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our past. our present. Your Future. Engineering

June 2017

Going Green Exploring Plastics’ Role in the Circular Economy

• Dealing with ‘Problem Packages’ in Recycling Automakers Close the Loop with Materials Reuse 6KHGGLQJRXU&ORWKHVWKHΖVVXHRI0LFURȴEHUV        Brand Owners Find Ways to Use Ocean Plastics Plus: Recap from ANTEC® 2017 in Anaheim 00 Cover_Layout 1 5/23/17 7:37 AM Page cvr2 01-03 contents_editorial 5/23/17 9:09 AM Page 1

CONTENTS ■ ■ VOLUME 73 NUMBER 6 JUNE 2017

AROUND SPE SPE Introduces Its New Leaders During a very busy month of May, the society names a new CEO, 4 restructures is governance, and hosts its flagship ANTEC event in Southern California.

ANTEC RECAP ANTEC® 2017 was a Flurry of Activity & Networking By Robert Grace 6 Technical presentations, a pair of collocated conferences, numerous awards and honors, a Plastics Race and other activities kept nearly 1,500 professional and student participants busy in Anaheim.

COVER STORY 12 Tackling the scourge of plastics Exploring Plastics’ Role in the Future Circular Economy waste By Karen Laird 12 The long-accepted linear model of consumption and production cannot continue, given the planet’s finite resources. We look at the alternatives, and how plastics can positively factor into the equation.

GOING GREEN From Liquidating Mixed Plastics Waste to Capturing Microfibers By Robert Grace 20 In a report from the Plasticity Forum in Dallas, we learn how Australia’s FOY Group is driving waste-to-fuel pyrolysis efforts, and how Vermont’s Rozalia Project drew from nature to develop its innovative Cora Ball, which captures microfibers that shed from our clothes in the washing machine.

The Challenge of Recycling ‘Problem’ Packages By Jan H. Schut 26 packaging innovations can be clever and address various user 30 GM turning PET bottles into needs, but they also occasionally cause headaches for recyclers. We engine insulation look at three case studies, and the actions being taken.

Automotive Recycling Comes Full Circle By Peggy Malnati 30 Automakers are engaged in innovative recycling programs that are turning materials destined for landfills back into useful items for vehicles, factories and people.

Brands Using Reclaimed Ocean Plastics as a Raw Material Source By Jim Romeo 34 Major brand owners such as Procter & Gamble, Dell and Adidas and even lesser-known companies like Norton Point, are using waste plastics that have been reclaimed or diverted from our ocean and waterways as a new source of raw materials – and positive marketing.

About the cover: The Cora Ball – developed jointly by marine researchers at the Rozalia Project and molder Progressive 34 Adidas shoe has ocean-plastics Plastics Inc. – captures microfibers in your washing machine. uppers Photo courtesy of the Rozalia Project.

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CONTENTS

CONTENTS

GOING GREEN A Carbon Footprinting Primer for Plastics Processors By Dr. Robin Kent 38 Calculating your site’s carbon footprint is not all that difficult, if you know what you’re doing. And it’s a good idea to have such data at hand, for when your customers ask for it.

PLASTICS MAKE IT POSSIBLE Plastics Recycling: Poised for Further Growth By The American Chemistry Council 42 In its monthly column, the ACC notes how the shift to single-bin collection of mixed waste materials has boosted collection, while also creating some sorting and cleaning challenges for recyclers.

42 Assessing trends in 'rigids' PLASTICS INSIDER recycling Plastics Market Watch: Spotlight on Plastics Bottling By The Association 44 In a recent Plastics Market Watch report, the trade group known as PLASTICS assesses the strong growth projected for plastics containers – from ubiquitous water bottles to specialized pharma packaging.

TECHNICAL ARTICLE Managing Moisture in Online Pellet Sampling By Dow Chemical Co. 48 Four Dow Chemical Ph.D. researchers say they have designed a new dryer that improves moisture removal from continuous pellet streams with low mass flows.

FOCUS ON SAFETY The High Cost of Exposing Workers to Chemicals at Point of Use 52 By Del Williams 52 One approach to safer In this article, Westcott Distribution Inc. touts how the use of sealed chemicals handling pump systems, such as those offered by GoatThroat Pumps, can improve the safety and efficiency of chemical transfer.

DEPARTMENTS Industry News Industry Patents In this roundup of recent By Dr. Roger Corneliussen 54 developments, we report 60 Energy Tips on news from Ellen By Dr. Robin Kent MacArthur Foundation, 64 Clariant AG, Borealis AG Industry Events and Borouge Pte. Ltd., 66 SABIC, Emery Oleochemicals Market Place LLC, Chemson Group, Wittmann Battenfeld GmbH, 68 EconCore NV, Eastman Editorial Index Chemical Co., Covestro LLC 70 and the United Nations Advertisers Index 54 A new prize for reducing Environment Programme. 72 packaging waste

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Visit us on the web: www.battenfeld-cincinnati.com/usa/products www.youtube.com/BattenfeldCincinnati battenfeld-cincinnati USA phone: +1 620 241 6843 email: [email protected] www.battenfeld-cincinnati.com/usa 04-05 Around SPE_046854 IndustryNews.QXD 5/22/17 7:06 AM Page 4

AROUND SPE SPE Introduces its New Leaders During a very busy May, the society names a new CEO, restructures its governance, and hosts its flagship ANTEC event in Southern California

hese are busy days for SPE. The 75-year-old trade associ- global association management firm. While there, he sup- ation in early May named a new chief executive officer, ported several associations and was acting executive director introduced a new president, announced a revamped gov- for some, including for the Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based Ternance structure and hosted its 2017 ANTEC® annual technical Institute of Packaging Professionals. conference in Anaheim, Calif., which drew nearly 1,500 partici- “With over 15 years of managing societies and associa- pants (see more about ANTEC in the pages that follow). tions, Farrey brings a great deal of non-profit experience,” Patrick Farrey will assume the CEO’s role on June 19, suc- noted Owens when making the May 4 announcement. ceeding Belgium-based Wim De Vos, who announced months For eight years, Farrey also served as VP and principal of the ago his intention to step down this summer and return to indus- media company that published several packaging trade jour- try after leading SPE for the past five years. nals, including Food & Drug Packaging, BrandPackaging, Flexible "SPE needed someone from the industry like Wim to do the Packaging and the Journal for Packaging Professionals. necessary restructurings in the past years and initiate an adapt- With Al Zubi as its new president, SPE has also started its ed business model," said Saudi Arabia-based Dr. Raed Al Zubi, 2017-18 governance year with a new governance structure who officially took the reins as SPE president at ANTEC 2017 from that includes a renewed Executive Board. Brian Grady, a outgoing president Scott Owens. long-time professor at the University of Oklahoma, is the "Now is the time to build on a solid new foundation, for which group’s president-elect. an association executive has the best expertise," Al Zubi said, The society also recently elected several vice presidents, with adding that: "SPE is in a very good position with a growing total duties ranging from events, divisions, sections, and young pro- membership with more young professionals, the newest dig- fessionals, to marketing and communications, technology ital resources, several solid strategic partnerships and more and education, and business and finance. events.” These VPs now will have functional roles and more author- Enter the Chicago-based Farrey, who comes to SPE after a ity. This will make SPE more agile, its leadership says, and allow 23-year career in the publication and association manage- it to better serve plastics professionals and the industry. The ment sector. Most recently, he worked for more than five new structure also is designed to allow the group to adapt years as an executive vice president at Kellen, a U.S.-based, faster to changing industry market conditions.

Coming & going: Raed Al Zubi, who officially SPE leadership at the recent ANTEC in Anaheim (L-R): Russell Broome, managing assumed the SPE president’s post at ANTEC in director - North America; Patrick Farrey, recently appointed CEO; Wim de Vos, early May, continues a tradition by attaching a outgoing CEO; and Raed Al Zubi, incoming president. “Past President” pin to the lapel of outgoing SPE photos courtesy of Mark Richardson president Scott Owens.

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ANTEC RECAP ANTEC® 2017 was a Flurry of Activity & Networking Technical presentations, collocated conferences, numerous awards & other activities kept nearly 1,500 participants busy in Anaheim.

By Robert Grace

PE held ANTEC® 2017, its biggest bash of the year, (www.plasticityforum.com), and SPE’s own, first-ever “Indus- May 8-10 in Anaheim, Calif. In doing so, it engaged try 4.0” forum (www.4spe.org/industry4.0), which focused nearly 1,500 professional and student participants in on how the Internet of Things is impacting plastics manu- aS range of activities, while also providing the stage for more facturing – together attracted an additional 150 people to than 550 technical presentations, about 70 exhibit booths, the Anaheim Hilton. hosting a pair of collocated conferences, transitioning to its Other ANTEC events included the app-driven scavenger new, elected leadership, and handing out several honors and hunt known as the Plastics Race (with 115 participants visiting awards. exhibitor booths to scan QR codes for answers to random While about 1,350 attendees listened to the technical plastics industry questions), student speed interviews with presentations, the organizers tested a concept by collocating prospective employers (86 participants), and the inaugural some new events alongside ANTEC’s well-known technol- women’s networking breakfast (which drew 120 participants ogy sessions. The two additional, full-day events – the and had to shift to a larger room to accommodate a larger- “Plasticity Forum” plastics sustainability conference than-expected crowd, despite the 7 am start).

SPE’s first Women’s Networking Breakfast proved very popular, and is likely to be repeated. In an informal panel discussion, five successful female industry leaders shared their thoughts about career challenges, work/life balance, tips for success, and more. The lineup (L-R) included moderater Donna Davis, SPE past president and senior market research associate, ExxonMobil; Tamsin Ettefagh, VP of sales and purchasing at recycler Envision Plastics; Annette Lund, vice president at molder Diversified Plastics Inc.; Maureen Steinwall, Ph.D., president and owner of molder Steinwall Inc.; and Allison Lin, procurement director – closures and labels at Coca-Cola Co. SPE photo courtesy of Mark Richardson

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Celebrating Plastics for Life

n addition to marking the official hand-over of leadership, including the installation of raed al Zubi as incoming president (see the “around sPE” column on Page 4), sPE announcedi six winners of its fourth annual Plastics for life™ global Parts competition. Designed to recognize plastic products that meet the ulti- mate test of value by making our lives better in some way, the contest involved a panel of judges selecting winners from among a wide range of parts that had already won in competitions at previous sPE events during the past year. in addition, aNtEc attendees voted for a People’s choice award winner. the award categories and winners are: and job creation program called “Do Your Part,” the • graND PriZE: FGH Systems Inc. of Denville, N.J., won for automaker collected 1.2 million water bottles from its its blow-molded 1,000ml PleurX Drainage Bottle (right), Michigan facilities, along with 2 million bottles generated which automatically helps by the contaminated water crisis, in Flint, Mich., and recy- patients to safely and efficient- cled them through a complex supply chain. the recycled ly drain fluid buildup from PEt was processed into fleece used in the 2016 gM Equi- recurrent pleural effusions and nox terrain V-6 engine covers (see story on Page 30). malignant ascites at home in Other uses of this material include air filters for gM plants only 5 to 15 minutes without and insulation in coats that double as sleeping bags for the the need for gravity. homeless, manufactured by formerly homeless people as part of a jobs training program.

Below: Lew Ferguson, president • PrOtEctiNg liFE: Profile Plastics Inc. of lake Bluff, ill., of Parisons Blow (left) won for its Surgical System Cover Set – Front Cover accepts the Grand Prize from Assembly & Top Cover. the firm pressure-formed this SPE past president Jon Ratzlaff housing for a surgical on behalf of FGH Systems. waste-management sys- tem used in hospital operating rooms using negative tools. this resulted in highly finished cosmetic appearance with many molded-in fea- tures that helped to reduce assembly time. the front cover has seven vacuum-formed and three pressure-formed parts. all tools are machined aluminum and temperature controlled. Both molds have in-mold, SPE photos courtesy of Mark Richardson acid-etched texture. the top and front covers are • sUstaiNiNg liFE: Detroit-based General Motors won formed from Kydex-t for its 2016 Chevy Equinox & GMC Sierra Engine Cover acrylic/PVc sheet. the Insulator. Under a gM-developed resource conservation clear windows are .

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ANTEC RECAP

• QUALITY OF LIFE: Plastic Technologies Inc. of Holland, Ohio, and Yumix LLC of Austin, Texas, won for the Clasper Bottle – a dual-container, blow-molded PET bottle with a shrink label that pro- vides a solution for products that cannot be premixed or must be consumed in sequence. The bottom holds 50 ml of premi- um alcohol and features a heat- Kenneth Carter (left), a staff mate- applied, aluminum-foil rial polymers engineer for fuel systems at John Deere, accepts seal. The main bottle one of two awards -- for holds 6.5 ounces of "Improving Life" and for "People's hot-filled, shelf-stable Choice" – won by Deere's under- juice and is topped by floor backhoe duct (right). a 38-mm polypropy- lene closure. To use, the consumer simply HVAC Underfloor Duct, which is separates the shrink manufactured in two pieces using sleeve at the seam between the top and bottom containers, the so-called JD VBM process with a via a perforation, unsnaps the bottom container from the foam additive. The two parts are infrared welded to com- base of the primary bottle, removes the heat seal and closure plete a one-piece air-distribution system located below the from the bottom and top components respectively, and cab of the John Deere backhoe cab. The foam additive is pours the alcohol into the juice. used to create a large bubble structure, producing an insulation barrier from the cooled air. This process enabled • IMPROVING LIFE & PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS: John Deere a reduction in both cost and inventory. of Moline, Iowa, won twice for its John Deere Backhoe For more info, go to www.4spe.org/pfl2017winners. Sipping from the President’s Cup

n one of his last official duties as president, Scott Owens surprised thermoforming industry veteran Roger Kipp by naming him recipient of the President’s Cup,I which recognizes someone who has been extraor- dinary in their service to the society and president. In 2010 Kipp was named SPE Thermoformer of the Year, and 2012 he retired from his role as vice president of marketing and engineering at McClarin Plastics Inc., a Hanover, Pa.-based heavy-gauge thermoforming and molding company. He then set up his own strategy consulting business in Hanover called Roger C. Kipp Sr. & Associates. In announcing the honor on May 7, Owens described Kipp – who attended with his wife of 56 years – as a “teacher and a leader” and as “my friend, an inspiration and model

volunteer.” SPE photos courtesy of Mark Richardson

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For They are Very Good Fellows

PE also named four new Fellows of the society, recognizing their “outstanding contributions in plastics science, engineering or management.” Only 325 members, including these newest inductees, have been elected Fellows since the honor was established in 1984. SThe SPE Fellows Election Committee considers eligible candidates based on personal history as well as written sponsorships from two SPE members.

This year’s recipients are: patents. She was nominated by SPE’s Engineering Proper- • Dr. Vipul Davé, who currently is a director and Fellow in the ties & Structure Division. global OTC Technology group at Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare Division. Davé joined J&J in 1996 and • John Rathman is a principal specialist at the has held several roles of increasing responsibility within the Plastics Technical Center of Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. lP company’s medical device and con- in Bartlesville, Okla. Over his 40-year career, he has worked sumer sectors. He now leads the in various technical areas of blow development of novel oral phar- molding, including development of maceutical dosage forms and automotive fuel tanks, use of hydro- external innovation. Davé has 27 carbon barriers techniques for fuel U.S. patents and 46 U.S. patent tanks, moving section molds for applications, and has focused his blow molding of irregular shaped research on the fundamental parts, improvement of natural col- understanding of structure-prop- or of via additives, and erty-processing relationships of development of high-performance polymers for healthcare applica- polyethylene resins. rathman has tions. He received his B.S. in textile Davé been granted five U.S. patents and engineering from University of Bar- since 2003 has been an active direc- Rathman oda in india, an M.S. in polymer tor for the SPE Blow Molding science from University of Massachusetts lowell and a Ph.D. Division, which nominated him. in materials engineering science from Virginia Tech. He is a Fellow of the american institute for Medical and Biological • Miguel Ángel Rodríguez-Pérez has been a full professor Engineering and a board member of SPE’s Medical Plastics in the Department of Condensed Matter Physics at Spain’s Division, which nominated him. University of Valladolid since 2010. He founded that uni- versity’s Cellular Materials laboratory (CellMat) in 1999. This • Dr. Teresa Karjala is a principal research scientist at Dow laboratory mainly aims to develop new cellular polymers Chemical Co. in the Packaging and Specialty Plastics Mate- and new production routes for rials Science group in Freeport, Texas. She obtained her B.S. these materials. rodríguez-Pérez in chemical engineering from Michigan Technological Uni- currently is focusing his research versity (summa cum laude) and her Ph.D. in chemical on cellular nanocomposites, micro engineering from the University of Delaware. She has and nanocellular materials and more than 25 years of experience cellular . He has been leading research and development involved in more than 75 research in a variety of areas, including projects related to developing materials science, product devel- improved cellular polymers, and opment, structure/property has supervised 24 Ph.D. students. relationships, polymer rheology, He is a member of the editorial and polymer processing of poly- committee of the journal “Cellu- Pérez ethylene and their blends. Karjala lar Polymers” and the “Journal of has written over 70 external Cellular Plastics” and a member of the board of directors research articles and presenta- of SPE’s Materials & Foams Division. He tions, and is the inventor on 60 was nominated by the society’s Building & Construction Spe- U.S. and 30 European granted Karjala cial interest group.

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ANTEC RECAP

Recognizing Honored Service

PE also used the occasion of ANTEC to recognize three new Honored Service Members for their contributions to the society. Only 325 members, including these latest inductees, have received this recognition since SPE established the honor 25 years ago. STo be chosen, a candidate must have demonstrated long-term, outstanding service to, and support of, the society and its objectives.

The new honorees are: During his time as chairman and past chair, the division • Dr. Donald Duvall, Ph.D., who is a senior managing greatly boosted recognition of its value, increased par- consultant in the Aurora, Ill., office of Engineering Systems ticipation in its annual conference, and won multiple Inc. A member of SPE since awards. Lopez also implemented, directed and partici- 1981, he was a founding mem- pated in a special education committee of the Blow ber and is the current chair of Molding Division board to develop and initiate a beta the Plastic Pipe & Fittings Special blow molding training class at a state technical com- Interest Group. He has served munity college, and established a blow molding training on the board of directors and program. He was nominated by the Blow Molding Divi- as chair of the Engineering Prop- sion. erties & Structure Division, and the Failure Analysis & Preven- • Marie-France Sosa, who is director of sales and project tion Special Interest Group. development at Plastiques GPR in Quebec, Canada. With Duvall, who also has been tech- more than 24 years of plastics nical program chair for various Duvall industry experience, she holds a groups, also served for 25 years bachelor’s degree in industrial as an adjunct faculty member design from the University of in the Department of Mechanical, Materials & Aero- Québec, a technical degree in space Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology applied technologies of plastics (IIT). He was nominated by the Plastic Pipe & Fittings Spe- materials, and three certificates cial Interest Group. from the HEC Business School of Montreal. Sosa has held diverse • Benjamin Lopez, who is senior positions in various plastics com- process and technical project panies, including quality control, engineer at Kautex Maschinen- product design, resin and pro- Sosa bau GmbH in Germany. For the cessing machinery sales, and past 30 years, Lopez has been project management. She has working in the blow molding been involved since 1993 on the Quebec Section’s board, industry at Battenfeld Fischer, and has served in just about every role possible for the Uniloy Milacron, Bekum and group. Nominated by the Quebec Section, Sosa also has now Kautex. He joined the SPE served as special event organizer for the Canadian Plastics Blow Molding Division board in Industry Association and as a training adviser for the Cana- 2004 and has served as its sec- dian Plastics Sector Council, and currently is a spokesperson retary, chairman and treasurer. Lopez for certification in sustainable development.

