

The result of a three-year joint development programme between the two companies, the patentpending NDC masterbatch is designed to address growing sustainability demands from the tyre industry both in terms of improving tyre rolling resistance and vehicle fuel economy.

The incorporation of the bioderived nanocellulose into commercial rubber compounds provides optimal dispersion in rubber formulations to improve physical performance and increase sustainable material content, the team said.

Seemingly the missing piece to the dispersion puzzle – the challenge of effective dispersion of hydrophilic nanocellulose into hydrophobic rubber formulations – the development of NDC masterbatch is expected to increase the uptake of biobased rubber additives in the tyre sector.

benefit from faster cross-linking and lower viscosity, which leads to a more efficient production process.

The special structure of highly branched molecular chains reduces entanglements and results in lower viscosity compared to liquid isoprene rubbers, according to Kuraray. Due to its high molecular weight, L-FR co-crosslinks during the vulcanisation process. The “bleeding” of the low-molecular components to the outside surface, which occurs with conventional plasticisers is significantly reduced and results in permanently high elasticity and constant properties over the entire lifetime of the tyres.

Similarly, US-based Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has utilised soybean oil in rubber compound applied to tyres. The soybean oil, according to Goodyear, helps keep the rubber compound pliable in changing temperatures, a key performance in maintaining and enhancing the vehicle’s grip on the road surface.

Goodyear’s reCharge concept tyre features reloadable and biodegradable tread compound, which can be recharged with individual capsules, thus simplifying the process of replacing tyres

Renewable materials enhance flexibility, road adhesion Worldwide over 1.6 billion new tyres/year are produced and around 1 billion/year of waste tyres are generated, with only 10% recycled, according to a report by Goldstein Research. The complex design of tyres makes them indestructible in nature and thus problematic to recycle. On the other hand, the insoluble polymeric materials in tyres are not biodegradable and may take centuries to decompose in the environment.

Plant-based, renewable rubbers offer an environmentfriendly solution without jeopardising the safety integrity of the tyres.

Speciality chemicals company Kuraray takes this direction with a biobased liquid farnesene rubber (L-FR) that replaces petroleum-based materials. The L-FR is synthesised from beta-farnesene derived from renewable resources such as sugar cane. Adding L-FR to the compound improves the performance and lifetime of tyres. This new material, according to Kuraray, keeps the tyre’s elasticity, especially at lower temperatures and provides optimal adhesion on snowy and icy roads. Tyre manufacturers also

Goodyear’s tests have shown rubber made with soybean oil mixes more easily in the silica-reinforced compounds used in manufacturing certain tyres. This also improves manufacturing efficiency and reduces energy consumption.

The US tyre maker recently introduced the Assurance ComfortDrive, its fourth tyre to use soybean oil. Some ComfortDrive tyres also feature rice husk ash silica.

Another latest offering is the reCharge Concept tyre, which Goodyear says is 100% biodegradable.

The reCharge is a concept tyre that features reloadable and biodegradable tread compound, which can be recharged with individual capsules, simplifying the process of replacing tyres.

Filled with a customised liquid compound, these capsules allow the tread to regenerate and the tyre to adapt over time to climatic circumstances, road conditions, or simply how one want to travel. Aided by artificial intelligence, a driver profile would be created around which the liquid compound would be customised, generating a compound blend tailored to each individual.

The compound itself would be made from a biological material and would be reinforced with fibres inspired by one of the toughest natural materials in the world: spider silk. This would make it both extremely durable and fully biodegradable.

Kuraray’s liquid farnesene rubber is synthesised from beta-farnesene derived from renewable resources such as sugar cane.

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Rubber Journal Asia Tyres Recyclable rubber that boosts tyre performance Tokyo-headquartered Bridgestone Corporation’s recent innovation is what it claims the world’s first polymer that bonds rubbers and resins on the molecular level.

Susym, an offshoot to its High Strength Rubber*1 launched in 2018, features high levels of durability and resistance found in conventional rubber. This is coupled with higher levels of performance with regard to difficulty of opening holes (puncture resistance); fixability (recyclability, repairability); and resistance to low temperatures, according to Bridgestone.

A portmanteau for “sustainability” and “symphony”, Susym is recyclable and is capable of enhancing performances of tyres, while maintaining the flexibility of rubber, thus making it highly applicable to various fields other than tyres, Bridgestone stated.

Meanwhile, a renewable, wonder material has also joined the roster of new tyre technologies to make tyres. Despite its minuteness, graphene is a 100 times stronger-thansteel material with a tensile strength of 130 GPa (gigapascals).

