bioplastics | Innovation
Natur-Tec and NatureWorks’ new PLA technology platform addresses warpage issues
common in such single-use products as cutlery
of material viscosity. The project also involved research into how the final properties of biopolymers are modified by adding additives and fillers, resulting in a modified PLA that is more flexible and 200% more impact resistant than the conventional one. The Innorex project involved 12 companies and
Natur-Tec will lead sales and marketing efforts. It will also manufacture serviceware for companies interested in test marketing cutlery before beginning their own injection moulding. The new technology platform can also be tailored to many different types of compostable injection moulded products, including disposable coffee filter cups and agricultural trellis clips, and non-food contact applications. Spanish independent plastics technology centre
Aimplas says it has completed its participation in the EU sponsored Innorex project, aimed at developing an innovative method to formulate an improved form of PLA. “It has been possible to develop an innovative process to obtain PLA improving its mechanical properties, thus allowing its application in injection moulded packages and replacing polypropylene,” Aimplas says. Researchers in the project succeeded in producing PLA using reactive extrusion. Aimplas says the new technology allows polymerisation using organic catalysts in place of metallic types and using alternative energies (microwaves and ultrasound) to improve the reaction’s kinetics, as well as doing inline measurement
technology centres under the coordination of the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology. Aimplas is now involved in a new project, Biorefine 2G, which aims to develop PLA copolymers of PLA with various mono- mers to enhance properties further. “We are studying the influence of each monomer on the properties of the PLA copolymer,” says Sandra Viamonte Aristizábal in the compounding department at Aimplas. Total Corbion PLA, the 50/50 joint venture between Corbion and Total, launched its operations to produce and market PLA polymers at the beginning of March. Total Corbion PLA’s plant currently under construction in Thailand is planned to start up in the second half of 2018 with annual capacity of 75,000 tonnes. It will produce Luminy PLA neat polymers, ranging from standard PLA to specialty, high heat-resistant PLA.
PLA and PBS Corbion, whose core business is in lactides, and which has been seeding the market with PLA for some time, launched the Luminy brand at K 2016. It displayed a number of partner applications there, spanning packaging, consumer electronics, automotive and agriculture. One example was a new bioplastic mouse from Nager IT; other items included Roechling’s high performance under-the-hood and interior automotive parts in high-heat PLA. Corbion also announced that it was working with
Succinity, its bio-based succinic acid joint venture with BASF, to promote a model biopolymer compound of PLA and polybutylene succinate (PBS) that offers strong
Comparison of the stiffness of cutlery made from the new formulation with PS and PP cutlery. PS cutlery is typically stiff but too brittle, while PP cutlery is typically strong yet too flexible. The new BF3002HT formulation is both stiff and strong
20 INJECTION WORLD | March/April 2017
www.injectionworld.com
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