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Engaging the Next Generation • For graduate students – four Indians, all from Pune, took In addition to all the above, a group of more than 200 young, the honors: Prachi Dhavale (from the National Chemical next-generation industry employees, from 66 colleges and Laboratory’s Polymer Science & Engineering Division); universities, partici- Bhakti Khude (from the Centre for Modeling & Simulation pated in various at the Savitribai Phule Pune University); and Raeesa activities – from the Sayyad and Vidyashri Mapare Plastics Race and (both from BioMed Innovations speed interviewing Pvt. Ltd.) won for their work on a sessions, to student “Novel Silk Fibroin Scaffold for poster sessions and a Bone Graft Applications.” It well-attended student explores use of silk fibroin, a nat- awards luncheon. ural polymer produced by The society gave out Bombyxmori silk worms to pre- 10 awards at the stu- pare scaffolds for tissue Participants search for clues in dent luncheon – five engineering applications. The Plastics Race. each to graduates and Finally, SPE honored its outstand- SPE photos courtesy of Mark Richardson to undergraduates. ing student chapters, with Baylor First-place winners University in Texas taking first place, Baylor University's were: the University of Wisconsin-Madi- Benjamin Blandford • For undergraduates – Alex Lambert and Violet Sullivan son taking second, the University of accepts the award for from the University of Massachusetts – Lowell, for their Akron in Ohio taking third, and the SPE's most outstand- poster on the Multi-Channel Screw, a new thermoplastic Pennsylvania College of Technolo- ing student chapter. extrusion screw design that was developed and tested at gy earning an honorable mention. UMass Lowell. The design relies on the concept of single pellet extrusion and has been compared to a standard bar- To learn about all 10 winners, and more about their rier screw. respective projects, go to: www.4spe.org/students

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COVER STORY

Exploring Plastics' Role in the Future Circular Economy The long-accepted linear model of consumption and production cannot continue, given the planet’s finite resources. We look at the alternatives.

By Karen Laird

In the minds of many people, plastics are emblematic for the economy as it largely functions today – a linear model of consumption and production in which, inevitably, products are discarded as waste. Recent years, however, have seen the emergence of a trend that is now gaining traction around the world. Called the Circular Economy, it is char- acterized by closed loops, in which resource efficiency is optimized and waste eliminated. How can plastics play a role in a circular future?

“No experience in my life could have given me a better understanding of the definition of the word ‘finite.’ What we have out there is all we have. There is no more.” – Solo sailor Dame Ellen MacArthur, commenting on her experience at sea, during a presentation at the TED conference in March 2015. Courtesy Ellen MacArthur Foundation

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he stunning strides made in the 20th century in the field of mate- rial science resulted in the development of a host of new materials, of which easily the most successful were plastics. Their relatively Tlow cost, combined with design freedom, versatility in terms of thermal and mechanical properties, and durability have made plastics the go-to material for the large-scale production of everyday goods that other- wise would not have been possible to manufacture economically, or be made widely accessible to consumers across the world.

And it’s not just the products themselves – packaging fast From boon to bane became one of plastics’ most important applications and Despite the huge advantages and benefits associated with today represents 26% of the total volume of plastics used. the new plastic materials, it did not take long for the public The basis of this success? Crude oil. to lose its enthusiasm about them. Too often, plastics were However, the first plastics were, in fact, bio-based. The used as cheap replacements for other materials in shoddi- first fully synthetic plastic, called Parkesine, was developed ly-made, mass-produced products costing next to nothing. by the Englishman Alexander Parkes, and it was based on cel- Plastic packaging and other single-use applications became lulose. He discovered that if he dissolved cellulose nitrate ubiquitous and a modern-day paradox emerged: plastics, in alcohol and camphor containing ether, he obtained a sub- although designed to last, were increasingly used for non- stance was transparent and easily molded when hot, but durable applications, generating disposal and pollution that retained hardness while cold. problems that are now only starting to be grappled with. His Parkesine material made its debut at the 1862 Lon- don International Exhibition, where kitchen items made from the new material were displayed to an overwhelmingly admir- ing public. Parkesine soon was followed by other plastics, including celluloid, Bakelite and a variety of materials based on vegetable oils (Henry Ford famously used soy-based plas- tics in the 1940s by to produce his “Soybean Car”), sugar, agricultural waste and coal. J.A. Brydson, in his book “Plas- tic Materials” writes that in the first half of the 20th century, the plastics industry was “described as a scavenger of raw materials.” The development of the petrochemical industry changed all that. While this industry expanded rapidly during World War II, with the refineries manufacturing important chemi- cals and military supplies, it was not until after the war that petrochemicals also started to be used on a large scale to produce plastics, which led to the invention of a rapid suc- cession of innovative materials, most of which are still used today. Then, as now, crude oil had everything going for it to become the standard raw material to make plastics: it was A distressing and all-too-common sight on coastlines around easier, cheap – and in ample supply. the world.

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COVER STORY Power Drive

Today, the environment is littered with plastic waste that What about bioplastics? is visible in the form of stray bags, bottles, caps, wrappers In response to the various concerns about oil-based plas- and invisible in the form of tiny fragments and particles. Yet tics, interest in the development of renewably-sourced perhaps even more worrying is the amount of plastic in the plastics reawakened during the final decade of the last marine environment, which is harmful to many species of century. marine life, either because they eat it or become entangled In the first instance, they were mainly seen as an answer in it. pose a particular problem, as they are to the end-of-life problems presented by oil-based plastics. entering the food chain via zooplankton – microbeads have Oil-based plastics tended to end up either in landfills or been found in the digestive tracts of these microorganisms being incinerated, with the former solution causing prob- – and via filter feeders, such as mussels. lems in the environment and the latter emitting carbon into Next to end-of-life issues, other concerns have surfaced, the atmosphere that had long been stored away under the as well. One is the awareness that, obviously, oil, and gas, too, ground. for that matter, are depletable resources. Earth’s fossil fuel The early bioplastics, by contrast, were developed main- reserves are finite. And while no one really knows how long ly with biodegradability in mind, and hence were initially they will last – new reserves continue to be discovered, new hailed as the perfect, “natural” solution for the waste and technologies developed – there is nonetheless increasing disposal problem. Unfortunately, this meant that the idea that doubt about the wisdom of simply using them up. bioplastics were synonymous with biodegradable plastics Another issue has been the rising levels of carbon dioxide became fixed in the minds of the public and the industry (CO2) in the atmosphere, arguably a major contributor to alike, a misconception the bioplastics industry is wrestling the higher temperatures and changes in climate seen over with to this day. the past decade around the world. That these levels are ris- More importantly, as many of these bioplastics were ing is a measurable fact; whether this can be attributed to derived from biomass, the amount of CO2 released into the the use of fossil fuels, and whether the fact that these lev- els are rising is the true cause global warming is a topic of debate. Yet as plastics are based on fossil fuels, they, too, have become part of the discussion. Plastics use continues to boom Ironically, while consumer negativity about plastics grows ever more widespread, with consumers calling for green- er, more sustainable materials and solutions, the volume of plastics that is annually produced and consumed in the world has never been so high. China heads the list as the largest producer of plastic materials (only and ), fol- lowed by Europe and the NAFTA countries of the United States, Canada and Mexico. In total, some 300 million metric tonnes of plastic were produced globally in 2015. And according to 2016 “The New Plastics Economy” report produced by McKinsey, the World Economic Forum and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, plastics use has increased 20-fold in the past half-century, and is expect- ed to double again in the next 20 years. If the current strong growth of plastics usage contin- ues as expected, the consumption of oil by the entire plastics sector will account for 20% of total oil con- sumption by 2050. Biomass can become renewable feedstock.

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Global Production Capacities of Global Production Capacities of Bioplastics 2021 Bioplastics 2021 (by material type) (by region)

Figure 1. Figure 2.

Source: European Bioplastics, nova-institute (2016) Source: European Bioplastics, nova-institute (2016) More information: www.bio-based.eu/markets and More information: www.bio-based.eu/markets and www.european-bioplastics.org/market www.european-bioplastics.org/market

atmosphere at the end of their service life, independent of • 1 kg of bio-based polyethylene (PE) containing 100% whether they were composted, incinerated or landfilled, bio-based carbon content would result in removing could never exceed the amount absorbed by the plant from 3.14 kg of cO2 from the environment. which the plastic was manufactured. in general, therefore, • 1 kg of Pla (100% bio-based carbon content) would bio-based plastics will have a smaller cO2 footprint than remove 1.83 kg of cO2 from the environment. that of fossil-based plastics. • 1 kg of the current bio PEt (20% bio-based carbon “replacing petro/fossil carbon with bio-based carbon (from content – only the glycol carbons come from plant- plant-biomass feedstocks) in plastics and industrial prod- biomass) results in 0.46 kg of cO2 removal from the ucts,” explains ramani Narayan, distinguished professor at environment. Michigan State University, “offers the value proposition of • 1 kg of the 100% bio-based carbon content PEt results removing carbon present as cO2 in the environment and in 2.29 kg of cO2 removal. incorporating it into a polymer molecule via plant-biomass • in contrast, the petro/fossil carbon-based products photosynthesis in a short time scale of one year (agricul- result in zero cO2 removal from the environment. tural crops, algae) to 10 years (short rotation wood and tree plantations) in harmony with nature’s biological carbon cycle. in terms of sustainability, therefore, the carbon neutrali- “Plastics made from petro/fossil resources (such as oil, ty of renewably-sourced plastics is a definite plus. in terms coal and natural gas) are formed from plant biomass over of circularity, however, this is less so, simply because the millions of years and so cannot be credited with any cO2 mere fact that a plastic material is renewably sourced does removal from the environment, even over a 100-year time not automatically mean it will not end up in landfill or in the scale (the period used in measuring global warming poten- environment as plastic waste. Hence for these plastics, too, tial, gWP100).” contrary to what is often thought, appropriate end-of-life For example, Narayan continued: measures must be available.

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COVER STORY Power Drive

Bioplastics 101 properties of the material and illustrates that a decompo- The fact is, not all bioplastics are created equal. Bioplastics sition by micro-organisms (a decomposition on the compost) is an umbrella term that can refer to three distinct cate- takes place.” It comes as a surprise to many that this class gories of materials. of material may also be made from petroleum oil. A good It refers, first and foremost, simply to the group of plas- example is ecoflex, a compostable polymer often used for tics that are derived from renewable sources. As Thomas mulch film applications; produced by BASF on a fossil basis, Wodke, deputy head of the department of bio-based plas- it has been on the market since 1998. tics at Fraunhofer UMSICHT in Oberhausen, germany, pointed out, in this case the "bio" prefix stands for “the ori- gin of the raw materials and separates bio-based plastics from conventional plastics based on crude oil.” A bio-based primer They can be biodegradable, but, more often than not, they Bio-based materials can be divided into two main types aren’t. In fact, according to the latest figures issued by Euro- – the new bio-based plastics derived from renewable pean Bioplastics, “more than 75% of the bioplastics resources, either or full biopolymers; and the production capacity worldwide in 2016 was bio-based, drop-in bio-based polymers that are chemically identical durable plastics. This share will increase to almost 80% in to their petrochemical counterparts, but that are wholly 2021”. A more appropriate term for this class of materials or partly derived from renewable biomass. would be bio-based plastics. The former are truly novel materials produced by fer- The term “bioplastics” also is used in two other ways: the mentation, biotechnological or chemical processes, which first refers to the group of plastics that are biodegradable; are often biodegradable. The developments in this area the second to materials that are biocompatible and mainly are comparatively recent, with current research ongoing designed for medical use. In the case of biodegradable plas- to explore metabolic and protein-engineering approach- tics, as Wodke explains: “The ‘bio’ prefix describes the es for the production of purpose-designed polymers with specific properties. Examples include the polyhydrox- yalkanotes (PHA), (PLA), succinate (PBS) and polyethylene furanoate (PEF). PHA is a family of biodegradable, biocompatible poly- esters that accumulate as energy storage materials in the cells of many bacteria under certain growth condi- tions; PEF is a biopolyester whose barrier properties have been found to easily outperform those of PET: PEF’s O2 barrier is 10 times better than that of PET, the CO2 bar- rier is four times better and the H2O barrier is two times better. PBS is a biodegradable aliphatic with properties that are comparable to . Drop-in bio-based plastics, currently the fastest grow- ing type of bioplastics in the market, offer the advantage that they can be processed in the same way, on the same equipment as conventional, oil-based plastics, which means that no extra investment is needed to use them. Examples of such drop-ins are bio-PET, bio-PE, bio-PA and bio-PVC. It goes without saying that these bio-based drop-ins, like the petroleum-derived materials they replace, are not biodegradable. Drop-ins and novel polymers have shown impressive Braskem produces its “I'm Green” polyethylene at the Triunfo Petrochemical Complex in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The plant growth rates over the past several years and the trend is has a production capacity of 200,000 tonnes per year. expected to continue. Courtesy of Braskem

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According to the most recent data compiled by Germany’s report ‘Rethinking the Future of Plastics,’ which focused on nova-Institute, global bioplastics production capacity is set plastic packaging as one of the most important plastic appli- to increase from around 4.2 million tonnes in 2016 to approx- cations, 95% of plastic packaging material value, or $80 billion imately 6.1 million tonnes in 2021. Yet this is still only a tiny to $120 billion annually, is lost to the economy after a short fraction of the total volume of plastics produced globally. first use. While a study conducted by the Uni- versity of Utrecht in the Netherlands in 2009 calculated that technically, bioplas- tics could replace up to 85% of conventional plastics, it also noted that this is “not a realistic short- or mid-term development.” In the long run, bioplastics have the potential to become significant market players, but, in the end, are likely to be part of a larger solution, rather than the solution itself.

Closing the loop A larger solution is presented by a trend that is gaining strength around the world – the push to transition to a more circular system. It is a trend that is largely fueled by the realization that today's linear “take, make, dispose” economic model relies on “large quantities of cheap, easily accessi- ble materials and energy, and is a model that is reaching its physical limits,” as the U.K.-based Ellen MacArthur Foundation has pointed out. Plastics are materials that have brought and continue to bring untold benefits to society, yet for society to continue to enjoy these benefits, the current environmen- tally unsustainable way these materials are produced, consumed and disposed of needs to change. The question, therefore, is not whether plastics have a place in a circular future, but what that place may be, both for con- A NONCOLOUR TECHNOLOGY ventional plastics and bioplastics. ANTI YELLOW ADDITIVES Ultimately, all plastics, whether renew- TO IMPROVE AESTHETICS OF RECYCLED PET ably-sourced or oil-based, have in common the fact that they are produced from natural resources that are far too valuable to discard after only a single cycle

of use. repi.com According to the Ellen MacArthur Foun- dation’s 2016 “New Plastics Economy”

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COVER STORY Power Drive

The loss of plastic from the current plastic economy is an clable or compostable alternatives to conventional plastics, “economic drain” and it is imperative that “we rethink the in addition to reducing cycle losses and dematerializing. plastics system and design solutions that keep plastics in the In January 2017, the foundation published a follow-up report economy and out of the environment.” So said Rob Opsomer, titled “The New Plastics Economy: Catalysing Action,” that out- lead of Project MainStream & The Global Plastics Packaging lines a set of concrete actions, which have since been endorsed Roadmap at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, when he by more than 40 industry leaders, including many plastics addressed the European Bioplastics conference last year in producers and trade associations. Berlin, Germany. In the circular economy approach envi- Better design is another essential aspect: an April 2017 sioned in EMF’s report, plastics never become waste; rather, study conducted by Holland, Ohio-based Plastics Technologies the materials re-enter the economy as valuable technical or Inc., a global leader in plastic packaging development, biological nutrients. verified that successful recyclability starts in the product design To achieve this, the report’s authors called on industry play- phase. The decisions made in the design phase affect sus- ers to collaborate in creating an effective, after-use plastics tainability and should not negatively “impact the yields realized economy by improving the economics and uptake of recy- via current recycling systems,” the PTI report stated. cling, reuse and controlled biodegradation. They point to the It’s something the industry is coming to understand and need to reduce the leakage of plastics into natural systems act on: at Dow Chemical Co., for example, scientists have (particularly the ocean), and urge that plastics be decoupled redesigned the stand-up pouch, so that instead of being from fossil feedstocks by more material innovation in recy- made from two different materials, PET and polyethylene

Closing the loop – one example Reverdia, based in the Netherlands, produces biosuccinic ing for – everything from non-toxic paint to shoe soles. We acid under the brand name Biosuccinium. a renewable see a great deal of interest and activity from brand own- building block from which a host of different products can ers to introduce more sustainable alternatives, creating be made. market pull in the value chain and enabling the switch to “Reverdia is working across the value chain to develop bio-based products,” said Lawrence Theunissen, global the applications that customers and big brands are look- director of application development at Reverdia. A year and a half ago, Reverdia joined the consortium ADMIT BioSuccInnovate, an innovative initiative with Aberys- twyth University and other European partners on a project that is exploring locally available lignocellulosic feedstock, such as wheat straw or miscanthus, to produce bio-based, packaging for consumer markets in association with the UK retailer Waitrose.

Industrial maize is the feedstock for a host of materials, including Reverdia’s Biosuccinium, a bio-based chemical building block. Bio-based running shoes based on Reverdia’s Biosuccinium. Both images made available by Sustainability Consult, on behalf of Reverdia

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Tetra Pak sets a trend with bio-based plastic caps under the motto “Protects What’s Good.” The Swedish firm is a corporate member of the Circular Economy 100 (CE100), the innovation platform launched by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to accelerate circular economy ambitions. Courtesy of Tetra Pak Plastic bottles collected for recycling.