Canada-based Gratomic has developed graphene enhanced-tyres with a six-month terrain test that yielded promising Gratomic’s graphene-enhanced tyres demonstrate improved rolling resistance, results versus premium tyre brands. translating to a greater fuel economy, and improvement in both wet and ice The conducted braking road test concluded the surface engineered graphene-enhanced tyres produced a greater than 30% increase in wear resistance over competing brand tyres, equating to an additional +30% mileage before the tyre was needed to be replaced, Gratomic said.

Furthermore, the result showed a significant improvement in rolling resistance, which indicated a greater than 30% improvement in fuel economy, as well as greater than a 40% improvement in both wet and ice braking.

According to the company, utilisation of graphene in tyres is a breakthrough in tyre technology and safety. The company is looking at deploying nanoengineered grapheneenhanced passenger and light commercial tyres into the global tyre market.

Bridgestone Corporation’s recent innovation Susym is, what it claims, the world’s first polymer that bonds rubbers and resins on the molecular level

The Japanese tyre maker is looking into expanding the potential applications of Susym, following its showcase of a concept tyre utilising various Susym functions and materials at a motor show in Tokyo in 2019.

Engineered rubber with composites, graphene Rubber compounders are kept on their toes to develop new products effectively to meet the global demand for sustainable mobility, which calls for improving performances of tyres while in compliance with safety and material standards.

US speciality chemicals firm Cabot Corporation offers a new solution for manufacturers: the Engineered Elastomer Composites (E²C). It says this simplifies industrialisation of high-performance products through the availability of application-specific, pre-mixed composites delivered in a ready-to-use and easy-tohandle product form.

E²C can be integrated into current production methods without additional capital investment, with fewer mixing stages, lower temperatures and shorter cycles than conventional products, reducing operating costs and enabling additional production capacity. The DX9730, part of a new Durability series, is the first E²C product application in off-the-road (OTR) earthmover tyres.

Sensor-inbuilt tyres stresses on safety Globally, connected mobility is increasing adoption as a solution to lower carbon impact of driving. The growing market of connected vehicles impacts the penetration of smart tyres.

Finnish tyre maker Nokian predicts that in five years smart tyres will be hitting the road amid the uptake of selfdriving cars.

Sensors connected to tyres will be one of the things that play an important role when machines observe driving conditions instead of humans, says an expert from Nokian Tyres

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Rubber Journal Asia Tyres Sensors connected to tyres will be one of the things that play an important role when machines observe driving conditions instead of humans, says an expert from Nokian. It adds that the automisation of traffic is advancing, which also sets new requirements for car tyres. When a car is not human-controlled, it must be able to individually observe driving conditions via sensors installed on tyres, for example.

This means that if a car does not have an active driver to ensure that the tyres are safe to use, safety needs to be measured in another way. Technologies such as on-board information system can form a picture of the prevailing driving conditions and adjust the driving accordingly, and tyre sensors that can monitor tyre wear, inflation pressure, and the temperature inside the tyre are a few of these up and coming technologies.

Smart tyres enable new tyre-related service models that can be utilised even before robotic cars are on the roads, Nokian explained. The sensor-fitted smart tyre works by notifying the driver about the tyre wear and then a tyre shop, for example, to deliver a new set of tyres to replace the worn out ones, or even fit them on a vehicle. The sensor can also relay information such as information of the driver to the nearest tyre retailer or for how long the tyre can be used.

Preventive maintenance becomes especially important as the popularity of shared-use vehicles increases, especially once they start operating autonomously.

This ensures that the riders will not be stranded, Nokian said.

TPMS tyre pressure sensors are already wellknown to consumers, for example, but more advanced technology has been reserved for professional use. For instance, Nokian’s Intuitu is a concept for agriculture and contracting tyres that combines tyres with embedded sensors and a mobile app for data collection.

Meanwhile, tapping into the burgeoning 5G network market, Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli has embarked on developing tyres that interact with the 5G network.

Pirelli’s capolavoro in cyber tyre technology, its worldfirst 5G-enhanced ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) service detects and transmits information related to road surface conditions to the vehicle and others nearby via the network. It is achieved owing to 5G’s ultra-high band and low latency.

Last year, Pirelli, together with project cohorts Ericsson, Audi, Tim, Italdesign and KTH, demonstrated the service on the roof of the Lingotto building showing how a vehicle equipped with the sensor-fitted Pirelli Cyber Tyre and connected to the 5G network was able to transmit the risk of aquaplaning detected by the tyres to a following car.

In the future, the Pirelli Cyber Tyre, equipped with an internal sensor, will supply the car with data relative to the tyre model, kilometres clocked, dynamic load and, for the first time, situations of potential danger on road surfaces, from the presence of water to poor grip.

Pirelli’s cyber tyre technology is the world-first 5G-enhanced Advanced Driver Assistance Systems service that detects and transmits information related to road surface conditions to the vehicle and others nearby via the network

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