bioplastics MAGAZINE Issue 04/2014

Sant’Anna continuously on the road to success

The innovative Wood Force technology was developed by Sonae Industria SGPS (Maia, Portugal), a leading wood panel manufacturer. Sonae has 50 years of wood processing experience with 24 plants internationally.

On June 5, 2014 Avantium (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) announced that it has closed a financing round of €36 million ($50 million) from a consortium of iconic strategic players.

One successful example that reflects the commitment to sustainability of Brazilian manufacturers is the partnership between Braskem and Tetra Pak® for using the biobased polyethylene (green PE) in its carton packaging manufactured in Brazil.

In mid July SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment™ (Orlando, Florida, USA) debuted the first refillable plastic cup made from bio-PET. Now available in all SeaWorld® and Busch Gardens parks across the U.S., the reusable, 100% recyclable plastic cup is manufactured using Coca-Cola’s proprietary PlantBottle™ packaging technology.

The Technological Institute of Plastic (AIMPLAS, Valencia, Spain) has been coordinating a European two-year research project in which eight partners participate in the search for a new material, biodegradable and resistant to thermal treatments, to be used in the manufacture dairy products.

The plastics used in the automotive industry are primarily based on petroleum. In its search for alternatives, Stuttgart/Germany based MAHLE GmbH tested various biobased plastics and ultimately validated one material as ready for series production. This new bioplastic is first being used for air duct products.

Braskem, the leading producer of thermoplastic resins in the Americas, inaugurated a new Research and Development Laboratory in early June in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.

Soybean hull is one of the most widely available field crop residues obtained during the extraction of soy bean oil. Normally it is discarded as waste or used as animal feed after enrichment.

COMPOSITES EUROPE 2014 from 7th to 9th October in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Flax fibres are offering the best mechanical properties on the natural fibres market and are thus increasingly used as an environmentally friendly reinforcement for different applications. Their specific properties, which are higher than those of glass fibres, come in combination with interesting cost and weight reductions.

Due to the strong and growing use of plastics, some historians call the current time the plastics age. In 1983, with 125,000,000 m³ for the first time the global demand for plastics exceeded that of iron.

Past few decades have seen significant growth in the use of high strength fiber reinforced composites fabricated using carbon, aramid and glass fibers and reins such as expoxy, unsaturated polyester or polyurethanes. However, both fibers and resins used in these composites are made using petroleum, a non-sustainable raw material.

An introduction to nova paper #3 on bio-based economy 2014-05

”Those of us who enjoy the natural world and are active in the outdoors are becoming increasingly aware of the deteriorating condition of our planet. This concern is growing and there is a desire to show the, sometimes conservative outdoor industry, that it is quite easy to replace oil- based plastic products.”

However it’s pronounced, the humble tomato is what has brought these two companies together. Researchers at Ford and Heinz are investigating the use of tomato fibers in developing sustainable, composite materials for use in vehicle manufacturing.

Proposals for a Reform of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) to a Renewable Energy and Materials Directive (REMD)

Meredian, Inc. (Bainbridge, Georgia, USA) harvested its first 400 hectares (1,000 acres) locally sourced canola crop in Decatur County, Georgia in the second half of May.

Next to their standard material classes ARBOFORM® and ARBOBLEND®, Tecnaro have managed to develop natural fibre composites optimized for processing by injection moulding – ARBOFILL®. In the meantime further production processes such as extrusion blow moulding and thermoforming were successfully carried out with grades of this material class.

In honor of Earth Day (April 22) and Arbor Day (April 26), Trinity Oaks (St. Helena, California, USA) announced in mid April that it has begun bottling its wines with new plant-based capsules made from EarthFirst® PLA film.

Coke’s PlantBottle technology was recognized last month on Capitol Hill as one of the innovations helping to fuel the bio-based manufacturing boom.

Since the market introduction of the Coca-Cola PET bottles in the early 1990s bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) have seen a tremendous market growth for beverages and other liquids such as detergents, edible oils etc.

The global bioplastics market is booming – total production capacity is set to grow 400% by 2017, and the European Commission has designated bioplastics as a lead market.

Natural fibre composites have gained significant attention over the last couple of years. However, these novel materials struggle to establish themselves at a large scale in the composites industry, despite their outstanding specific mechanical properties.

Trellis Earth (Wilsonville, Oregon, USA) acquired a 110,000 square foot (10,000 m²) bioplastics production facility in June in Seymour, Indiana from the defunct Cereplast which is being liquidated in bankruptcy court. Trellis earth paid $2.6 million (€ 1.9 million) for a factory, patent portfolio, and inventory with a replacement value over $8 million (€ 5.9 million).

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