(PE), thus rendering it unrecyclable, it is now produced from trial players, and various associations and their members two different types of PE – and hence recyclable. In a circu- have signaled their willingness to collaborate and to work lar system, therefore, better design also means designing alongside parties such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. for the end of life. Their common goal is to “move the plastics value chain into While the idea of a circular economy may sound as if it a positive spiral of value capture, stronger economics and should still belong to the realm of fantasy, various countries better environmental outcomes” – and to secure the viabil- already are taking steps to make circularity happen. China's ity of the industry in a circular future. Circular Economy Promotion Law came into force in January 2009 and the European Union adopted its circular economy package in 2016, with the “EU Strategy Roadmap on Plastics in a Circular Economy” targeted for completion by the end of ABOUT THE AUTHOR 2017. It will target, among other things, improving resource Based in the Netherlands, Karen Laird has utilization and enhancing sustainability. worked as a translator, journalist and editor in the plastics industry for the past 30 years, writ- Circularity as a trend also is being embraced by major brand ing for both Dutch- and English-language online owners, from IKEA to Coca-Cola Co., and by biochemical, bio- and print publications. After beginning her plastics resin and additives manufacturers, as well as by career as a freelance Dutch-English sworn converters and other industry entities, such as the American translator, Karen served from 2001-07 as chief editor of Kunststof en Rubber, a Dutch-language Chemistry Council, and PlasticsEurope trade groups, the Euro- plastics trade magazine. She then moved to pean plastics recycling associations and the converters’ PlasticsToday.com, where she served as sus- associations. tainability editor until December 2016. She is While detailed agreement on the way forward remains a also a regular contributor to bioplastics Magazine. In May she was appointed editor of Plastics News Europe. work in progress, a broad selection of corporations, indus-

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GOING GREEN From Liquidating Mixed Plastics Waste to Capturing Your Washing Machine’s Microfibers Australia’s FOY Group drives waste-plastics-to-fuel pyrolysis efforts, while the Rozalia Project launches its nature-inspired Cora Ball

By Robert Grace

ven with the world awash in plastics trash, Australian On the other hand, Rachael Z. Miller, a Vermont-based entrepreneurs Stuart Clark and Paul Dickson can’t marine researcher, has found in our waterways staggering find enough of the stuff to keep the pipeline full for amounts of synthetic microfiber waste – originating prima- Etheir innovative, new waste-plastics-to-road-ready fuel proj- rily from our clothes shedding during the laundering process. ect. But they are forging ahead, with hefty funding and She and her team have developed a simple, household aggressive plans to build at least seven new hydrolysis product that Miller says can go a long way to help minimize plants around the world during 2017. the problem, and has just concluded a wildly successful

Presenting at April's Plasticity Forum in Dallas, Stuart Clark outlines FOY Group's ambitious waste-to-fuel objectives. Image by Doug Woodring, courtesy of Plasticity Forum

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Kickstarter funding campaign that will help to bring the product to market soon. These two scenarios highlight diverse ends FOY Group plans to of the spectrum of our world’s current plas- tics waste challenges. Both were clearly on build 7 plants this year display, along with a wealth of other such content, at the April 21 Plasticity Forum, held – 4 in the UK, and 1 in Dallas during Earth Day Texas activities. (Plasticity California – the eighth edition of the each in Australia, international event – was held May 9 in Ana- heim, collocated with SPE’s ANTEC 2017 Germany and the U.S. conference, but occurred after the deadline — Paul Dickson Executive Chairman for this issue.) Down Under, Clark serves as managing director and Dickson as executive chairman of FOY Group Ltd., a publicly listed firm on the Australian firm has big expansion plans for the coming year. Dickson Stock Exchange that is based in Chatswood, New South said FOY will build a four-module plant in the Australian Wales. The company, previously known as Foyson, began life Capital Territory, where Canberra is based; one in Germany more than 25 years ago as a mining company, primarily (not far from Berlin); four in northern England; and a large, exploring mineral sands Papua New Guinea. 30-module facility in tiny Camden, Ind., (along with a sepa- rate recycling center), about 70 miles northwest of Don’t call it ‘incineration’ Indianapolis. In mid-April, Dickson said, the company secured FOY Group (www.foygroup.com.au) has taken well-known A$120 million (US$90 million) in funding that is targeted processes, such as pyrolysis, patented its own impurity-removal exclusively for building the four U.K. plants. process, and combined these technologies in novel ways to cre- For the Indiana project, FOY has entered into a business ate a new way of converting mixed plastics waste back into its partnership with GEP Fuel & Energy Indiana LLC. GEP will first original liquid state. Its proprietary process melts the plastic at build a $90 million, custom-designed recycling center that will 400 °C, in the absence of oxygen. After further processing, the focus on processing only automobile shredder residue (ASR). resulting product is road-worthy gasoline and diesel fuel that The output from this process will be the input for FOY’s can go straight into our vehicles, Clark told the Plasticity audi- $210 million plant that will be able to handle 1,500 tonnes of ence. The resulting fuel requires no blending, has low sulphur ASR plastics waste per day and produce approximately 18 mil- content, and is ready to be pumped straight into a car or truck lion gallons of fuel per year. and driven away. He stressed this is not incineration and “The separate and discrete funding packages for the four should not be lumped together with that technology. U.K. sites and the Indiana site have been organized through Clark explained the close links between a firm called Inte- Philadelphia-based Structured Growth Capital Inc., with the grated Green Energy Ltd. (IGE) and FOY Group. He credits funding coming from a number of financial institutions,” Bevan Dooley, an IGE director, for inventing the waste-plastics- Clark said in a post-conference interview. to-fuel technology they are using. Dooley and Dickson have Dickson noted that once the metal is extracted from the equity in both IGE and Foy, and all three men are directors of ASR, the remaining plastics waste usually is discarded. But both firms. Clark said that Dooley, over the last 12 months, has this is precisely the type of material that FOY covets as feed- led development of its “fifth-generation technology,” sup- stock. Clark said the company can handle all resin types ported by Dickson’s funding. except for PVC or anything that is Teflon coated. It also In an interview in Dallas, Dickson explained that a “typical” FOY chooses to avoid consuming resins such as PET and Group plant will consist of four production modules, with polypropylene that already have a ready, successful recycling each module occupying a footprint roughly the size of a bas- stream in place. ketball court, and able to process 50 metric tonnes of mixed-waste plastic every day. Each 200-tonne-per-day plant Gaining local public support also needs a tank farm, and other assets, meaning that FOY Each of its facilities require local permits, of course, most of needs about four acres of land and US$22 million to con- which revolve around proving that FOY’s activities will com- struct each facility. ply with environmental emissions guidelines. Such regulatory approvals typically take up to nine months to complete in Aggressive global growth plans each plant location. The company does full health impact FOY currently has just one plant – a single-module unit in assessments (HIAs) and Dickson says FOY’s plants fall well Berkeley Vale, New South Wales (north of Sydney) – but the within acceptable emissions limits. It also is vital, he added,

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GOING GREEN

to engage with the local communities where they want to site Foy group’s biggest challenge, both clark and Dickson reit- plants, to earn their trust and gain their support. clark said erated, remains obtaining the necessary feedstock material. about 30 employees will be needed to operate each four- the problem is that, even though there are millions of module plant on an ongoing basis. tonnes of mixed waste plastics, much of it is commingled with Foy group is creating wholly owned subsidiaries where it other materials such as glass, metal, cardboard and even is planning to set up plants. in the U.K., this firm is called inte- organic food waste. Extracting the desired plastics from grated green Energy UK; in germany, it is integrated green these types of materials is often where the bottlenecks Energy germany. Foy owns all the intellectual property occur, they said. rights for its manufacturing modules, and Dickson said it will clark stressed that his company is not a charity looking for build in the U.s. the machines it plans to use in the indiana donations, but rather a business seeking public support for plant. its technology, and looking for help in securing the necessary “We want more facilities in the U.s.,” he said, citing espe- feedstock materials to allow it to keep generating road- cially the new york and los angeles areas, where there ready fuel out of the trash that nobody else wants. are high population densities (which translates into a lot of waste). “We’ve appointed a partner in china,” he added, indi- The Cora Ball & biomimicry cating that Foy eventually will have plants in taiwan, Hong Plasticity texas speaker rachael Miller, co-founder and Kong and on the chinese mainland — but that is further executive director of the rozalia Project, said there is no down the road. shortage of the type of waste that she tracks – even if it can be nearly impossible to see with the naked eye. Miller, who captains a 60-foot sailing research vessel called “american Promise,” is focused now on quantifying and addressing the pollution caused by the synthetic microfibers that shed from our clothing. a study by outdoor clothing maker Patagonia, she said, showed that an aver- age of more than 81,000 microscopic fibers are shed by a single fleece jacket during each laundry wash cycle; depend- ing on the item in question, that number can exceed 250,000 microfibers, the research showed. Much too small to be captured by the filters in your wash- ing machine – an appliance that Miller calls “the land/sea interface” of all our homes – or in the filters used by civic waste-water facilities, these fibers find their way in alarm- ing quantities into our rivers and oceans, where they are consumed by plankton and small fish, which in turn are eat- en by larger fish, some of which end up on dinner plates. “We are eating our fleece; we’re eating our yoga pants,” she passionately told the Dallas audience. “our clothing is falling apart, and turning into little pieces, and flowing out or our washing machines and into the public waterways.”

Troubling research findings a 2015 study showed that one in three shellfish, one in four fin fish, and two-thirds of all species tested from fish mar- kets in california had microfiber in them, and even if you do not eat fish, Miller noted, cows, pigs and chicken are fed Rachael Miller developed her Cora Ball in conjunction with a fish meal. a recent paper estimated that Europeans could small Vermont injection molder called Progressive Plastics Inc. ingest up to 11,000 pieces of plastic per year – through shell- courtesy of robert grace fish consumption.

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Rather than rely on anecdotal evidence, Miller led an laundry. While not designed to do so, the ball also has proven effort last summer to sample the waters of the 315-mile-long to be very effective at capturing human and pet hair. Hudson River, from its source in the Adirondack moun- (See video at: http://bit.ly/CoraBallVideo). tains in upstate New York all the way to where the river Simply toss the Cora Ball into the washing machine and, empties into the Atlantic Ocean, between New York City and after a few loads, clean it manually, much as you would a hair- Jersey City, N.J. She and her team took water samples every brush, Miller said. The captured hair and microfibers get three miles down the entire river, and assessed the results entangled, making it possible to easily extract them from the under high-powered microscopes. ball. For now, Miller says, this waste needs to go into the trash Since the research is currently being peer-reviewed, she bin, though they also are working hard to find ways to upcy- declined to share specific results, but did say they found sig- cle the reclaimed fibers into some useful product. nificant amounts of microfibers at every point in the river, to Their research indicates that the Cora Ball succeeds in include upstream from the local wastewater treatment plant, capturing roughly up to 35% of the microfibers in each wash and even in unpopulated regions. This leads her to believe that load. So, by Miller’s calculation, if only one in 10 U.S. house- some of pollution also may be airborne, but further research holds used a Cora Ball, “we could keep the equivalent of 30 will be needed to determine the most likely sources. million plastic bottles out of our waters every year.”

Partnering with a Vermont molder A crowdfunding hit on Kickstarter In one approach to try to address the waterborne challenge, She launched a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign, which the Rozalia Project (www.rozaliaproject.org) has worked with she hoped would raise about $10,000, to allow the first mass- a small, Williamstown, Vt.-based injection molder called Pro- production of the Cora Ball. “We met that goal in three hours,” gressive Plastics Inc. to develop a consumer product dubbed she said. By the time the campaign closed on April 26, the proj- the Cora Ball. Roughly the size of a softball, the flexible, multi- ect had 8,635 backers who had pledged more than $353,000. colored, 3D-printed prototype consists of scores of “tentacles,” “There is hope!” she proclaimed, largely reflected by the fact each with a host of very tiny, prickly, protruding spines. Miller that this issue resonated with so many individuals who were said that Progressive Plastics, a low-key molder that doesn't willing to support it. even have a website, is “very busy with their own designs and Plans now call for Progressive Plastics to start molding the Cora items. … They are zero waste and awesome.” Ball by this July. Miller said that for the final product, they are “work- The Cora Ball design mimics the natural coral found in the ing on a soft plastic that we can source 100% recycled, is recyclable sea – hence the product’s name. Water needs to be able to flow and withstands the extremes of laundry machines.” through the ball, while at the same time capturing the micro- Miller sees potential opportunities for innovation at var- scopic fibers that shed from our clothes with every load of ious levels to tackle the microfiber problem. These could

A microscopic image of entangled microfibers. Cora Ball with captured microfibers. Courtesy of Rozalia Project Courtesy of Rozalia Project

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GOING GREEN

involve engaging with the following groups: • Wastewater treatment (seek ways to improve municipal • The textiles industry (chemists, extruders, weavers, and septic systems). designers) to develop materials that don’t shed; “Microfiber pollution is not just about plastics,” Miller said. • Consumers (this is what the Cora Ball is doing); “Though we are concerned with the persistence of synthet- • The laundry industry (washing, drying, detergent); and ic fibers, we are also concerned with the chemicals associated with our natural textiles such as dyes, heavy metals and flame retardants. That is why the Cora Ball is an equal opportunity microfiber catcher. We don’t want manmade fibers in the bellies of fish."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Grace began his business jour- nalism career with Crain Communications Inc. in 1980 in Akron, Ohio, and worked for Crain for seven years in London, England, before returning to Akron in 1989 as the founding editor of Plastics News. He also served as PN’s associate publisher, con- ference director and business development director. In May 2014 he launched RC Grace LLC, and in July 2016 became managing editor of Plastics Engineering. Contact him at Toss the Cora Ball straight into your washing machine. [email protected]. Courtesy of Rozalia Project

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GOING GREEN The Challenge of Recycling ‘Problem’ Packages Plastic packaging innovations can be clever and address various user needs, but they also occasionally cause headaches for recyclers. Here are 3 case studies.

By Jan H. Schut

nnovations in plastic packaging can be exciting, and can Here are three current examples of innovative packages stir up a lot of interest – and concern – when they get to that raise high-profile problems for brand owners and for cur- recyclers. An innovative container may start as “a nui- rent . Oddly enough, they have all been sance,I which could become a problem,” explains David around for the past 30 years, but the volume changes over Cornell, technical consultant at the Association of Plastic time, and they get new names. They are small, “2-inch- Recyclers in Washington, D.C. (www.plasticsrecycling.org). minus” plastic containers such as pill vials and coffee brewing “If it gets past being a problem, it could be an opportuni- pods; PETG containers that bear the #1 recycling label; and ty, but usually the problem never gets to the opportunity plastic cans with metal ends. phase,” he said. An innovative package that doesn’t recycle Shortly after APR was founded in 1992, the trade group can contaminate the recycling stream and add cost, or it published a “Design Guide for Recyclability.” In 2008, the APR reaches critical mass and triggers corresponding innova- added “Critical Guidance Recognition,” listing specific resins, tions in recycling technology. labels, adhesives, inks and other package components that have been tested against and meet specific criteria for recycling. But positive reinforcement doesn’t always work. So in 2014, the APR added a “Problem Container Notification Form,” giving Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) and reclaimers an online way to flag problems. (This action served to update APR’s previous approach that was termed “Not According to Guidelines,” or NAG.) When notified of a problem container, APR contacts the manufacturer and tries to work out a solution.

Don’t blame the ‘pods’ Recycling tiny, rigid plastic bottles and containers is difficult. According to the APR, they fall through the holes in trom- mels and disc screens that remove broken glass, rocks and other debris at the start of MRF sortation. Holes in trommels are often 2 inches in diameter and in disc screens "2-inch-minus" plastics are getting lost at MRFs. Keurig sent 2 inches square, hence the recycling industry term “2-inch- RFID-tagged pods through eight MRFs and found that pods minus” plastics. Keurig Green Mountain Inc. of Waterbury, aren’t lost during glass removal, as shown in this animation still. Keurig says 87-90% make it through glass cleaners like Vt. (www.keurig.com), ran recycling tests at MRFs and says this Nihot from BHS. Half of all pods are lost later off sorting its pods aren’t lost during glass removal, but later off the lines. Courtesy of Bulk Handling Systems sorting line.

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Keurig has invested a lot in developing a recyclable vision software into BHS and NRT waste-handling equipment. PP/EVOH/PP barrier coffee pod with no adhesive tie layers and The first commercial BHS/NRT robot with Sadako software such a thin EVOH layer that the packages recycle with PP, if inside, named Max-AI (artificial intelligence), was installed in they don’t get lost first. Keurig funded studies at eight different 2017 at Athens Services’ MRF in Sun Valley, Calif. It removes alu- MRFs at different times of year, on different days of the minum and non-PET plastic containers, including 2-inch-minus week, testing empty coffee pods and pods with grounds, plastic pods, from the pure PET stream, BHS says. Without the and using passive radio frequency identification (RFID) tags robot, Sadako’s cognitive vision system can also passively to follow their pods. scan waste on an incoming conveyor belt and calculate mate- Keurig found an average of 87% of pods with grounds rials by type and size. and 90% of empty pods made it through initial glass removal A third “artificially intelligent” robot, called Cortex (and nick- onto the container sorting line. According to Keurig, the sort- named "Clark"), has been built by AMP Robotics LLC of ing line was where 60-70% of pods with grounds and 15-60% Golden, Colorado (www.amprobotics.com). It was installed in of empty pods got lost. Keurig says the causes were mainte- late 2016 for testing at Alpine Waste & Recycling’s Altogether nance issues, lack of optical sorters, or optical sorters with Recycling MRF in Denver, Colo. Cortex was developed with sup- air-jet ejectors calibrated for larger containers, all of which port from the Carton Council of North America (Tetra Pak, et could be fixed. al.) among other funds, so it removes gable-top and aseptic Recently introduced test robots could also help capture juice cartons. Cortex takes natural-light camera images and small PP containers, or at least that’s what several MRFs feeds them to a computer, which identifies juice cartons. Cor- hope. Three companies have developed robots with cameras tex then removes them using two robotic arms with suction and artificial intelligence, and taught them to recognize logos, cups. It also can sort PET #1, HDPE #2, and PP #5 containers. labels, shapes and colors, even from partial and mangled Sadako, BHS/NRT, and AMP all use the same four-axis ABB packages on a sorting line. robot to start with. The first two “smart” robots for plastic recycling both use Helsinki, Finland-based ZenRobotics Oy (www.zenrobotics.com) “artificial intelligence” software from a Barcelona, Spain- has developed large, heavy-duty, two- and three-armed “smart” based start-up, Sadako Technologies SL (www.sadako.es). robots that separate construction/demolition debris, and has Sadako built the first “smart” plastic recycling robot, called installed nine since 2014, including one at Recon Services Inc. Wall-B (like Wall-E, but from Barcelona), and installed it in 2016 of Austin, Texas. Sadako also has one Wall-B robot sorting con- in a MRF near Barcelona called Ecoparc4 Treatment Plant, struction debris near Barcelona. belonging to Ferrovial Services. It removes specific contain- The first commercial robotic sorter, however, was built by ers from PET after optical sorting. Bollegraaf Recycling Machinery BV of Appingdam, the Nether- Sadako then partnered with Bulk Handling Systems (BHS) lands (www.bollegraaf.com), distributed by Van Dyk Recycling of Eugene, Ore. (www.bulkhandlingsystems.com), and BHS Solutions in Stamford, Conn. But Bollegraaf’s robot reportedly subsidiary National Recycling Technologies LLC of Nashville, doesn’t use artificial intelligence and vision software. Instead Tenn. (www.nrtsorters), to integrate Sadako’s cognitive and it integrates robotic movement with the recycling line’s own

BHS and NRT Sorters developed the Max-AI sorting robot with vision software from Sadako in Spain. The first was AMP Robotics’ new “smart” recycling robot, called ‘Clark,’ is installed in 2017 at an Athens Services MRF in Los Angeles, at work in that cage. Built with support from the Carton where it pulls other plastic containers, including “two-inch- Council of America and other funds, Clark sorts gable and minus” PP containers, out of PET after optical sorting. aseptic cartons out of plastic containers. But it also can sort Courtesy of National Recycling Technologies LLC plastic containers #1, #2 and #5. Courtesy of AMP Robotics

