bioplastics MAGAZINE Issue 03/2021

Published in bioplastics MAGAZINE

Application News

When avocados are processed for use in food items, the amount of waste produced can account for more than 45 % of the total weight of the avocado. In order to make use of this waste and extend the shelf life of prepared products, Aimplas, the Plastics Technology Centre (Valencia, Spain), is developing the GUACAPACK Project, funded by the Valencian Innovation Agency (AVI) (Spain). The project is led by the company ITC Packaging and the Universidad de Alicante’s research group on Polymer and Nanomaterial Analysis (Nanobiopol-UA) (both Alicante, Spain) is also taking part.

Novel durable, biodegradable, and recyclable bottles made from bioplastics

The traditional paper production and processing industry has always been operating in a largely bio-economically manner as it primarily uses the renewable resource of wood and extracted cellulose fibres. Paper is therefore an already comparatively sustainable, value-adding material based on renewable raw materials of low quality. It has long been a shining example of material cascade utilization through multiple recycling. At the same time, the fibre base is also biodegradable in principle. However, a large share of auxiliary materials for the production and converting of paper, such as barrier coatings, coating colour binders, adhesives, retention or wet strength agents consist in many cases of fossil-based polymers. In paper recycling, these materials are largely discharged as rejects, which are often used thermally. In addition to the associated release of fossil CO2 into the atmosphere, such materials are often characterized by unfavourable biodegradability, which generally means that there is a potential for the formation of microplastics.

For the Melitta Group sustainable development is part of our purpose. Before this background, we are committed to the principles of circular economy and climate protection. In consequence, bioplastics can play an important role in the further development of our assortments.

This article is an edited excerpt from the nova-Paper #12 on renewable carbon: “Renewable Carbon – Key to a Sustainable and Future-Oriented Chemical and Plastic Industry.” The full report can be downloaded for free from [1]

C HINAPLAS 2021 closed on April 16 with a total of 152,134 visitors (149,771 local and 2,363 overseas). Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the move to the new venue at Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center, Chinaplas has once again proved itself to be a high-standard platform for presenting new technologies and sourcing latest products for the plastics and rubber industries. Bioplastics were again presented in a special bioplastics zone split into two areas in hall 13 and 16. With an exhibition area of over 350,000 m², Chinaplas 2021 hosted more than 3,600 leading exhibitors from all over the world, showcasing 3,800+ machines, raw materials, chemicals, and other solutions. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we couldn’t travel from Germany to Shenzhen this year. So, we cannot give a detailed report about what was shown in the bioplastics zone. This is why our esteemed colleague John Leung (Biosolutions) shares with us his insight about the general Chinese bioplastic market on the following pages.

The use of plastic nets is common in the grass industry. The big advantage for producers is that turf can be harvested faster this way. “The nets facilitate transport and reduce the risk of damaging the turf. It can also be harvested earlier,” explains Wouter Post, project manager at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research (The Netherlands). “Because the nets cause soil pollution, producers are looking for biodegradable alternatives. Existing alternatives marketed under this label are never fully biodegradable. Net fragments or microplastics, whether visible or invisible, are always left behind in the environment.”

Everyone who once upon a time got the thought “I should get in shape” or “I should eat healthier” knows how difficult it can be to change our behaviour to improve our health – fact is, living healthy costs time, effort, and in many cases money. Jojanneke Leistra, founder of Superfoodguru.shop (Den Haag, The Netherlands) made it her mission to make one of these steps a little easier. As a lifelong healthy food lover, she started her company with a simple idea, bringing healthy food to the people. It started with powdered superfood mixes you could add to your juice or smoothie to improve your diet. However, this simple enterprise soon evolved into the next step of her business.

Ontex (Aalst, Belgium) and circular economy company Les Alchimistes (Pantin, France) announced their collaboration to test the compostability of diaper pads.

