NEWS
New PLA venture starts in United Arab Emirates
SS Royal Kit Emirates Investment and Global Biopolymers Industries have joined forces to establish Emirates Biotech, a new venture designed to produce and market PLA bio-based polymers in the Middle East, Africa and India. “By investing in PLA, we
are taking a proactive step towards building a more eco-conscious society for generations to come,” said Shaikh Suhail Ali Saeed Rashed Al-Maktoum, investment representative at SS Royal Kit Emirates. The new company will begin commercial opera- tions in early 2025 and intends to start building its first production plant in the UAE before 2026. Marc Verbruggen – for-
New flexibles recycling
SS Royal Kit Emirates Investment and Global Biopolymers Industries have established Emirates Biotech, to make and market PLA in the Middle East, Africa and India
mer CEO of PLA producer Natureworks – has been appointed CEO of Emirates Biotech. He said: “The transition to bioplastics is not just a choice. If one wants to reduce the plastic impact on landfills and
oceans, it’s a necessity.” In addition, François de
Bie, former chairman of the European Bioplastics Association, has been appointed as chief commer- cial officer. �
https://emiratesbiotech.com
Whisky waste’s surprising use
UK start-up Ripcell and Aberdeen University are looking to demonstrate the feasibility of recovering high-value compounds like lactic acid from whisky
distillery waste streams. “Using wastewater from
whisky production to recover bio-based chemi- cals is innovative,” said Alan McCue, senior lecturer at
the university. The method could be
worth £90m in chemical markets, says Ripcell. �
www.abdn.ac.uk �
https://ripcell.co.uk
project The Institute for Plastics Processing (IKV) at RWTH Aachen University in Germany has initiated the research project Loopcy- cling – Advanced mechan- ical recycling of flexible polyethylenes. The project hopes to push the boundaries of mechanical recycling and achieve the best possible recyclate by combining the most suitable industrial processes to enable use in contact-sensitive films. Based on existing technologies, the process- es will initially be optimised using common polyolefin sorting fractions from the household collection of packaging waste. A transfer to well-designed mono-materials including upscaling is conducted in parallel with the results being used to derive future design-for-recycling standards. IKV is coordinating the
project, carrying out compounding trials and reprocessing tests. �
www.ikv-aachen.de
Algorithm predicts plastic properties
A machine learning algorithm devel- oped in Japan uses X-ray diffraction data from polymers to predict the behaviour of new materials. Predicting mechanical properties of new polymers – such as tensile strength or flexibility – usually requires costly and destructive physical tests. However, researchers at the National Institute for Materials Science in Tsukuba showed
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that machine learning can predict the material properties of polymers. They developed the method on a
group of polymers called homo-poly- propylenes, using X-ray diffraction patterns of the polymers under different preparation conditions to provide detailed information. “Machine learning can be applied to data from existing materials to predict
FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION | September 2024
the properties of unknown materials,” said the researchers. “However, to achieve accurate predictions, it’s essential to use descriptors that correctly represent the features of these materials.” The research was published in Science and Technology of Advanced Materials. �
https://www.nims.go.jp/eng/
www.filmandsheet.com
IMAGE: EMIRATES BIOTECH
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