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GOING GREEN

near-infrared (NIR) resin identification, metal detection, and kind of dryer, PET flakes can tolerate only 0.5-2% PETG flakes. color sorting equipment. Bollegraaf’s first RoBB (robotics by Initially, PET recycling was limited to deposit bottles, which Bollegraaf) with four arms was installed in 2013 at Hanbury were only PET. PETG orange juice bottles were also labeled #1, Plastics Recycling in Stoke-on-Trent, England. Bollegraaf but MRFs knew that any clear, blow molded bottles with installed two more RoBB robots later in the Netherlands – one handles were either PVC or PETG and threw them away. As at Gebr. Hummel Recycling BV in Leek and one at Virol BV in curbside recycling grew in the 2000s, more non-handleware Scheemda. All three removed PET containers from other PETG bottles began to end up with PET, contaminating the PET plastic containers. recycling stream. Bollegraaf’s original robots at Hanbury and Hummel are not PETG is also widely used for thermoformed medical trays still operating (both plants burned, unrelated to robots), but and containers because it can be radiation sterilized. Steril- the original robot at Virol kept working, until it was replaced ized PETG trays aren’t a problem for recycling because medical recently with Bollegraaf’s second-generation robot, BRS waste isn’t generally recycled anyway. (There are current Robotic 2.0, a three-armed robot with suction grippers and studies of depolymerization of medical waste, which could mechanical “bionic hands.” combine PET and PETG.) Unfortunately, NIR resin sorting at MRFs often can’t tell the PETG shouldn’t be #1 difference between PET and PETG – the signal given off is PETG polyester was commercial before PET for injection almost the same, especially from dirty bottles. There is also stretch blown bottles, but while the two bottle-grade an economic incentive for MRFs to let some PETG bottles go look alike, they can’t be recycled together because of different through with the PET (too much PETG in the bales would bring melt temperatures. PETG was introduced in the mid-1970s, PET complaints from recyclers). Recyclers using NIR separation on for bottles in the late 1970s. PETG is made from terephthalate, rinsed bottles can remove PETG more reliably. ethylene glycol, and a lot of a glycol, CHDM (cyclohexane EPET (or PETE) was the solution to the recycling problem dimethanol). It’s amorphous and softens at 210-227 °C. Bot- of PETG “handled” bottles because it was extrusion blow tle-grade PET, made from terephthalic acid and ethylene moldable and thermally compatible with PET. EPET first glycol, is semi-crystalline and melts at about 246 °C. came out in the 1990s as an adjustment to soft-drink bottle Both polyesters have to be dried before melt processing, resins, adding slightly more ethylene glycol copolymer to raise but PETG flake can’t be dried at over 70 °C, or it gets sticky. PET molecular weight. But it had brittle cracking issues. It was flake has to be dried at 150 °C to be economical. So if PETG reformulated and improved in drop strength until about flakes get in the same dryer with PET, they make a big sticky 2014 when Pepsico of Purchase, N.Y., converted its Tropicana lump (see photo) or a bunch of snow balls, depending on the orange juice bottles from PETG to EPET labeled #1. APR amount of PETG, and can plug the dryer. Depending on the gave several EPET resins its Critical Guidance Recognition. Coca-Cola Co. changed some sizes of Minute Maid, Gold Peak, Simply Orange and Simply Lemonade bottles from PETG to PETE. Many handleware Simply Orange and Lemon- ade bottles are still in PETG, labeled #7, or “other”. Coke says all its Simply Orange and Lemonade bottles will be in PETE by the end of 2017. “The shift from PETG to EPET for han- dleware bottles is a recycling industry success story,” says John Standish, technical director of APR. “PETG has been a prob- lem, but it’s becoming less so.” Florida’s Natural Growers, a division of Citrus World Inc. in Lake Wales, Fla., still uses PETG bottles, but correctly labels them as #7. Short-production-run bottles also still typically are PET and PETG have different melt temperatures, so just 2- made from PETG because it is easier to process and because 5% PETG bottle flake in a dryer with PET can gum up the tooling is less expensive than for injection stretch blow mold- dryer and make a mess like this, photographed by a dis- gruntled PET recycler. Many clear handled bottles converted ed PET. So the problem doesn’t go away entirely, and all from PETG to EPET, which recycles with PET. PETG bottles aren’t coded #7. There’s an economic reason bot- Courtesy of Association of Plastic Recyclers tlers want to use resin code #1, not #7.

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The State of California puts a processing fee on all plastic Can made it past metal detectors and got ground up with the beverage containers for “beer, malt, wine, spirits, coolers, small PP, aluminum flakes crimped onto PP could float in water with vegetable juice, and all non-alcoholic beverages except milk” neat PP and subsequently blind screen packs and make bottles, according to the Container Recycling Institute of Cul- problems. If Klear Cans were recycled with aluminum, the APR ver City, Calif., regardless of container size says, the PP could catch fire during the recla- based on resin type. For 2017, the fee is 35 mation process. So neither plastic nor metal cents per 1,000 bottles for PET #1 and $70.58 recyclers want plastic cans. per 1,000 bottles for “other” resin #7. California The APR, which has long been concerned processing fees don’t apply to thermoformed about how plastic cans impact plastic recy- packages, only to bottles. One solution to iden- cling, approached Milacron and asked the tifying PETG is to give it its own resin code, but company to drop claims of recyclability for a that would likely also result in a high California package that isn’t. But so far Milacron hasn’t fee and meet opposition. complied. “There is a reason Maine, Illinois and Min- Plastic/metal can dilemma nesota imposed restrictions or bans on this Five-layer barrier thermoformed plastic cans type of packaging,” said APR Executive Direc- and PET beverage cans with metal lids were tor Steve Alexander. “A plastic can with a novelties in the 1980s, causing the beverage- metal lid is not recyclable and is a contami- can lobby to protest their non-recyclability and nant to recycling.” four states to ban them. Three of four state Milacron says its Klear Can “is similar to bans are still in place, but are only on beverage many PP plastic containers with double-seam cans, not on food cans. Now the newest thing EZO can ends found in stores today.” There is clear plastic cans, but the recycling problem are indeed several opaque plastic cans with Milacron claims its Klear Can is the same. with three-layer barrier PP and metal EZO lids on the market. Silgan Plastic Sonoco Products Co. of Hartsville, S.C. an aluminum lid is recyclable, Food Containers of Union, Mo. (www.sil- (www.sonoco.com), introduced its “TrueVue” but APR says it isn’t. In PP recy- ganpfc.com), for example, offers an opaque plastic can at the NPE 2015 trade show. The cling, ground aluminum imbed- plastic can with EZO lid and also says it’s product is made of an extruded, five-layer ded with PP would float and sub- recyclable. Troy, Ala.-based KW Plastics barrier tube (PP/tie/EVOH/tie/PP), with seamed sequently blind screen packs. In (www.kwplastics.com) makes one-quart aluminum can recycling, PP steel ends. Sonoco makes no claim of recy- paint cans out of postconsumer PP with a could actually catch fire, APR clability for the TrueVue can, which was says. Courtesy of Milacron metal lid for Behr paint for Home Depot. But commercialized late last year by McCall Farms paint cans aren’t recycled because MRFs Inc., of Effingham, S.C., and is now on shelves don’t accept them. at Harris Teeter Supermarkets Inc. in Matthews, Even packaging innovations that bring envi- N.C., and at Ingalls Markets Inc. in Black Mountain, N.C. ronmental advantages raise issues for recycling. The latest is Theoretically if Sonoco’s cans do get to MRFs, they would be new, lightweight barrier pouches made of polyethylene, removed by magnets grabbing the remaining steel end, and the which aren’t collected now for recycling. plastic would burn off during steel recycling and contribute a “APR’s position is to support and accept innovation, and be small energy saving to smelting. But metal reclaimers would pay a forum where recycling innovation is also developed,” says for a weight of plastic they can’t recover. APR Communications Director Kara Pochiro. APR has its A far bigger potential problem is clear injection molded work cut out for it. PP/EVOH/PP “Klear Cans” with rolled aluminum flip-top lids, developed by Rowley, Mass.-based Kortec Inc., which was acquired in 2014 by Milacron of Batavia, Ohio (www.milacron). Milacron has marketed the technology for the past three ABOUT THE AUTHOR

years as “cost competitive to metal cans and fully recyclable.” Jan Schut is a former senior editor at Plastics Milacron says, “The base is plastic and the rim is a very low per- Technology magazine, who has written about centage of the package, so low it is microwavable. The product plastics for nearly 30 years, covering recycling, is over 98% plastic after the can is opened. The PP Klear Can extrusion, blow molding, injection molding and developments in polyolefins and biopolymers. qualifies as a #5 for recyclability.” Milacron has not submitted She also has been writing a new-technology blog a petition to APR for an evaluation of its recyclability and has- for SPE (www.plasticsengineeringblog.com) since n’t announced any recycling tests of its own. 2009. Contact her at [email protected]. But if Klear Cans were recycled with PP bottles, they could be removed by metal detectors and thrown away. If a Klear

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GOING GREEN Automotive Recycling Comes Full Circle Automakers’ innovative recycling programs are turning materials destined for landfills back into useful items for cars, plants & people

By Peggy Malnati

everal thoughtful programs at Ford Motor Co. and (MY) Ford Focus electric vehicles. Success there led to an General Motors Co. are reusing discarded polyethyl- expansion to the company's most-demanding and highest- ene terephthalate (PET) to feed closed-loop recycling volume platform ― 2015 MY Ford F-150 pickups ― and then Sprograms that produce useful items for vehicles, as well as to 2016 MY Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicles. The automak- for assembly plants and people. er reports that efforts are under way to translate the 100% recycled fabric to other Ford vehicles. From water bottles to seating fabric Repreve had to meet all Ford design and comfort speci- Ford's innovative program makes use of post-consumer PET fications without compromising quality, durability or water bottles sourced from community materials-recovery performance. The switch was achieved at cost parity yet facilities (MRFs) and mixed post-industrial scrap. The mate- racked up significant environmental benefits. Ford says rial is washed, chipped, melted, spun into fibers, and woven the program diverts over 5 million water bottles from land- into durable seating fabric branded as Repreve®. This initially fills annually just on the F-150 platform alone, while reducing rolled out on the company's low-volume, 2012 model year petroleum usage, energy consumption and greenhouse-gas

A closed-loop recycling program reuses fiber produced from post-consumer water bottles and post-industrial manufactur- ing scrap to produce 100% recycled seating fabric that Ford uses For the 2015 model year, Ford used 100% recycled Repreve- on a growing number of vehicle platforms. brand seat fabric in its most-demanding and highest-volume Courtesy of SPE Automotive Division platform on Ford F-150 pickups. Courtesy of Ford Motor Co.

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production. The automaker has since installed bottle-col- change in the community water supply subjected residents lection bins at its Dearborn Research & Engineering campus to contaminated drinking water for more than 18 months to contribute post-consumer PET directly to the Repreve before news broke about the problem. Although the water product stream. supply has since been changed back, water pipes remain cor- Ford's partners on the program included Plymouth, Mich.- roded and contaminated, so residents still rely on bottled based Johnson Controls Inc. (now Adient PLC), Sage water for all their drinking, cooking and bathing needs. Automotive Interiors of Southfield, Mich., and Unifi Inc. of That, of course, created a sizable source of PET bottles, Greensboro, N.C. Unifi – which owns the Repreve brand – many of which are now diverted by Elkhart, Ind.-based says its recycled fibers also are used in clothing produced by Schupan Recycling, along with water bottles collected Patagonia Inc. of Ventura, Calif., tote bags by BlueAvocado at Michigan-based GM facilities into this innovative pro- Co. of Austin, Texas, socks by Swiftwick of Brentwood, Tenn., gram called “Do Your Part” (see a related video at and Roxy undergarments by Quicksilver Inc. of Huntington http://bit.ly/GM_green). Members of the special supply web Beach, Calif. recycle the PET into fiber that is subsequently used to pro- duce nonwoven fleece. In turn, the fleece lives on as: In Flint, from tragedy to opportunity • insulation for engine manifold covers on 2016 and 2017 The multi-stakeholder recycling program spearheaded by MY Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain SUVs; General Motors, meanwhile protects the environment, grows • in air filters, which are produced by at-risk individuals in local economies, creates jobs, and helps people in the com- a jobs-training program at St. Luke’s N.E.W. Life Center munity in a sustainable manner. This project began in the in Flint and that then clean air at 10 GM manufacturing Flint, Mich., area, where GM has production facilities. A plants; and

An even more complex, closed-loop recycling program spearheaded by GM involves collecting and repurposing water bottles from GM facilities and the local community. Reclaimed PET is used to produce nonwoven fleece, which in turn is recycled into insulation, as displayed by GM's John Bradburn (top left) for engine manifold covers for GM SUVs (top right); for air filters used at GM plants (bottom left) and sewn by at-risk individuals in a local jobs program; and as insulation in coats that convert to sleeping bags for the homeless and that are sewn by formerly homeless women in another local jobs program (bottom right). All images except top right courtesy of General Motors Co.; image on top right courtesy of SPE Automotive Division

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GOING GREEN

• for insulation in coats sewn by formerly homeless The recycled fleece required significant development and women employed by The Empowerment Plan, another testing to meet MErV (minimum efficiency and reporting val- innovative jobs program based in Detroit. The coats ue) ratings and other performance characteristics at GM convert to sleeping bags and are distributed free to before it could be used for air filters or manifold-cover insu- individuals in homeless shelters across the U.S. and lation. The fleece also had to meet safety, cutting, sewing and Canada. insulation requirements to be used in the community sewing projects. More than a dozen companies are already involved in this novel supply web, which required much collaboration and planning. Other partners include Exo-s of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, rogers Foam Co. of Somerville, Mass., Wm. T. Burnett & Co. of Baltimore, Md., and Palmetto Syn- thetics llC of Kingstree, S.C. GM says the product program, which is cost-neutral to the company, already has diverted 4 million water bottles from landfills and repurposed them in the closed-loop recycling program. "Perhaps the most significant issue this project highlight- ed is how supply chains can become supply webs," explains project leader, John Bradburn, GM’s global manager of waste reduction. "A supply web is dynamic and interconnected. It not only helps keep items in use, but creates satellite proj- ects that can benefit the economy, communities, and the environment.” new applications are said to be in the works and GM says it has invited other automakers to participate.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Peggy Malnati has more than 30 years' experience writing about the global plas- tics and composites industries. She has organized technical conferences for SPI, SPE and SAE International, edited the 1994 book, “Structural Analysis of Thermoplas- tic Components” from McGraw-Hill, spent 15 years as board member and commu- Another use of the PET fleece is for insulation used to pro- nications chair for the SPE Automotive duce coats that convert to sleeping bags. GM reports it already Division, and has been a contributing has donated enough fleece insulation to produce 6,500 coats. writer covering automotive and composites beats for various In turn, the nonprofit called The Empowerment Plan says that trade publications, including Plastics Engineering. She also pro- since it began operations in 2011, it has produced 15,000 coats vides communications services for plastics- and that have been distributed to 40 U.S. states and seven Canadian composites-industry clients globally via her own Detroit-area provinces. Courtesy of General Motors Co. firm. Contact her at [email protected].

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17th-Annual Composites: Solutions for a Multi-Material World Call for Papers Exhibit & Sponsorship Opportunities

For More Information ATTEND THE WORLD’S LEADING AUTOMOTIVE COMPOSITES FORUM You’re invited to attend the 17th-annual SPE Automotive Composites Conference +1.248.244.8993 ext. 4 and Exhibition (ACCE), September 6-8, 2017 in the Detroit suburbs. The show – which has become the world’s leading automotive composites forum – features SPEautomotive.com/acce-conference technical sessions, panel discussions, keynotes, receptions, and exhibits highlighting advances in materials, processes, and equipment for both thermoset and thermoplastic composites in a wide variety of transportation applications. PRESENT BEFORE AN ENGAGED, GLOBAL AUDIENCE The SPE ACCE draws over 900 attendees from 15 countries on 5 continents who are interested in learning about the latest composites technologies. Few conferences of any size offer such an engaged, global audience vitally interested in hearing the latest composites advances. Interested in presenting your latest research? Abstracts are due June 15, 2017 and Papers on July 15, 2017 to allow time for peer review. Submit abstracts via http://SubmitACCEpapers.com. SHOWCASE YOUR PRODUCTS & SERVICES A variety of sponsorship packages are available. Companies interested in showcasing their products and / or services should contact Teri Chouinard of Intuit Group at [email protected].

2016 Sponsors Premier Plus, Reception, Scholarships, & Student Poster Sponsors & Exhibitors

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12:06 PM 34-37 Romeo Ocean Plastics_046854 IndustryNews.QXD 5/22/17 7:19 AM Page 34

GOING GREEN A New Beachhead: Brands Using Reclaimed Ocean Plastics as a New Source of Raw Materials Companies such as P&G, Dell and Adidas are leveraging waste reclaimed or diverted from the waters for product and marketing

By Jim Romeo

ost plastic packaging is used once. Some 95% of Things, however, are beginning to change. Processors are the value of plastic packaging material, worth $80 partnering with manufacturers, fabricators and others to turn billion-$120 billion annually, dissipates as waste. such negatives, into finished goods that have meaning PlasticM packaging generates “negative externalities,” and is val- beyond the products they represent. ued conservatively at $40 billion by the United Nations Environmental Program. Growing at a dangerous rate These are the findings and paraphrased remarks of a According to CleanWater.org, the amount of plastics pollut- report generated by World Economic Forum and Ellen ing our oceans is growing at a dangerous rate. In the Central MacArthur Foundation, with analytical support from Mc- Pacific, for example, the incidence of ocean plastics grew five- Kinsey & Co., titled: The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the fold between 1997 and 2007. Today, in some oceans, plastics Future of Plastics. waste has increased a hundredfold.

Poor land-based waste-management practices are primarily to blame for so many plastics products finding their way into rivers and the ocean, where they too often contaminate beaches, collect along the coastlines, and create other environmental headaches. Courtesy of Dell Inc.