Processing PLA on a production scale Continuous Mixer

Cove, the Los Angeles-based (USA) material innovation company that plans to introduce the first water bottle made entirely of biodegradable material later this year, recently announced it has entered into an exclusive partnership deal with RWDC Industries. RWDC, based in Athens, Georgia, USA and Singapore, will supply its proprietary PHA – a sustainably sourced, naturally occurring biopolymer – to produce Cove’s water bottles. Cove’s mission is to end the world’s reliance on conventional plastic.

bioplastics MAGAZINE consistently pursues the path of expanding the range of topics towards Renewable Carbon Plastics. This starts on page 9 with the report about the Renewable Carbon Conference and continues via a cartoon in the centre of this issue. This centrefold is detachable so it can be used as a poster, or to show friends and colleagues. And it closes with a Basics article explaining what is behind the idea of Carbon Capture and Utilisation – CCU. Other news and articles deal with plastics from biomass sources – our traditional topic – and plastics made from captured carbon from CO2 or methane as well as plastics from advanced recycling.

Using LCA to compare biobased and fossil-based plastics is not that simple

SGH Healthcaring (Saint-Marcellin, France), a preferred partner of the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries, is launching a new range of primary packaging called Greenov. The group is marking Earth Day by reaffirming its commitment to reducing the environmental impact of its activities and products, which it made over 10 years ago when it signed the United Nations Global Compact.

In late November last year Carbios (Clermont-Ferrand, France), announced it has successfully produced the first bottles containing 100 % recycled Purified Terephthalic Acid (rPTA) from textile waste that contains a high PET content. This result confirms the capacity of Carbios’ technology to recycle textile waste and opens up access to an additional waste stream of up to 42 million tonnes per year, worth over USD 40 billion.

Lightweighting throughout the automotive supply chain

How cyanobacteria could transform our industry

Acoustic and thermal characterization of a novel sustainable material incorporating recycled microplastic waste

Towards an accurate accounting for carbon from biomass in the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF)

Jabil (Saint Petersburg, FL, USA), recently announced the acquisition of Ecologic Brands, a leading provider of sustainable packaging specializing in paper bottle and paper-based packaging solutions. Ecologic’s Manteca (California, USA) based operation will join the Jabil Packaging Solutions division, significantly enhancing Jabil’s sustainable packaging platform and offerings for consumer packaged goods (CPG) customers.

NatureWorks (Minnetonka, MN, USA) continues to grow its portfolio of Ingeo™️ biopolymers specially designed for additive manufacturing with the introduction of Ingeo 3D700 for use in large-format 3D printing. Monofilaments made with Ingeo biopolymer PLA are broadly used in the desktop 3D printing market having notable performance characteristics such as precise detail, good adhesion to build plates with no heating needed, reduced warping or curling, and low odor while printing. These properties make Ingeo well-suited for 3D printing using many different types of printers and for a broad range of printing applications from consumer-level to industrial applications.

Avantium (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) has completed the application validation for its plant-based glycols plantMEG™ and plantMPG™ produced in the Ray Technology™ demonstration plant in Delfzijl (The Netherlands). Key applications include polymerisation to PEF and PET polyesters and functional fluids used for de-icing and heat transfer. Proving the functional performance of the plant-based glycols is an important step in the scale-up of the Ray Technology.

In Germany, more than 500,000 tonnes of old baked goods are produced each year which, without additional processing, are not suitable for further consumption or as animal feed. Until now, their use has been primarily energetic, for example in combustion processes or in biogas plants. Old bakery products such as bread, rolls, or cakes contain large quantities of starch. Researchers at the Fraunhofer WKI (Braunschweig, Germany) have succeeded in extracting the basic chemical hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from this starch, which offers potential for a wide range of applications. “In our sub-project, we determined the application potential for HMF in more detail, as regionally available old bakery products represent a meaningful resource over and above energetic utilization,” explained the Project Manager Steven Eschig.

For the first time, the nova-Institute (Hürth, Germany) presented highlights and innovations from bio- and CO2- based chemicals and materials as well as from chemical recycling. Or in other words: all material solutions based on renewable carbon. They have the potential to replace petrochemicals by 2050. All additional fossil carbon from the ground must be substituted to tackle climate change at its roots.

Edible shock- and heat-resistant wood foam could replace plastic packaging

A new movement draws worldwide attention

INEOS O&P EUROPE (headquartered in Knightsbridge, London, UK) is making a significant investment to develop a comprehensive portfolio of circular solutions for the packaging industry. The collaboration with LACTEL (Choisy-le-Roi, France) is yet another major milestone in this direction.