MATERIALS | NATURAL FIBRES AND FILLERS
Right:
Hemp-filled NAFIBoost concentrate pellets contain up to 60% hemp fibre in PE or PP
amount to 85% pulp and 15% stone (production of olive oil in Spain alone generates some 360,000 tonnes of olive stones annually). All of these lignocellulosic residues of olive
cultivation — leaves, branches, and stones — can be recovered to obtain composites, according to Aimplas. Together with Spanish olive oil producer Olivarera los Pedroches, it is working on a project in which the stones are recovered to develop novel bio-based, biodegradable, and compostable compounds. “A new possibility for this by-product is the
incorporation of olive stones as a reinforcing material in plastic materials providing a wood-like appearance, which can provide an alternative to plastic products in the packaging and household goods sector,” Aimplas says. A new material, which has been named Oliplast, incorporates this filler/ reinforcement derived from olive stones in a bioplastic matrix. The process or preparing the olive stone fibres for incorporation into plastics compounds is not straightforward and requires various treatments. The stones must pass through a number of cleaning and grinding steps before separation into different fractions depending on the particle size obtained. These different particle sizes produce compounds with differing characteristics. Aimplas says that all products made with Oliplast can be treated as conventional organic waste and, in a particularly circular process, they could even be used to produce compost to fertilise the olive grove itself. Growth continues at APM (Automotive Perfor- mance Materials), the hemp-filled compounds production joint venture between the automotive
Tier One Faurecia and agricultural cooperative Interval. It says it will supply a newly developed grade, NAFILean Stiff, for use in the new Peugeot 308 model (other APM NAFI products were used on the previous model). Based on PP containing 20% hemp, the NAFIlead Stiff compound is said to be lighter than glass fibre reinforced PP but has a similar tensile modulus of 3.5GPa. It will be used to produce injection moulded structural instrument panel parts amounting to more than 5kg per vehicle.
Beyond automotive APM is also pursuing applications outside automo- tive. The company now offers the NAFIBoost line of 60% hemp-filled concentrates, which are intended for mixing with PE or PP to obtain materials incorporating 10 to 20% hemp according to the end use requirements. It says this new strategy is expected to aid take-up of composite materials containing hemp. “APM’s goal is also to limit the over-cost and make the technology affordable to
Naturally sparkling appliance design
Left: The Mysoda range of domestic sparking drink machines are produced in a wood fibre filled PP compound from UPM
Biocomposites
UPM Biocomposites worked with Finnish company Mysoda to create its line of domestic sparkling water machines. Launched last year, the appliances are made from UPM’s Formi EcoAce biocomposite, which is manufactured from wood fibre and renewable mass balance PP pro- duced from UPM BioVerno naphtha. All the raw materials are by-products of the wood and pulp industry. The UPM Formi EcoAce com- pound is claimed to provide similar material properties to fossil-based alternatives and can be processed using industry-standard methods
36 COMPOUNDING WORLD | May 2021
such as injection moulding and extrusion. The surface finish, how- ever, provides a more wood-like appearance due to the fibre content. The appliance was created for Mysoda by Helsinki, Finland-based Pentagon Design. “Striving for more sustainable solutions is a fundamen- tal element of good design,” says Creative Director Arni Aromaa. “For the design team it was natural to look for alternatives for fossil-based material in this home carbonation market, which is a sustainable solution in itself.” �
www.upmformi.com
www.compoundingworld.com
IMAGE: UPM BIOCOMPOSITES
IMAGE: APM
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