34 | PlASTICS ENgINEErINg | JUNE 2017 | www.4spe.org | www.plasticsengineering.org Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble plans to produce shampoo bottles made from up to 25% recycled beach plastic. By 2020, the firm wants to double the amount of post-consumer plastic it uses in its packaging. Courtesy of Procter & Gamble Co.

it is estimated that 250,000 tons of debris [are] floating Companies may choose to use recycled ocean plastics in on the ocean’s surface, and that 11,000 tons of debris their finished goods, providing not only a raw material enter the Great lakes in the midwestern United states resource, but a social responsibility dividend when compa- every year. nies tell their story of how they are part of a wider effort to it has alarmed many communities because of the pollu- recycle such materials. tion it poses and the wildlife it threatens. so much so that Various brands are seizing the opportunity. Unwanted the problem is currently being addressed by Congress via ocean plastics may be claimed – usually through partner- a bill that has bipartisan political support. in april 2017, U.s. ing with another reclamation company – and transforming senators Dan sullivan (r-aK) and sheldon Whitehouse (D- the waste into something useful for them, their products, ri) succeeded in gaining concurrence from the senate and ultimately their customers. such plastics are being Commerce, science and transportation Committees to transformed into packaging and packing, containers, fibers advance the Save Our Seas Act. the act is aimed at recov- and other materials for product manufacturers to put into ering global marine debris crisis affecting america’s coastal finished goods and the packaging that supports finished ecosystems and communities. goods. the bill, however, is aimed at determining the source of this trend could keep plastic processors busy for years to marine debris, working alliances with the origins of such come as companies seek to fit such recycling into their sus- debris, and understanding the economic benefit as well as tainability strategy while reaping the social responsibility mitigation strategies around the problem. Co-sponsor sul- dividends that such actions provide. large, well-known livan outlined one of the bill's three main points as brands, and even some lesser-known ones, are jumping "Encourages the Executive Branch – led by the U.s. state onboard and making recycled ocean plastics part of their Department – to engage with the leaders of nations respon- products. sible for the majority of marine debris, examining the Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co. plans to produce causes of ocean debris, effective prevention and mitigation shampoo bottles made from up to 25% recycled beach plas- strategies, and the economic benefits for treaty nations in tic. specifically, in Europe, for example, it will be producing addressing the crisis." more than 500 million bottles per year made with 25% post- consumer recycled plastic (PCr). By the end of 2018, this The social responsibility dividend effort will represent more than 90% of all the hair-care bot- this bill serves primarily as a means of forcing recycling, uti- tles sold in Europe across P&G's hair-care portfolio. lization and cleanup. the mitigation strategies it calls for may Procter & Gamble has been using post-consumer recycled provide opportunity for plastic processors and manufac- plastic in packaging for more than 25 years, though not turers. the bill may send a message to companies to seize always in large volume. But by 2020 it wants to double the the opportunity to take a bountiful, unwanted resource and amount it uses. turn it into value – a win-win for manufacturers and retailers, "at P&G, we believe that actions speak louder than words. processors and, of course, world communities who've had the increased use of PCr plastic across our hair care port- it with in their oceans. folio of brands, demonstrate our continued commitment to

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GOING GREEN

driving real change," said Virginie Helias, vice president of and planet. We look forward to working across industries for global sustainability. "the Head & shoulders recyclable broader impact.” shampoo bottle made with beach plastic is a world's first in the company is not only using the effort as part of its sup- the hair-care category. ply-chain strategy, but also making it a part of public “Increasing the use of recycled plastic in the packaging of awareness strategy by incorporating educational information our flagship brands, like Pantene and Head & shoulders, on its packaging. Dell is doing this in concert with other social makes it easier for consumers to choose more sustainable advocacy partners. products, without any trade-offs,” she said. “so, while we're to help ensure the packaging does not end up back in the proud of what we've done and what we're doing, we know ocean, Dell stamps each tray with the no. 2 recycling symbol, there is much more work ahead." designating it as HDPE, which is commonly recyclable in many locations. Dell's packaging team designs and sources its prod- Delivering positive results uct packaging to be more than 93% recyclable by weight so that Dell Inc. is another ardent leader in recycling ocean plastics it can be reused as part of the circular economy. – in addition to its legacy efforts of recycling plastics from Dell partners with others to attain and produce the recy- many sources. round rock, texas-based Dell is using recycled cled trays. these partners intercept ocean plastics in plastics collected from waterways and beaches for a new pack- waterways, shorelines and beaches before the debris reach- aging tray for its Dell XPs 13 2-in-1 laptop computer. es the ocean. they then process and refine the used plastics, For Dell, this is part of a broader supply-chain strategy to mixing in approximately 25% ocean plastic with other recy- incorporate sustainable plastics. this year alone, the company cled plastics from sources such as bottles and food-storage claims will it will prevent 16,000 pounds of plastic from enter- containers. It then molds the resulting recycled plastic flake ing the ocean. into new packaging trays and ship the trays for final packaging “I have been in supply chain and operations for 20 years, and customer delivery. and this is the first time my 10-year-old daughter has gotten some smaller companies that are far from being house- excited about what I do,” said Kevin Brown, the firm’s chief hold names also are embracing this sustainability strategy – supply chain officer. “this new packaging initiative demon- and being charitable at the same time. strates that there are real global business applications for norton Point is an eyewear brand based on the island of ocean plastics that deliver positive results for our business Martha's Vineyard, Mass. the company has developed a

Left: Dell is using recycled plastics collected from waterways and beaches to mold a new packaging tray for its Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 laptop computer. Above: Adidas has partnered wtih Parley for the Oceans to produce a sea-foam green running show that uses recycled ocean plastics. Courtesy of Dell Inc. and Adidas AG

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line of eyewear made from recovered HDPE ocean plastics. For every product it sells, it claims it will clean up one pound of plastic from the ocean, and give back 5% of net profits to global cleanup, education and remediation practices.

Products help to send a message Dell and others are keen to tell their story of recycling plas- tics and particularly ocean plastics. the firm has embossed its new tray package with a swimming whale along with ample messaging that the trays come from recycled plastics. germany’s Adidas Ag, meanwhile, has partnered with Parley for the Oceans, an environmental organization that seeks corporate partners to find a home for plastic waste found in the world's oceans. Parley has what it calls an “A.i.R. strategy” for ending plastic pollution – standing for Avoid, intercept, Redesign. the partnership has yielded a sea-foam green running shoe whose “upper” is made from PEt fiber recovered from plastic bottles (16.5 bottles per shoe), combined with recovered from gill nets recovered off the coast of Africa. Adi- ALL THE das says the shoe is meant to send a message. And that message has traveled all the way to the United Nations. RIGHT RESINS.RESINS. Adidas showcased the shoe at a presentation hosted by the president of the general Assembly at the United Nations FOR ALL THE RIGHT REASONS. in New York, to celebrate World Oceans Day. A capacity for leadership. the shoe is the first in a series of products their partner- ship plans to launch. Recently Major league Soccer players In what matters most to you. wore jerseys made with technical yarns from recycled plas- WhenWhen it comes to PETT Resin,, DAKDAK Americas ® tics, with a geometric print on the jerseys and the Adidas logo in plain view. hashas just whathat youyw arearou e looking for...Innovativeflooking orr...Inno...Innovative Adidas and other such environmentally active brands are PET Resins fromfrResins om pioneeringpioneering researchesearr ch and working to turn something that began as negative into a pos- development,vde elopment,, state-of-the-ar state-ostate-of-the-artt technologies itive for numerous stakeholders – plastics processors, and marketmarkketet know-how.know-ho .ww-ho AllAll fromfrom one of the manufacturers and, of course, inhabitants of the world who largestargest producersprl oducers ofof PET Resins world-wide.w .orld-wide appreciate a clean ocean, free from plastics debris. K DDAKAK Americas’Americas’ broadbroad line of Laser + ® PET "this adidas x Parley running shoe is already iconic," said Eric liedtke, adidas group executive board member respon- Resins givegivResins youye ou exceptionalexceptional flexibilityflexibility in sible for global brands. "it's a shoe for game changers. We meetingmeeting youryourour design and productionproduction goals.goals. can't wait to hear the stories of those who stand up, suggest FromFrom trade leading productsproducts and technical creative solutions, take action and want to join us on our jour- serservicevice to recycling,recycling,g,, to sustainable rarawaww ney to clean up the oceans." materials,, wewe contincontinueue to demonstrate not just our rrecordecord of innovation,innovation,, but our ssteadfastteadfast commitmentcommitment to youyou and to the ABOUT THE AUTHOR industry.industryindustryy.. Today,TTooda d aayyy,, tomorrow,tomor wortomor ,wortomor andnd wellwa ell into the Jim Romeo is a freelance writer based in Chesa- future... DAKD...efutur AAKK Americas. peake, Va. For more than 20 years, he has contributed numerous articles to various pub- lications on the topics of logistics, engineering, dakamericas.com | 1.888.738.2002 software and supply-chain management. He earned his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, and an MBA from Columbia Business School at Colum- bia University. Contact him via www.JimRomeo.net

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GOING GREEN A Carbon Footprinting Primer for Plastics Processors Calculating your site’s carbon footprint is not all that difficult, if you know what you are doing. And it’s best to have such data at hand, for when your customers ask for it, so let us help.

By Robin Kent

verybody is interested in reducing their carbon foot- the effective carbon emissions of the processing site only. print, even if they don’t fully understand what it is It does not include any of the embodied carbon emissions and how it is measured. So how is a carbon footprint in the production of the raw materials – this is calculated by Ecalculated and what can you do to reduce it? We’ll address the raw materials supplier from its individual site carbon that in the following article. footprints. A product carbon footprint is the total of all the site carbon Site or product? footprints for the complete supply chain (cradle to grave) and A carbon footprint can refer to either a specific site (or includes all the embodied energy of the raw materials. group of sites) or to a complete product – these are very dif- Site carbon footprints are relatively easy to calculate ferent. The boundaries for a site and product carbon because most of the data is available internally. A product car- footprint are in Figure 1. A site carbon footprint calculates bon footprint is much more complicated and, at this stage, we will concentrate on the production of a site carbon foot- print. Carbon footprinting involves collecting data on all the direct or indirect carbon emissions resulting from the site activities. For clarity, all the emissions are expressed in terms of CO2 even when the actual gas emitted is not CO2 but another greenhouse gas (GHG) such as methane (CH4) or nitrous oxide (N2O). Emissions of these gases are given as CO2 equivalents (CO2e) to allow a total equivalent CO2e to be calculated.

Emission types (scopes) Standards such as the GHG Protocol group emissions by the level of control that a site or organization has over them. This involves a three-part classification: • Scope 1: Direct emissions – These are emissions that a site directly causes and controls. In this case, the CO2e is emit ted either at the site or by an asset that the site controls. • Scope 2: Indirect emissions from imported utilities – These are emissions from imported utilities such as elec- Figure 1: Site and product carbon footprints. tricity. In this case, the CO2e is emitted by the power

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station that generated the electricity. One of the major areas of confusion is whether to allocate • Scope 3: Indirect emissions – These are emissions that an emission into Scope 1 or Scope 3. The key issue is whether a site causes to occur but where it does not control the the site has control of the asset or not and actual ownership asset. In this case, the CO2e is emitted as a result of the site is less important than control. As an example: emissions from using an asset that it does not control, e.g., product trans- vehicles that are owned by the site or for which the site has port by rented vehicles. long-term hire contracts are included in Scope 1. Emissions For a very basic carbon footprint not all these emissions from vehicles that are used by the company or their employ- are calculated. In most cases, the focus is on the common ees on company business but are not owned by the site (e.g., emissions from Scope 1 and Scope 2, which can be easily and personal cars or short-term rental cars) are included in consistently measured and which often represent more Scope 3. than 90% of total site emissions. Coverage of Scope 3 emis- There are a range of reporting methods but most are sions is optional, depending on the scale of the site and based on the GHG Protocol (www.ghgprotocol.org), which the availability of the data. gives a standard format for classifying and reporting emis- My consulting firm, Tangram Technology Ltd., has car- sions. Many of the rules of the GHG Protocol are similar to ried out carbon footprints for roughly 150 plastics processing accounting rules. These are designed to ensure that emis- sites around the world and the typical relative size of the sions can be added up across the supply chain without scopes is as follows: double-counting and to ensure that emissions are correct- • Scope 1: 2-5% of the total emissions. ly allocated to the appropriate company, i.e., how emissions • Scope 2: 85-90% of the total emissions. are treated for joint ventures, etc. At the site level, we can • Scope 3: 5-13% of the total emissions. Scope 3 emissions ignore this issue and calculate the emissions within a site’s will be high only for sites with a high amount of product trans- control. port. Therefore, for a typical plastics processing site calculating How do I convert data to CO2e? the simple Scope 1 and 2 emissions will capture about 87-95% Probably the best and easiest conversion tool that is wide- of the total CO2e emissions. A first-pass carbon footprint can ly recognized around the world is the U.K. government therefore be carried out only for Scopes 1 and 2 and be rea- greenhouse gas reporting conversion factors. These are sonably confident that the major CO2e emissions have been available free from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publi- captured with good data. cations/greenhouse-gas-reporting-conversion-factors-2016 and there is also a free methodology paper explaining how Emission sources to use the factors. There are many factors to consider within each Scope, and This conversion tool contains conversion factors for almost Table 1 gives a list of common emission sources listed by every imaginable source of carbon emissions and can be Scope. used directly to calculate the emissions in CO2e and the

Scope 1 Scope 2 Scope 3 Direct emissions Indirect emissions from Indirect emissions (site has control of the asset) imported utilities (site does not have control of the asset)

• Gas (process or heating). • Emissions from purchase • Employee business travel - • Oil (process or heating). of electricity personal car. • Bottled liquid or gaseous fuels • Emissions from import • Employee business travel - (e.g., LPG for forklift trucks). of heat or steam. train, bus and other means. • Other fossil fuel. • Employee business travel - • Owned or leased cars, buses, plane. trucks or other vehicles. • Employee business travel - • Process emissions. rental car. • Refrigerant emissions • Employee business travel - (e.g., replacement of losses due to leakage). taxi. • Other direct emissions. • Employee commuting. • Water. • Product transport - contract transport. • Waste disposal and/or recycling.

Table 1: Typical emission sources by scope

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GOING GREEN

factors can be used to calculate the cO2e for all scopes. be calculated. calculate the refrigerant loss by assum- table 2 offers an example, if a site uses 6,000 liters of liqui- ing a loss factor of ≈ 3% of the total refrigerant volume fied petroleum gas for forklift trucks, then the tool gives for each item of equipment. the following emission values per liter of LPG: • Electricity use (scope 2) kg CO e kg CO kg CH kg N O scope 2 covers indirect emissions from imported utili- LPG 2 2 4 2 1.50502 1.50230 0.00130 0.00142 ties and the most common of these is electricity. the data needed are simply the total number of kWh used in the year and the relevant emission factor for the supply. Table 2: Emissions from LPG use the emission factor for the supply will vary with the method of generation. nuclear, geothermal or hydro- electric generation have low cO2e emissions whereas coal, gas and other fossil fuels will have high cO2e emis- the total cO2e emissions from using 6,000 litres of LPG are sions. Each country, supplier and possibly region will therefore 9,031.2 kg of cO2e. have a mix of generation methods and therefore a dif- ferent emission factor. Getting the correct emission factor is critical because of the large effect it can have on Calculating the entire footprint the overall carbon footprint. calculating the complete footprint is then a relatively sim- the most accurate value for the emission factor for con- ple matter of: sumed electricity will come from the specific supplier • Examining the conversion tool for the most suitable because this will reflect their exact generation profile. units of the various emission sources listed in table 1. Most suppliers will have completed a carbon inventory • collecting the use data for the emission sources in the as part of regulatory requirements and should be able relevant units. to supply the latest emission factor on request. When • converting the use data into actual cO2e values for getting data from suppliers, be sure that it is the con- each emission source. sumption emission factor and that it is total cO2e data • adding the actual cO2e values for each scope. and not simply cO2 data. • Presenting the results in total and by scope. • Product transport (scope 3) Tips and tricks for calculating the carbon footprint Good boundaries for the carbon footprint are needed to there are many tips and tricks for calculating the carbon avoid double-counting and one of the sensitive areas of footprint that make the calculations easier and more accu- this is in product transport. it all hinges on who controls rate. some of these are: the vehicle: if site vehicles are used to collect goods from suppliers or to deliver to customers then they are • Refrigerant emissions (scope 1) part of the site carbon footprint. if suppliers deliver Most sites will have chillers, compressed air dryers and goods or customers collect them, then they are nOt air conditioning units. these will all contain refrigerant included as part of the site carbon footprint (they belong gases and most of these are GHGs. these will all leak to the supplier and customer, respectively). slight amounts of refrigerant gas to the atmosphere and these emissions should be calculated. Getting & reporting the data the most accurate method is to record the amount and Preparing a carbon footprint will necessarily involve esti- type of GHG used to service the site equipment each mations and approximations because some of the data will year. this will be the amount and type of refrigerant lost not be easily available. after a site has prepared the initial car- to the atmosphere and can be used to give a cO2e val- bon footprint, data collection should become part of the ue. normal operations. it is much easier if the data are collect- the easiest method is to produce a list of the loca- ed continuously. tion/application, volume and type of GHG for the site. carbon footprints should be reported for a complete year the total volume of each type of GHG present can then in terms as “tonnes of cO2e.” the year chosen can be either

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the company reporting year or a calendar year, but consis- manifold. You really only have two choices: tency is important. The reporting period should both be • You can start to calculate it now and take your time to declared in the footprint and be consistent. learn about the process and get good information. Important note: Comparing carbon footprints between • You can panic when your major customer asks for it countries is possible, but the large variations in emission fac- tomorrow. tors between countries can make this comparison more As always, the choice is up to you. dependent on the country emission factor than about how the site operates. One of the most respected ways of externally reporting car- bon footprints and progress in carbon reduction is via the Carbon Disclosure Project (www.cdp.net). This is an open- ABOUT THE AUTHOR access database of freely disclosed carbon data from many of the world’s major companies. Dr. Robin Kent is the author of Energy Management in Plastics Processing, pub- Summary lished by Elsevier, and is managing director of Hitchen, England-based Tan- Calculating the carbon footprint of a plastics processor is gram Technology Ltd., consulting not a difficult task and there is a wealth of easily understood engineers specializing in energy man- information available on how to do this. The data are agement in plastics processing. Contact almost always easily available, the calculations are relatively him at [email protected] simple, and the benefits of knowing this vital number are

www.plasticsengineering.org | www.4spe.org | JUNE 2017 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 41 42-43 ACC Recycling_046854 IndustryNews.QXD 5/22/17 7:08 AM Page 42

PLASTICS MAKE IT POSSIBLE Plastics Recycling: Poised for Further Growth The shift to single-bin collection of mixed waste materials has boosted collection, but also has created some sorting & cleaning challenges for recyclers.

By American Chemistry Council

Note: This article continues the series of updates in Plastics Engi- move toward single-bin recycling – more and more com- neering from Plastics Make It Possible®, an initiative sponsored munities are asking residents to toss all recyclables together by America’s Plastics Makers® through the American Chemistry into one bin, rather than separating plastics from metals Council (ACC). from paper and others. While this move certainly increases the amount of mate- year ago in this publication, an article from Plastics rials collected for recycling, it also can increase the amount Make It Possible® on plastics recycling in 2014 began: of non-recyclable “contaminants” that have to be sorted and “Plastics recycling is growing. steadily, broadly, expan- removed. For example, some people mistakenly put garden asively.” hoses, videocassette tapes, bowling balls and old shoes in recycling bins. these and other contaminants are costly to Historical growth remove from the recycling stream, and if they remain among indeed, plastics recycling has been growing for more than a the recyclable materials that are sold in the market, they can quarter century since it began in earnest in the late 1980s. drag down the value of otherwise prized materials. Year-over-year growth in plastics recycling has been the norm. Other economic forces also have impacted recycling mar- statistics from the U.s. Environmental Protection agency kets, such as fluctuating values for commodities and the loss show we recycled more plastics than ever in 2014, and the of some foreign markets, especially for “off spec” materials plastics recycling rate continued to rise. and since access to that contain contaminants. plastics recycling programs is growing along with the types of plastics accepted for recycling, it’s now easier than ever A look at 2015 data to recycle more plastics. so as the recycling markets have expanded over the years, as part this trend, 2014 saw significant growth in three these growing pains have caused some headwinds that are major categories of plastics recycling tracked by the ameri- affecting many materials, including plastics, as demonstrat- can chemistry council: film, bottles, and rigids (defined below). ed in the recent reports measuring recycling for , While these three categories do not capture all plastics recy- bottles and rigids in 2015 (the latest year for which data are cling, they’re indicative of the upward trend in plastics available). recycling. rather than growing “steadily, broadly, expansively” like in 2014, in 2015 plastics recycling grew unevenly but inex- Fighting the headwinds orably. let’s take a closer look … at the same time, news stories have been chronicling recent struggles in the markets for many materials collected for Plastic ‘film’ recycling grew 3% recycling. recycling is a business and recycled materials are the plastic “film” category includes low-density polyethylene commodities, so the recycling industry can cycle up and down, (lDPE) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastics used for many reasons. in bags and product wraps. instead of being collected at curb- a key struggle for today’s recyclers is caused in part by the side, plastic bags (e.g., for groceries, food/produce, newspaper

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delivery, dry cleaning) and plastic wraps for products (e.g., beverage cases, diapers, napkins) are collected for recycling at more than 18,000 grocery and retail stores across the U.s. Even though this at-store collection program is relatively new, recycling of plastic film grew 34 million pounds, or 3%, in 2015 to reach nearly 1.2 billion pounds for the year. this marks the 11th consecutive year of increases and the highest annual collection of plastic film. Film recycling has increased nearly 84% since the first time it was measured in 2005 and continues to be one of recycling’s fastest-growing areas. recycled plastic film is used to make a range of products, including durable composite lumber for outdoor decks and fencing, home building products, lawn and garden products, crates, pipe, and film for new plastic packaging.

Plastic bottle recycling slips slightly a is defined as a container whose neck is small- er than its body. since 2010 plastic bottle recycling has grown by nearly 400 million pounds, increasing on average by near- ly 80 million pounds per year, or 2.9% annually. in 2015, plastic bottle recycling held nearly steady, with a slight decrease of 0.5% from 2014. the overall recycling rate for plastic bottles for the year was 31.1%, down slightly from Bottle caps reflect the evolving technologies in plastics recy- 31.7% the previous year. cling. Consumers, after long being told to remove the plastic this plateau was due in part to the success of bottle mak- caps (because the caps and bottles are usually made of dif- ers – plastic bottles are becoming lighter and lighter as ferent resins and hence had different melting points during manufacturers produce thinner bottles using less material. recycling), are now being advised to replace caps and lids on less material by weight in the marketplace can lead to less the plastic bottles and containers they recycle. This, accord- material by weight collected for recycling. ing to the Association of Plastics Recyclers, is because recy- clers have developed the ability to handle bottles and con- recycled plastics from bottles are used widely in plastic tainers with caps on. They still do recommend, though, that products and parts, from clothing fabrics to auto compo- you crush or flatten the bottle before reattaching the cap, nents to new bottles. to prevent the cap from becoming a projectile when the bottle is crushed at the recycling plant. ‘Rigids’ recycling dipped nearly 4% the rigid plastics category includes food containers, caps, lids, tubs, and cups; bulky items such as buckets, carts and since EPa has calculated overall plastics recycling only lawn furniture; and used commercial scrap such as crates, bat- through 2014, it’s too early to tell whether plastics recycling tery casings and drums. grew in 2015. But given the historical resiliency in plastics “rigids” recycling has grown 280% since tracking began in recycling, it’s likely that overall recycling increased and will 2007. rigids recycling generally held strong in 2015 but dipped continue to increase. by 45 million pounds, or not quite 4%, to 1.24 billion pounds. One strong indicator: demand from major retail and brand Higher-quality bales (clean, single material) fared better than companies. Many large national and multinational compa- mixed materials, as they are less costly to reclaim. nies are building increased use of recycled plastics into their in the U.s., these plastics are recycled primarily into auto- sustainability goals. For example, as part of its broad efforts motive parts, crates, buckets, pipe, and lawn and garden to help increase recycling, a major U.s. retailer has vowed to products. replace all conventional polyester with recycled polyester in its own branded apparel, accessories and home products. What does the future hold? the success of plastics recycling depends on a wide vari- as noted above, these three plastics recycling categories do ety of players and forces, including the entire plastics supply not capture all plastics recycling. Numerous other types of chain, supply and demand, public policy, consumer aware- plastics are collected for recycling – for example, expanded ness, and more. in other words, it relies on everybody. packaging, foam from mattress- so can we say with confidence that plastics recycling will es, vinyl siding – in varying degrees. continue to rise? that’s up to all of us.

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PLASTICS INSIDER

Plastics Market Watch: Spotlight on Plastics Bottling

Strong growth projected for plastics containers across a variety of end markets – from water bottles to pharma packaging

he first objective of bottling – and all packaging – is to Joel Morales, senior director - polyolefins North America deliver a safe product to all consumers. Instead of for IHS Chemical, said plastic packaging provides numerous alternate materials, many brand owners have turned advantages over conventional materials, “most notably safe- Tto plastics to minimize waste and establish a carbon-neu- ty versus glass products, light weight packaging versus glass tral footprint. and metal, and attractive and unique designs for brand awareness.” “The versatility of plastics, particularly with rigid plastics is a clear advantage,” said George Southworth, senior direc- tor of industry affairs for the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS). “Different properties of plastic resins offer great design flexibility – from water bottles to detergent bottles. The lightweight nature of plastics makes it very attractive to ship, transport and store, and the amount of energy required to produce plastics compared to other materials is also very advantageous.” According to Research and Markets, the global produc- tion of plastic containers in 2014 was 50.1 million metric tonnes and is estimated to reach 67.9 million tonnes by 2020, for a compound average growth rate of 5.2%. In revenue terms, the market was worth $273.15 billion in 2014 and will reach $388.35 billion in 2020, a 6% annual growth rate. The beverage sector currently represents the largest mar- ket share of plastic bottles, with 40 to 45% in the developed regions in North America and Europe, according to Research and Markets 2014 data. The same group also reported that plastics comprise 22% and 30%, respectively, of the phar- maceutical and consumer packaged goods (CPG) sectors. The Plastics Industry Association’s Plastics Market Watch pro- The healthcare and bottled water sectors, however, are vides forward-looking data on key plastics industry end-mar- increasing their plastics use; the food and beverage indus- kets. The series examines the business of plastics, including try constitutes about 50-55% of the total plastic bottles usage demographics, economics, policy developments, and techno- globally. logical improvements for various markets, including automo- tive and transportation, healthcare and medical devices, pack- In the United States, Cleveland-based market research aging, building & construction, automotive recycling, bioplas- firm Freedonia Group reported that demand for plastic con- tics, and consumer technology. tainers, attributed to economic comeback from the Great

44 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | MAY 2017 | www.4spe.org | www.plasticsengineering.org 44-47 Plastics Insider_046854 IndustryNews.QXD 5/22/17 7:07 AM Page 45

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PLASTICS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

Recession, is predicted to rise 4.9% annually to $32.4 billion However, due to lightweighting efforts and design changes in 2016, consuming 14.2 billion pounds of resin. In addition, by brands and bottlers, the average weight per container demand for caps and closures in the U.S., according to Plas- unit continues to drop, and overall volume gains will lag tics News’ Plastic Caps & Closures Market Outlook, is expected behind value gains. to grow 4.2% each year, to $11.8 billion in 2020. Furthermore, moves by brands to adopt pouches and oth- Although pharmaceutical packaging represents a small er types of flexible plastic packaging will likely impact plastic percentage of the overall plastics bottling market, it is a grow- bottling, although pouches may serve to augment the cur- ing sector in the industry and crucial for the delivery of rent plastic container market rather than replace the rigid medicines to consumers and healthcare providers around containers. the world. According to Plastics Business, “many so-called According to the National Association of Container Dis- ‘packages’ are essential drug-delivery systems and are part tributors, the push for lightweight packaging from consumers of the safety and reliability of pharmaceuticals.” and businesses is spurring the growth of polyethylene tereph- The global pharmaceutical market is expected to reach a thalate (PET). Smithers Pira, a business intelligence firm, value of $85 billion by 2017, according to a report at Mar- estimates that the market value for PET packaging could kets and Markets. Freedonia Group estimates the U.S. reach $60 billion by 2019 – up from $48.1 billion in 2014. pharmaceutical packaging sector will increase 4.9% annu- On average, the PET packaging market will grow 4.6% each ally to $22.1 billion in 2018. year as manufacturers in food and beverage, as well as health The increased use of generic drugs is expected to drive and personal-care products companies, increasingly turn to demand for plastics packaging while, at the same time, new the lightweight plastic known for its durability and ease of technology and innovations in pharmaceutical plastics pack- use. aging are being used to deliver new medicines and therapies. The focus on PET and its market share growth has been Biotech-based medicines and protocols delivered via syringes reflected by a number of developments and trends in how represent another expanding application for plastic pack- brands and products use PET. With its clarity and natural aging. Growth of plastic in packaging can be seen in the carbon dioxide barrier properties, PET has wide applications demand for caps and closures for plastic, metal and other and is easily blown into a bottle or formed into a sheet. containers. PET properties can be enhanced with colorants, UV block- ers, oxygen barriers/scavengers and other additives to develop a bottle to match with a brand’s specific needs. It should be noted, however, that with each modification and additive, there may be an impact on the recycling stream. U.S. Cap & Closure Demand (in billions of dollars) “The pace of innovation in the plastics industry [compared to glass or metal] is remarkable as multiple avenues are under way to explore opportunities to improve on issues like shelf life and flavor performance,” said Philip Berrier, senior manager of scientific and regulatory affairs for food- contact substances at Coca-Cola North America Group.

These insights and more can be found in the Plastics Indus- try Association’s (PLASTICS’) most recent “Plastics Market Watch” report on bottling. To learn more about the opportunities in the expanding bot- tling market be sure to register for NPE2018: The Plastics Show Growth of plastic in packaging can be seen in the demand for (www.npe.org) and check out the “Bottle Zone,” a featured area caps and closures for plastic, metal and other containers. on the show floor strictly for buyers seeking bottling solutions.

46 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | MAY 2017 | www.4spe.org | www.plasticsengineering.org 44-47 Plastics Insider_046854 IndustryNews.QXD 5/22/17 7:07 AM Page 47

The Automotive Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE®) is announcing a “Call for Nominations” for its 47th-annual Automotive Innovation Awards Gala, the oldest and largest Call for Nominations recognition event in the automotive and plastics industries. This year’s Awards Gala will be held Wednesday, November 8, 2017 at • Most Innovative Use the Burton Manor in Livonia, Mich. Winning part nominations (due by September, 13, 2017) in 9 different categories, and the teams that of Plastics Awards developed them, will be honored with a Most Innovative Use of Plastics award. A Grand Award will be presented to the winning team from all category award winners. An application that has been in continuous use Go to www.speautomotive.com to submit for 15 years or more, and has made a significant and lasting contribution nominations and get more information. to the application of plastics in automotive vehicles will be honored with a Hall of Fame award. For more information on the Society of Plastics Innovative Part Competition Categories: Engineers, visit www.4spe.org. • Aftermarket • Hall of Fame • Body Exterior • Materials • Body Interior • Process, Assembly & Sponsorship • Chassis/Hardware Enabling Technologies Opportunities • Electrical Systems • Powertrain • Environmental • Safety This annual event typically draws over 700 OEM engineers, automotive and plastics industry executives, and media. A variety of sponsorship packages - including tables at the banquet, networking receptions, advertising in the program book, signage at the event and more are available. Contact Teri Chouinard of Intuit Group at [email protected].

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48-51 Dow Tech Paper_046854 IndustryNews.QXD 5/22/17 7:38 AM Page 48

TECHNICAL ARTICLE Managing Moisture in Online Pellet Sampling Moisture removal from continuous pellet streams with low mass flows can be challenging. This new dryer design enables significant moisture removal at short residence time.

By Birgit Braun, Serena Stephenson, Bruce Hook & Shrikant Dhodapkar Dow Chemical Co.

lastics manufacturing increasingly relies on online or urements using chemometric models may be impacted by at-line analysis for process and quality control to lower levels. maximize prime production. Many analytical tech- Pnologies require an uncontaminated, moisture-free pellet Available options & shortcomings side-stream for direct evaluation or sample preparation, When dealing with the challenge of excessive moisture in such as film extrusion. In some scenarios such as with online the sample stream, the first factor to evaluate is the criti- nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, or NMR, the cality of the measurement. If the analytical information does presence of moisture may lead to erroneous results, while not provide sufficiently valuable guidance, termination of in other cases entrapped water may render the subsequent the sampling and analysis process is a viable solution to con- sample useless for analysis. sider. Another consideration when determining the For example, in defect inspections, the presence of mois- importance of the measurement is if there is a process con- ture can have detrimental effects on the film quality, and dition that can be used to react to a given reading. depending on the extent, can cause erroneously elevated gel If the process control parameters can allow for a reduction counts. In severe cases, the moisture impacts the film coher- of the pellet sample moisture content, this might be a suit- ence to the degree that measurements are no longer able path, e.g., changes in the pelletizing operation, or higher possible. As these analyses are often quality-critical meas- air velocity or temperature in a pneumatic sample line. urements, the manufacturing process needs the results for Another possible solution is to account for any water pres- high-quality production. ent in the sample during the analytical measurement, thus Various root causes can be responsible for elevated mois- removing the impact of varying moisture levels on the results ture levels, amongst them improper sampling location, (e.g., some spectroscopic methods allow for this sort of cor- insufficient drying capabilities in the overall process such as rection). As a final option, one can attempt to dry the sample inadequate spin dryer design, water entrapment during prior to the analysis. pelletization, and excessive carryover due to high pellet- While drying of the sample may sound trivial, the require- surface roughness. Further, pellet morphology and ments to sustain a continuous pellet stream in an environmental temperature, along with the conveying unsupervised fashion poses unique challenges: method, play important roles. Pellets with significant melt • The pellet flow rate for at-line analytical measurements fracture, for example, are much more difficult to dry than ranges from 5-20 kg/hr, which is a very atypical mass those with a smooth surface. throughput for continuous dryers. The actual moisture levels at which problems with the • The inlet moisture content is a critical parameter that analytical measurements can occur tend to vary. While some needs to be well understood. However, during measurements such as image analysis on films may tolerate manufacturing the level can heavily vary and may reach a few hundred parts per million (ppm), fundamental meas- levels of up to 2,000 ppm. Moisture spikes could exceed

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even those values. A good understanding of the • Vacuum dryer: The moisture is removed through a average moisture loading along with maximum spike combination of vacuum and heat. The drying chamber levels is essential for selecting a successful solution. has to be enclosed tightly for the operation to work • The location of a dryer needs to be identified, effectively, thus preventing continuous operation. weighing factors such as proximity to the sampling Commercial models work in a semi-batch fashion. To point, electrical restrictions in the plant environment, achieve complete drying, the residence times can be space requirements and accessibility. significant, and the continuous maintenance of a • Thermophysical properties of the polymer can pose vacuum is energy intensive. limitations on drying operations. Materials with lower • Fluidized bed: Dry air is provided from the bottom of glass-transition temperatures need to be dried with the unit through a perforated plate, suspending the the addition of little or no heat, while materials solids until the bed resembles fluid behavior. exhibiting impact-plasticity may be challenging to Directional holes allow for the fluidized bed to be handle in high-velocity gas flows. operated continuously with a controllable rotational • For continuous analytical measurements, the dryer motion. The operation of a fluidized bed can require needs to operate without supervision and on a an elaborate air-handing system and fairly substantial continuous basis. Further, it is essential that process amounts of dryer air, which is often cost prohibitive. irregularities are detected and plant personnel • Packed bed: Dry and heated air enters a packed bed alerted. of the moist solid in a countercurrent manner. The • In many cases where the measurement is deemed amount of moisture removed in a given time depends essential, increases in the analyzer response time on the air volume provided to the unit. While the dryer must be minimized as much as possible. Longer benefits from a simple design, it can require long delays negatively impact prime production. Usually, residence times, that leads to long delay times the maximum tolerable residence time is five minutes, between the analytical measurement and potential with an aim of one to two minutes. process controls or adjustments. • Additional criteria that need to be considered for • Pneumatic drying: Using dry and heated air during technology selection are: unit cost, implementation pneumatic transportation can provide necessary cost, space and air requirements, operation driving force to separate the water from the solids. complexity, failure risks, dust development, and the Generally, this is considered a viable option only for ease of cleaning. streams with moisture levels that are consistently below 1,000 ppm. Various technical solutions • Cyclone: Moisture removal is achieved through the Drying of solids is an established process requirement and continuous separation of smaller water droplets from numerous strategies are used to remove moisture from a the polymer pellets based on mass difference. The solid sample or product stream. In the section below, we dryer does not contain any moving parts, and the briefly review the most common methods that can be oper- design is simple. However, it does not provide ated in a continuous fashion, including relevant benefits or removal of the surface water beyond what can be limitations for the purpose of discussion. We do not discuss achieved through prior mechanical impact (knocking batch-style dryers in this paper due to the requirement of the water off). Additionally, operation requires a fairly continuous operation. large volume of dry air. • Rotary dryer: Water is removed in a high-throughput, rotating drum with strategically positioned flights to Special dryer design & case study lift and shower the product evenly through the heated As outlined in the previous section, continuous analytical airstream, which enters the drum countercurrent to measurements require a steady feed stream with minimal the continuously flowing product stream. In addition delay to ensure timely results, good process control and low to conventional convection heating, the dryer can also energy consumption. In addition, the solution needs to be be operated using infrared heat lamps. Downsides of highly reliable to enable unsupervised operation. Above all, the dryer are high energy consumption, a large spacial the dryer needs to effectively reduce the moisture content footprint, and potentially long residence times. to acceptable levels. When need presented itself, no suit- • Belt dryer: The product is spread out on a moving able solution was found in the marketplace; therefore, we belt moving continuously through a drying chamber, designed and built a special dryer. and dry, heated air is pushed through the pellet layer The dryer introduced in this case study is shown in Figure 1. from underneath. This operation is applicable only for The design combines a disengaging hopper on the top, which low moisture levels, as otherwise the space separates the moist particles from the wet conveying air and requirements become prohibitively large. any entrained droplets, and removes surface water via a

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TECHNICAL ARTICLE

cyclone effect, followed by a fluidized/moving bed section on 3. Pellets slow down in the conical section of the cyclone the bottom. The design is specifically aimed at removing max- portion as they lose energy and move into the imum moisture levels with the shortest possible residence fluidized bed drier. This is where the fine separation of time when connected to a pneumatic pellet sample line. water occurs. This fluidized bed is more vigorous than Contrary to other concepts in the market, this design packed column approaches and helps to facilitate operates truly continuously with minimal sample mixing. It removal of moisture entrained in rough surfaces. The is worth noting that the dryer operation requires about 30 vent of wet air from the fluidized bed is removed at scfm at 60 psi of dry air continuously, and flows need to be Vent-2. adjusted individually for the top and bottom section to opti- 4. Residence time of pellets in the fluidizer can be varied mize performance. For materials with sufficiently high by adjusting the height of the standpipe located in the glass-transition temperatures, the drying air can be pre- center of the fluidizer. The bed of fluidized pellets heated for even faster moisture removal rates and shorter moves in a circle around the center exit because the residence times. bed plate (Figure 2) is divided into quadrants with 45- The detailed process follows the following steps: degree angled holes. The rotation is created to enable 1. Pellets are sampled from the process after the good mixing of the bed without requiring bubbling of classifier and fall by gravity to the eductor. The the large-diameter particles typical of plastic pellets. eductor accelerates the pellets into the cyclone and An adjustable-height weir acts as a baffle to help begins the first phase of drying. move pellets towards the center. 2. Pellets enter a cyclone separator tangentially. The 5. Fluidized pellets pass into the variable-height heavier material (pellets) go to the wall of the cyclone standpipe and are accelerated on to the sampling while the moist conveying air and the water droplets hopper feeding the analyzer. This is an additional move to the vortex of the cyclone and exit at Vent-1. drying step because fresh, dry air (Air-3) is introduced. Additional air (Air-1) can be injected into the bottom of Note that a single dryer can feed multiple analytical the cyclone to help free the water from the pellets and sample hoppers if more than one dry pellet analysis is add more dry air capacity to remove water. Air-1 also desired. increases the residence time of the pellets in the The dryer was tested under controlled conditions in the lab- cyclone section to improve drying efficiency in the oratory, and it was found that at 14 kg/hr flow, the moisture free-water removal step. content could be removed by about 3,000 ppm. Subse-

Figure 1. Continuous pellet dryer for polymer sample streams. Above right: schematic drawing. Figure 2. Fluidizer bed plate hole pattern. Courtesy of Dow Chemical Co. Courtesy of Dow Chemical Co.

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quently, the unit was implemented in the pellet stream dryer design that, through combining a cyclone and flu- feeding an at-line film analyzer for gel measurements, where idized bed concept, enables significant moisture removal at moisture levels are particularly critical to avoid false detec- short residence time. This approach successfully address- tion of defects. We modified the process to test the dryer’s es moisture problems, especially for applications where a abilities and the pellet moisture content reached peak values minimal time delay is critical. of up to 1,800 ppm, rendering film casting for image analy- sis impossible. During initial field tests, the air flows to the various sections were optimized and a target pellet residence time of 2-3 min ABOUT THE AUTHORS All the authors work for Dow Chemical Co. Birgit Braun, Ph.D., was visually estimated. To reduce the residence time even fur- is a research scientist in Freeport, Texas. She has a polymer ther, to less than 2 min, the air delivered to the fluidized bed science background and spent five years in the Plastics Process section was heated to 60 °C and the flow increased. The high- Characterization R&D group before moving to Olefins, er airflow increased pellet movement and decreased bed Aromatics & Alternatives R&D in density, thus reducing the residence time as well. Subsequent 2016. Serena Stephenson, operation enabled uninterrupted film analysis without any Ph.D., is a senior R&D evidence of false defect detection. manager with Formulation Science R&D in Collegeville, Pa. Prior Conclusions to her current role, she led the Plastics Process Characteriza- tion R&D group. Bruce Hook, Ph.D., is a fellow scientist for Although pellet drying is an established industrial process, Specialties Chemicals R&D. Shrikant Dhodapkar, Ph.D., is a moisture removal from continuous pellet streams with low fellow scientist in Plastics Process Fundamentals R&D, spe- mass flows, such as encountered for process analytical cializing in materials handling. Both Bruce and Shrikant are steps, is challenging and remains largely unaddressed in the based in Freeport, Texas, have been with Dow for more than market. We are pleased to introduce in this report a special 25 years and are AIChE Fellows.

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FOCUS ON SAFETY

spotlight: The High Cost of Exposing Workers to Chemicals at Point of Use

How sealed pump systems can improve the safety & efficiency of chemical transfer

By Del Williams

he tip-and-pour method, as well as poorly designed whether it's done in plastics manufacturing, fabricating or pumps, can expose workers to injury and companies to machining, can have serious consequences, Westcott says, significant financial losses, according to Milford, conn.- when manual "tip-and-pour" techniques or poorly designed tbased Westcott Distribution inc., which sells products known pumps are used. as goatthroat Pumps that are designed to address the issue. these chemicals are toxic, corrosive, reactive, flammable, in the manufacturing of plastics, workers often transfer emit volatile organic compounds (VOcs), or are even poten- potentially hazardous liquid additives such as , col- tially explosive and the danger of accidental contact, even for orants, dyes, lubricants, antimicrobials and flame retardants short periods, can pose a severe hazard to workers. into smaller containers and vessels, or directly into tanks or in addition to the potential for injury, there can also be seri- machinery. at times, liquid solvents and cleaner used for main- ous financial ramifications for the facility involved. the risks tenance may be transferred as well. include the cost to treat injuries or perform cleanup, as well chemicals such as acetone are also used in plastics machin- as workers' compensation claims, potential liability, OsHa fines, ing and for 3D-printed parts for vapor polishing, which when loss of expensive chemicals and even facility/production shut- applied to the surface of plastic alters the finish to a high gloss. down. However, this transfer of chemicals at the point of use, "it can be catastrophic to a company if toxic or highly flam- mable material is accidentally released at the point of use," says Deborah grubbe, founder of Opera- tions and safety solutions llc, a consulting firm specializing in industrial safety. "companies have to assume that if something can go wrong during chemical transfer, it will, and take appropriate pre- cautions to prevent what could be significant consequences."

Rising costs of loss of containment grubbe, who has 40 years of experience working in the chemical, oil and gas industries, including at DuPont, nasa, and for the U.s. military, says "any time you lose containment; you have an issue that can spiral out of control." corrosive chemicals, for example, can burn skin The old way (on the left), and the new, sealed pump way (on the right). or flesh. some chemicals are toxic when touched courtesy of goatthroat Pumps or inhaled. cyanotic agents, for instance, can be

52 | Plastics EnginEEring | JUnE 2017 | www.4spe.org | www.plasticsengineering.org

52-53 Goat Throat Pumps_046854 IndustryNews.QXD 5/22/17 7:37 AM Page 53 particularly dangerous or even fatal, since they rob the body It can be catastrophic“ of oxygen. Many chemicals are flammable, as well, and can be ignited to a company if toxic or by even the smallest spark from nearby motors or other mechanical equipment. "there is no such thing as a small fire highly flammable material is in my business," says Grubbe. In addition to cost of cleanup or treating injuries, there are accidentally released at the also indirect costs that can be incurred. these include super- point of use. visors' time to document the incident and respond to any added government inspection or scrutiny, as well as the poten- tial for temporary shutdown of the facility. "the indirect costs can be as much as two to four times the “ —Deborah Grubbe direct costs," says Grubbe. "Not to mention potential liability, Founder of Operations and workers' compensation issues, regulatory fines or potential Safety Solutions LLC actions from OSHa or the EPa."

Chemical transfer techniques traditional practices of transferring liquid chemicals suffer Adoption of sealed pump systems from a number of drawbacks. East Coast Precision Manufacturing is a precision plastic parts Manual techniques, such as the tip-and-pour method, are fabricator that machines many types of plastics such as acetal, still common today. tipping heavy barrels, however, can lead aBS, acrylic, nylon, PVC, PtFE, phenolics and polycarbonate. to overpouring or the barrel toppling. to improve the safety and efficiency of one of its process- "Some companies choose to transfer of chemicals manu- es, the Chester, Conn.-based company sought to upgrade from ally, but it is extremely difficult to control heavy drums," cautions a manual tip-and-pour method of transferring chemicals from Grubbe. "I'd recommend against it because of the probabili- a 5-gallon drum into a designated vessel. ty of a spill is so high." "We wanted to avoid the potential strain or spillage of pour- although a number of pump types exist for chemical trans- ing from a 5-gallon drum," says Chris Marchand, an East Coast fer (rotary, siphon, lever-action, piston and electric), most are Precision Manufacturing engineer. "We needed a pump that not engineered as a sealed, contained system. In addition, was able to safely contain and resist aggressive chemicals." these pumps can have seals that leak, are known to wear out as part of his online research, Marchand decided to use a quickly, and can be difficult to operate, making precise volume sealed chemical pump system from Goatthroat. control and dispensing difficult. "Because the Goatthroat pump system is sealed and uses In contrast, sealed pump systems can dramatically improve low pressure to transfer chemicals, it prevents overpouring, the safety and efficiency of chemical transfer. spills, leaks, and keeps any potential VOCs contained," said "a sealed, contained system is ideal when dealing with a tox- Marchand. "We have found that it minimizes clean up and ic, flammable or corrosive liquid," says Grubbe. "With sealed eliminates wasted inventory and content evaporation." devices, like Goatthroat pumps, you can maintain a controlled Marchand appreciates that an available version of the pump containment from one vessel to another." is safe to use around flammables because it is static conduc- Small, versatile, hand-operated pressure pumps, tive, and another version is explosion proof, though those such as those manufactured by Goatthroat Pumps capabilities are not required for his process. He noted that the (www.goatthroat.com), are engineered to work as a sealed sealed pump system is easy to use, since operators only need system. the pumps can be used for the safe transfer of more to pump the plunger a few times and then open a tap. than 1,400 industrial chemicals, including the most aggressive "It is a much safer, more controlled approach than trying to acids, caustics and solvents. lift and pour chemicals from a heavy 5-gallon drum," concludes these pumps function essentially like a beer tap. the oper- Marchand. "We expect to get many years of use from our labor- ator attaches the pump, presses the plunger several times to efficient, flow engineered system." build up a low amount of internal pressure, and then dispenses the liquid. the tap is configured to provide precise control over the fluid delivery, from slow (1ml/ 1 oz.) up to 4.5 gallons per minute, depending on viscosity. About the author Because such pumps use very low pressure (<6 psi) to trans- Del Williams is a technical writer based in torrance, Calif. He fer fluids through the line and contain automatic pressure writes about health, business, technology and educational relief valves, they are safe to use with virtually any container issues, and has an M.a. in English from California State Uni- from 2-gallon jugs to 55-gallon drums. versity Dominguez Hills.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Huntsman, Clariant Merger to Create $20bn Chemicals Giant

untsman Corp. and Clariant International Ltd. $3.5 billion through lower operational costs and better pro- announced May 22 they plan to merge as equal com- curement. The new company will have its global headquarters panies through an all-stock transaction by the end of in Pratteln, Switzerland, and its operational base in The Wood- H2017. The move, if completed, will create a global specialty lands, Texas. chemicals company with a combined value of about $20 Clariant, which has grown by combining several European billion. chemicals firms, is involved in additives, catalysts, functional Peter Huntsman, current Huntsman president and chief materials, industrial and consumer specialties, masterbatch- executive officer, will become CEO of the combined firm, to es, oil and mining services, and pigments. be called HuntsmanClariant. On a pro forma basis, the deal Huntsman is a global supplier of polyurethanes, pigments, will create a company with sales of roughly $13.2 billion, with advanced materials, performance products and textile effects. adjusted earnings before interest taxation depreciation and It is in the process of separating its pigments business and amortization (EBITDA) of $2.3 billion. this is unaffected by the merger, Huntsman said. HuntsmanClariant expects to create value worth more than www.clariant.com and www.huntsman.com

New Prize Aims to Drive Sustainable Plastics Packaging Innovation

he UK-based Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), with the disposable packaging can enter this challenge partnered backing of The Prince of Wales’s International Sustain- by OpenIDEO (www.openideo.com). ability Unit and funding from an American • The $1 million Circular Materials Challenge seeks ways Tphilanthropist, announced May 18 it was launching a $2 mil- to make all plastic packaging recyclable. About 13% of lion prize designed to spur innovation that “aims to keep today’s packaging, such as potato chip packets and food plastics as valuable materials in the economy, and wrappers, is made of layers of different materi- out of the ocean.” Dubbed the New Plastics Econ- als fused together. This multilayer construction omy Innovation Prize, it is funded by Wendy helps to keep food fresh, but also makes the pack- Schmidt, who is the lead philanthropic partner of aging difficult to recycle. The challenge invites EMF’s New Plastics Economy Initiative. innovators to find alternative materials that can The foundation noted that the demand for plas- be recycled or composted, and the challenge part- tics products is expected to double in the next 20 ner is Cleveland, Ohio-based NineSigma Inc. years – but said most plastic packaging items are (www.ninesigma.com). used only once before being discarded and that “Innovators who apply to the prize are com- “the plastics system is broken.” Only about 14% of peting for up to $2 million in grants and visibility plastic packaging is recycled, with the remainder, of their solutions to major businesses, the inno- worth $80 billion-120 billion, being lost as waste. vator community and the public,” according to This has spurred EMF – which was founded by EMF. Winners will enter a 12-month accelerator Dame Ellen MacArthur, best known for her record-breaking program that will offer exclusive access to industry experts, sailing trips around the world – to create this initiative that commercial guidance, feedback on user and scalability calls for innovators, designers, scientists and entrepreneurs requirements, advice on performance expectations, and to help create packaging that keeps plastics out of the ocean. access to innovation labs for testing and development. The The prize consists of two parallel challenges: organizers plan to announce the first winners later this year. • The $1 million Circular Design Challenge, which invites The American Chemistry Council's Plastics Division, which applicants to rethink how we can get products to peo- represents resin producers, applauded the initiative. Steve ple without generating plastic waste. The challenge will Russell, vice president of plastics, said: “The New Plastics focus on seldom-recycled, small-format packaging items Economy Innovation Prize is a welcome step toward treat- (10% of all packaging), such as shampoo sachets, wrap- ing used plastics as valuable resources for creating new, pers, straws and coffee cup lids. Anyone with a good useful products." idea for how to get products to people without using www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org

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Borealis, Borouge Tackling the Solar Energy Market

aterials suppliers Borealis AG and Borouge Pte. Ltd. ules, reduce processing complexity, and extend the lifetime are jointly launching a new brand called Quentys™ of PV panels,” said Alfred Stern, Borealis executive vice pres- that aims “to empower and poten- ident for polyolefins and innovation & Mtially revolutionize the solar energy industry technology. by making applications more affordable, reli- The companies plan to introduce soon the able and durable.” first wave of new products they have devel- Borealis, based in Vienna, Austria, and Bor- oped in partnership with a leading solar ouge, a joint venture between Borealis and industry partner. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., say they plan to One goal is to apply their material expertise leverage their experience of more than 50 to make solar power more affordable and effi- years in providing polyolefin compounds for cient. For example, the firms noted, single-step the global wire and cable industry and extend production technologies reduce manufactur- it to the solar sector. This will include forming ing complexity as well as cost. Innovative new strategic partnerships along the entire materials can increase both output and lifes- solar value chain. pan of PV modules. By 2025, the firms said in a May 3 release, These factors are key to maintaining the solar is expected to have the highest global Stern market momentum currently enjoyed by annual capacity added of all energy sources, renewables, as documented by the Interna- reaching more than 100 gigawatt (GW) capacity added per tional Energy Agency. In 2015, the IEA predicted that by 2050, year. Borealis and Borouge say they have developed new solar will provide 16% of the world’s electric power, signifi- materials based on proprietary technologies for applica- cantly more than the 11% it had forecast in 2010. Moreover, tions such as backsheets and encapsulant films. the all-in cost of installing and operating a renewable ener- “These step-change innovations in the Quentys family gy system over its entire lifetime is falling. improve the operational reliability of photovoltaic (PV) mod- www.borealisgroup.com and www.borouge.com

SABIC Rolls Out 3D Printing Filament Portfolio for FDM

audi Arabia Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) last month Referring to the launch of the six new filaments, Lori introduced a new portfolio of high-performance fila- Louthan, director of mass transportation for SABIC, said: “We ment grades for fused deposition modeling (FDM). At are applying our extensive materials and processing expert- Sthe RAPID + TCT 2017 3D printing show in Pittsburgh, Pa., the ise to create new filaments with higher performance than firm said the new products address growing global demand current offerings with the goal of expanding their use into for greater material choices in the industrial filament market. the development of production parts.” Designed for use with Stratasys Ltd.’s Fortus printers, the new filaments are based on the company’s Ultem™ poly- etherimide (PEI) resin, Cycolac™ acrylonitrile-butadiene- styrene (ABS) resin and Lexan™ polycarbonate (PC) resin, and offer the same composition as the company’s injection molding grades. Manufacturers can use the filaments to produce a range of high-performance, durable end-use parts, SABIC said. The nominal diameter of all SABIC’s filament products is 1.79 mm ± 0.05 mm and they are available in a 1,510cc spool size. www.sabic.com

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Emery Introduces a ‘Greener’ Antifogging Agent

incinnati, Ohio-based Emery Oleochemicals LLC has of NPEs typically used in these PVC food-wrapping films while launched a 100% renewably-derived antifogging agent providing a safe, renewable and readily biodegradable alterna- that it says is an excellent alternative to nonylphenol tive. The use of Loxial A 4 Spezial as an antifogging agent Cethoxylates (NPEs). The company notes that packaging suppli- in agricultural films improves light transmission, result- ers are being urged by large consumer companies ing in higher plant growth rates, higher crop yields per such as Walmart Stores to reduce or plant, and earlier crop maturity. eliminate their use of NPEs, which Klein noted the agent is a highly efficient, phe- already have been banned in Europe nol-free solution that is derived from 100% due to their impact on human health and renewable raw material. Emery, a polymer the environment. company that specializes in renewable Called Loxial® A 4 Spezial, the product chemicals such as bio-lubricants, eco- also has food-contact approval, and can be friendly polyols, and green polymer additives, incorporated into the polymer during the said it also is expanding its global manufacture of this extrusion process. product to include capabilities at its bio-based ester produc- “By using this antifogging agent in food wrap,” tion facility in Cincinnati. Emery said, “condensed water droplets are Its Green Polymer Additives product portfolio also includes spread into a thin continuous layer of water, improving the trans- lubricants, plasticizers, viscosity regulators, antistatic agents and parency of the packaging and durability of the contents.” release agents. All products are made from sustainable mate- Dr. Harald Klein, global business director - green polymer rials that are formulated to optimize production and improve additives for Emery, says the company specifically designed the process efficiencies. additive to match the key properties and effective performance www.greenpolymeradditives.emeryoleo.com/additives

Chemson Takes 3D Vinyl to the Next Stage

hemson Group, an Austrian maker of PVC stabilizer to better understand customer needs and expand the eval- additives, recently demonstrated what it calls the world’s uation and field testing network as the firm approaches first thermoplastic PVC formulation designed specifi- commercialization. Ccally for the additive manufacturing (AM) and industrial 3D Over the past year, with the help of a select group of AM and printing sector. 3D printing experts and hardware manufacturers, including Chemson first announced the development of 3D Vinyl™ a Titan 3D robotics, Push Plastic and 3DMatter, Chemson said it year ago, and last month brought what it calls “a more mature has been able to address critical aspects of Z-axis interlayer technology” to the rAPID + TCT 2017 additive manufacturing adhesion, warpage, impact resistance and thermal stability, trade fair in Pittsburgh, Pa. thereby consistently improving performance of the material. "All we set out to do originally was prove that it could be done “These new PVC products will be introduced step-by-step into in the first place. No one had ever successfully formulated PVC the 3D printing community after basic 3D printability is assessed for additive manufacturing, so that was where we originally set in our rigorous pre-tests,” said Dr. J.-Dieter Klamann, managing our r&D sights,” said 3DVinyl co-inventor Greg Harrison. director of Chemson Pacific and another 3DVinyl co-inventor. Harrison, former managing director of Chemson Pacific, who In addition to the standard filament form factor, Chemson 3D now is a technical consultant for additive manufacturing mate- Vinyl also will be available as a pelletized compound to address rials at Chemson, added: “After nearly two years of work, we the proliferation of large-aperture, high-flow-rate extrusion sys- achieved that milestone and announced the invention at the tems. This should help to expand its reach into sectors that Australian Vinyl Council PVC Conference in Melbourne, Aus- must contend with demanding or extreme environments, such tralia, last May.” as aerospace, construction, marine, water treatment/process- Chemson then came to the 2017 rAPID show with a new ing and renewables, as well as general and specialized set of objectives, according to Dennis Planner, 3DVinyl prod- manufacturing. uct manager and co-inventor – to establish new relationships www.chemson.com

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Wittmann Battenfeld Expanding Machine Manufacturing in Austria

trong demand for its PowerSeries line of injection mold- ing machines is prompting Wittmann Battenfeld GmbH to invest 15 million euros to expand its headquarters Sfacility in Kottingbrunn, Austria. The company said it plans to add 2,200 square meters to the assembly area, which will house the assembly lines for medium-sized and large machines from both the EcoPow- er and SmartPower series, with clamping forces ranging from 180 to 400 tonnes. This will complement the assembly line for small machines already in operation since 2015. Moreover, the assembly capacity for the large machines of the firm’s successful MacroPower series will also be increased. Construction is due to start this month and be complet- ed by year’s end. In addition to expanding the production capacities, the company said it also plans to enlarge and modernize its office space by adding two more floors on top of the existing sales office building. The above illustration shows what Wittmann Battenfeld Even more construction work is planned for 2018. To pro- expects its HQ facility to look like after the expansion is done. vide additional space for designing and developing injection molding machines, Wittmann Battenfeld intends next year create about 800 square meters of extra space. to add another floor to the existing technology building to www.wittmann-group.com

EconCore Touts Experimental Vehicle Made from Biocomposites

elgian materials supplier EconCore NV says its folded to drastically reduce the carbon footprint compared to other honeycomb technology has been used to help produce lightweight materials used in the industry. Lina gets its pow- “the world's first car made from biocomposites.” The er from modular battery packs that produce a power output BLeuven-based firm is referring to a vehicle known as Lina, which of 8kW using two DC-motors. Its three modular packs deliver has an electric drivetrain and is made using a polylactic acid a driving range of 100 km (62 miles), but the packs can quick- (PLA) honeycomb sandwich design. ly be swapped out to extend the range. The car can reach a top TU/Ecomotive – a student team from the Eindhoven Uni- speed of 80 kph, or about 50 mph. (See this 90-second BBC versity of Technology in the Netherlands – used a combination video about the project: http://bit.ly/Lina_car.) of bio-based composites and bioplastics to create a lightweight Lina also incorporates near-field communication (NFC) tech- chassis. The composite is made from flax, a plant that can be nology in its doors, which allows the vehicle to detect and grown in any moderate climate. The bio-composite demon- recognize different users. This makes Lina highly suited for strates a strength/weight ratio similar to that of , car-sharing platforms. but offers much improved sustainability. EconCore said that, after taking part in the Shell Eco-marathon EconCore said its technology for cost-effective, continuous 2017 in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in late May, production of thermoplastic honeycomb materials yielded the Lina would be touring the Netherlands from June 5 to help honeycomb. The honeycomb core is made of Nature- raise environmental awareness. Works LLC’s PLA – 100% biodegradable resin derived from EconCore’s material know-how and process knowledge – sugar beets. The development team placed the core between the scientific basis of its technology – was developed in Ph.D. two flax fiber composite sheets to provide the sandwich pan- research projects and European research projects with lead- el effect, yielding high stiffness and strength at minimal weight. ing industrial partners at the K.U. Leuven. The TU/Ecomotive team said the concept has the potential www.econcore.com

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Eastman Introduces Cellulose-Based Engineering Bioplastic

astman Chemical Co. chose the Chinaplas 2017 fair in allowing Treva to be used with complicated designs and in fill- Guangzhou last month to roll out its new cellulose-based ing thin parts. Under recommended processing conditions, engineering bioplastic called Treva™. The Kingsport, Tenn.- recent thin-wall, 30-mil spiral flow testing shows that Treva flow Ebased company said the material’s benefits are threefold – rates are significantly better than polycarbonate and polycar- sustainability, end-use performance, and design and brand bonate/ABS blends, and comparable to those of ABS. flexibility. The material is designed to allow for superior surface gloss, “Eastman leveraged nearly 100 years of cellulosic expertise clarity, and warm touch and feel, enabled through a combina- in the design and testing of Treva to meet the improved sus- tion of the base material and Eastman’s technological expertise. tainability profile and performance needs of brands, fabricators, The material also boasts great color saturation, and superior molders, and other companies across the value chain,” Burt secondary processing and decorating capability, creating addi- Capel, vice president and general manager of Eastman’s Spe- tional design and branding options. cialty Plastics business unit, told the media in China. Eastman said it foresees Treva finding use in such applications The new material’s composition is about half cellulose, sourced as: from trees derived exclusively from sustainably managed forests • Eyeglass frames, wearable electronics, headphones, and that are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. The resin, many other personal devices that come in direct contact which also is BPA- and -free, provides excellent dura- with the skin; bility and dimensional stability, which allows for less material • Electronic display applications, such as lenses and covers, usage, thinner parts, and longer product life – all factors that that consumers need to see through; enhance lifecycle assessments. • Electronics, housings, intricate cosmetics cases, and oth- When it comes to performance, Treva is said to offer supe- er products with high design and complex specifications; rior chemical resistance, while its low birefringence means • Automotive interior components wherein chemical resist- eliminating the unwelcomed rainbow effect that some plastics ance and aesthetics are desired; experience with polarized light. This helps to improve the user • And other demanding applications with high sustainabil- experience with electronic device screens and retail displays. ity and safety requirements. Excellent flow characteristics also enable design freedom, www.eastman.com

Covestro, UNEP Team Up to Support ‘Young Champions of the Earth’

olymer supplier Covestro LLC is sponsoring a new ini- reduce the impact on the environment.” tiative by United Nations Environment Program that Each year, six young people – one from each of UNEP’s aims to celebrate and support individuals between global regions – will be named “Young Champions of the Pthe ages of 18 and 30 with outstanding ideas to save the Earth.” Each will receive $15,000 in seed funding as well as environment. With the program called “Young Champions of intensive training and tailored mentoring to help bring their the Earth,” UNEP and Covestro are creating a digital plat- big environmental ideas to life. form to serve as an innovation hub and online space for UNEP Executive Director Erik Solheim, said: “As I’ve seen brainstorming and knowledge sharing by a global commu- time and again, when young people are given opportunities nity of young people to address sustainability challenges, and support, they can be powerful catalysts for change. It is build capacities and find solutions to environmental chal- our hope that this initiative will inspire thousands of young lenges. The program aims to balance negative discourse on people around the world to develop innovative ways to tack- the environment and inspire the next generation of envi- le the environmental issues that matter to them.” ronmental leaders. A global jury that includes Solheim and Thomas will select “We are delighted to support UN Environment on this the winners, who then will be invited to attend the “Cham- excellent initiative,” said Covestro CEO Patrick Thomas. “Sus- pions of the Earth” Gala Dinner, to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, tainable thinking and acting are critical in preserving our in December 2017. planet and improving the safety and quality of life for mil- The application period opened on April 22 and will close on lions of people. Covestro seeks to contribute to this goal June 18. with products and technologies that benefit society and www.unep.org/youngchampions

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INDUSTRY PATENTS

Our Monthly Roundup of Notable Patents

By Roger Corneliussen

improve properties but usually involves costly and hazardous solvents, as well as high temperatures. Gandham et al devel- Biodegradable Nonwoven Fabrics oped a solid-state grafting process for disentangled U.S. Patent 9,573,308 (Feb. 21, 2017), ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene. Disentangled PE “Melt-blown Method for Producing powder is produced by single-site catalysts such as phe- Nonwoven Fabrics with Hygroscopic noxyimine-Ti compounds. This powder is mixed with reactive Metastatic Feature,” Wen-Tung Chou, Ming- acrylic monomers and free radical initiators. Grafting reac- Yi Lai, Kun-Shan Huang and Hsiao-Chi Tsai tions is carried out by high shear mixing below 150 °C. The (Acelon Chemicals & Fiber Corp., Changhua graft copolymers show increased crystallization tempera- County, Taiwan). tures between 117 to 121 °C and increased decomposition In some respects, nonwoven fabrics are temperatures of 460 to 480 °C. better than traditional fabrics owing to properties and low- cost fabrication. However, most nonwovens are insoluble and non-biodegradable, leading to environmental problems. Biodegradable, hydroscopic nonwoven fabrics with better Extrusion Without Degradation air permeability, water absorbency and water repellency are U.S. Patent 9,579,838 needed. Chou et al produced hydroscopic nonwoven fab- (Feb. 28, 2017), “Method rics based on bio- and cellulose fibers. The for Extruding a Polymer bio- from castor bean plants are melt blown, in the Presence of forming a biodegradable mat. A dope of cellulose pulp in Water,” Frederic Malet, Jean-Jacques Flat, Francois N-methylmorpholine N-oxide solvent is extruded, forming Touchaleaume, Jacques Devaux, Patricia Krawczak, Michel and depositing cellulose filaments on the bio-polyamide Sclavons and Jeremie Soulestin (Arkema France, Colombes, mat. The resulting hydroscopic, nonwoven fabrics can be France, Universite Catholique De Louvain, Louvain el Neuve, finished by needle punching, drying and winding. Belgium, and Association Pour La Recherche Et Le Developpement Des Methodes Et Processus Industriels – Armines, Paris, France). Thermoplastic elastomers such as copolyether-block- Grafted Polyethylene amides are extruded or injection molded. However, these U.S. Patent 9,574,040 (Feb. 21, 2017), “Disentangled materials tend to degrade during processing resulting in Ultrahigh-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene Graft Copolymers discoloration, depolymerization and accelerated aging. Malet and a Process for Preparation thereof,” Satya Srinivasa Rao et al reduced degradation by extruding in the presence of Gandham, Ajit Behari Mathur, Uma Sankar Satpathy, water. The candidate elastomeric thermoplastic polymers Krishna Renganath Sarma and Raksh Vir Jasra (Reliance include copolymer block amides, copolyethers, copolyester Industries Ltd., Mumbai, India). block urethanes, copolyether block esters and copolyether Expanding technology demands new polymeric materi- block amides. Solid resin pellets and water are fed into a als with better properties. This requires new and imaginative twin-screw extruder where the resin is melted and the water approaches to modifying existing polymers as well as devel- blended with the melt. Before leaving the extruder, the water oping new polymers. Polyethylene is the most popular vapor is vented from the extruder. Between 5 to 30 wt% polymer by cost and availability but limited in the range of water is added and the extrusion temperature is lowered possible properties. Copolymerization and grafting can by 10 to 60 °C.

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vol% organic bonding material, 30 to 65 vol% dispersed abra- sive, and 1 to 20 vol% uniformly dispersed microfibers. The On-Demand Degradation microfibers have lengths of less than 1,000 microns and U.S. Patent 9,580,553 (Feb. 28, 2017), diameters less than 10 microns. Candidate fibers include “Thermally Activated, Self-Immolative mineral wool, slag wool, rock wool, stone wool, glass, ceram- Materials,” Andrew J. Boydston, Neal A. ic, carbon, aramid and polyamide fibers. Bonding resins are Yakelis, Ronald Jay Berenson, Derek C. epoxy or phenolic resins. Active inorganic fillers that bond Church, Gregory I. Peterson and with the microfibers may be used to further improve func- Michael Larsen (University of tion. The critical step is the mixing time which must result in Washington, Seattle, Wash., and Pacific complete and uniform dispersion. Lutheran University, Tacoma, Wash.). Thermally unstable polymers normally degrade by uncon- trolled random chain thermolysis. Self-immolating polymers are responsive polymers that undergo controlled head-to- Extruding Varying Internal Capillaries tail depolymerization only by the release of a triggering U.S. Patent 9,586,356 (March 7, group from the polymer. Different triggering groups for 2017), “Device and Method for redox, nucleophile, acid/base, or photo-reactions have been Dynamic Extrusion Molding of developed. The trigger event releases a reactive group ini- Plastic Article Having Variable Micro- tiating a cascade of depolymerizing reactions destroying the Channel,” Zhongbin Xu, Jiapei Cao, polymer. Boydston et al developed a polymer self-controlled Xin Fu, Xiaodong Ruan and Suxia degradation using thermally activated trigger group. The Zheng (Zhejiang University, trigger is a cycloaddition group containing carbamoylnitroso Hangzhou, China). or azo groups and cyclic 1,3-dienes that are covalently cou- Extrusion is widely used for producing plastic articles such pled to the ends of the polymer chains. Heat releases the as fibers, films, tubes, rods, plates and profiles, with the trigger group, which induces depolymerization by group same cross-section. However, varying dimensions during elimination, cyclization and formation. Applica- processing is difficult. Especially difficult is varying internal tions include controlled drug release, sensors and controlled dimensions such internal channels. Xu et al developed a degradation. device and method for dynamic extrusion molding of plas- tic articles having variable internal microchannels. The system consists of a single-screw extruder, a dynamic extrusion die, a fluid source, a water sink, a tractor and a winding device Better Grinding Wheels with a data acquisition and control system. The dynamic U.S. Patent 9,586,307 extrusion die contains a vibrating syringe. As the melt pass- (March 7, 2017), es through the die, the vibrating syringe forms internal “Microfiber Reinforcement capillaries by injecting a fluid forming internal microchan- for Abrasive Tools,” nels with controlled and varying diameters by the vibrations. Michael W. Klett, Karen The formed melt is pulled into the water sink by the tractor Conley, Steven F. Parsons, and the extrudate quickly solidifies with internal capillaries Han Zhang and Arup K. Khaund (Saint-Gobain Abrasives Inc., with precise diameters. Worcester, Mass., and Saint-Gobain Abrasifs, Conflans- Sainte-Honorine, France). Chopped fibers are used in resin-based grinding wheels to increase strength and impact resistance. Chopped fibers Scratch-Resistant Acrylics are added to a dry grinding wheel mixture and then mold- U.S. Patent 9,587,058 (March 7, 2017), “Transparent ed and cured for a finished grinding wheel. Problems with Thermoplastic Resin Composition,” Kee Hae Kwon, Jin Hwa uniform dispersion and non-uniform bonding leads to poor Chung, Jin Seong Lee, Man Suk Kim, Kwang Soo Park and Ja grinding performance as well as inadequate wheel life. Klett Kwan Koo (Samsung SDI Co. Ltd., Yongin-si, South Korea). et al developed grinding wheel materials containing 1 to 59 Thermoplastic resins have excellent physical properties

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INDUSTRY PATENTS

such as lower specific gravity, moldability and impact Dobmaier, Alex Ehler, Patrick Gmuend, Peter Grauer, Gerrit resistance compared to glass and metals. There is an A. Michaelis and Matthias B. Olbrich (TI Automotive increasing need for transparent materials with scratch Technology Center GmbH, Rastatt, Germany). resistance and flame retardancy. Scratch resistance is Blow molding is used for forming hollow plastic products usually supplied by a hard coating, which adds cost and such as containers, including fuel tanks. In the case of fuel can lead to environmental problems. Kwon et al devel- tanks there often is a need to install special components oped flame-retardant, transparent acrylics based on a inside the tank such as a fuel pump, a fuel filter, baffles and phosphorus-containing acrylic copolymer. This material even hoses and electrical connections. This poses serious contains 0.1 to 99 parts by weight , and 0.1 to practical challenges. Boecker et al developed a blow mold- 40 parts acrylic impact modifier per 100 parts phospho- ing process in which parts of the parison are clamped rus acrylic copolymer. The phosophorus acrylics are adjacent to grooved blow molded sections. When the blow based on acrylic phosphonates. This material has flame mold is opened after blowing, the parison is torn apart into retardancy, heat resistance, good mechanical properties, two or more sections. Components are then placed in con- and flowability, all while maintaining high transparency tact with these separated sections. After assembly, the parts and scratch resistance. are evacuated or pressurized and reassembled in the mold, the mold closed and the walls fused together. The finished product is removed and further processed as needed.

Anti-Drip U.S. Patent 9,587,078 (March 7, 2017), “Processes Polyamide Aerogels for Enhancing Flame U.S. Patent 9,593,225 (March 14, Retardance and Chemical 2017), “Multifunctional Porous Resistance of Polymers,” Aramids (Aerogels), Fabrication Jean-Francois Morizur, Paul thereof, and Catalytic Dean Sybert, Andrew Frazee, Amanda Marie Flores, Peter Compositions derived there- Johnson and Thomas L. Evans (Sabic Global Technologies BV, from,” Nicholas Leventis, Bergen op Zoom, Netherlands). Chariklia Sotiriou-Leventis and Polycarbonate materials have high impact strength and Malik Adnan Saeed (University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.). toughness, heat resistance, weather and ozone resistance, Polymeric foams greatly reduce convective heat transfer, and good ductility. Polycarbonates are flame retardant but combining low density with low thermal conductivity for drip when exposed to a flame, especially with decreasing thermal insulation. Polymeric aerogels with extremely low wall thickness. This behavior inhibits their use in thin-wall density are needed with sufficient strength and structural applications. These polymers also have poor chemical resist- integrity from readily available starting materials. Leventis, ance. Morizur et al increased the drip and chemical resistance Sotiriou-Leventis and Saeed developed porous polyamide using photoactive additives based on reactive ketones. Ultra- aerogels from multifunctional aromatics that combine the violet light induces crosslinking of the photoactive additive, high mechanical strength of aramids with the pore struc- resulting in a crosslinked surface. This additive is based on ture of aerogels. The polyamides with a hyper-branched a photoactive ketone that will form stable covalent bonds structure, low-density and high-porosity are derived from to the phenolic part of the additive when exposed to ultra- functionalized monomers having more aromatic groups violet light. Example additives are dihydroxyphenone and than functional groups. An aromatic multifunctional car- dihydroxyphenyl-phenylmethanone. boxylic acid or a ferrocene multifunctional carboxylic acid is reacted with a polyfunctional aromatic isocyanate and dried with liquid carbon dioxide. These aerogels can be used to generate precious metal catalysts. These materials can Blow Molding Fuel Tanks produce carbon-supported Fe, Au, Pt, Pd, Co, Ni, Ru, and Rh U.S. Patent 9,592,631 (March 14, 2017), “Blow Molding catalysts by pyrolysis and transmetalation via galvanic Process and Apparatus,” Albert J. Boecker, Andreas W. replacement.

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October 10-12, 2017 Marriott Plaza San Antonio, San Anonio, TX

The VVinylinyl Plastics Divison and the South Texas Section are co-sponsoring Vinyltec© 2017 - New and Novel Materials and Processes to Solve Problems. Conference dates are October 11-12.

PRE-CONFERENCE SEMINAR

Th e o n e - d a y , p r e - c o n f e r e n c e w o r k s h o p EnvironmentalE nvironmental Advantages and Sustainability PVCof PVCof will be held on Tuesday,Tuesday, October 10. The seminar is held independently ooff the conference and requires a separate registration fee.

HOTEL SAVE THE DATE! THE SAVE THE DATE! Marriott Plaza San Antonio 555 S. Alamo Street San Antonio, TX 78205

Conference rate is $179/night. Room reservations can be made by calling the hotel at +1 210-229-1000 and referencing Vinyltec© 2017.

Make your reservations early. The last day to book is September 9, 2017.

SPONSORSHIP & TABLETOP DISPLAYS SPONSOR & EXHIBIT

SponsorshipSponsorship and tabletop display opportunities are still available. YYouou can register at wwww.4spe.org/vinyltecww.4spe.org/vinyltec or contact Suzanne BBiggsiggs Diecks atat [email protected] for more information.

the in As in the past,past, all excess revenue from the conference wwillill help fund the scholarship programs of both the Division and Section. We hope we can count on you again this year.

PleasePlease tell your colleagues and friends about the Vinyltec© 2017 conference and workshop

For complete details, visit: www.4spe.org/vinyltec 60-65 Patents_046854 IndustryNews.QXD 5/22/17 7:35 AM Page 64

INDUSTRY PATENTS

aesthetics. The LDPE resin foam layer has a closed-cell struc- ture with strong adhesion to the copolymer layer. Improved Polyethylene Foams

U.S. Patent 9,592,642 (March 14, 2017), “Method for Producing Multilayer Polyethylene Resin Foam Sheet,” Kazuhiko Morita, Hirotoshi Kakuta and Ryuichi Taniguchi (JSP ABOUT THE AUTHOR Corp., Tokyo, Japan). Dr. Roger Corneliussen is Professor Emer- itus of Materials Engineering of Drexel Polyethylene foam sheets are used in many applications University in Philadelphia. He has been such as shock-absorbing packaging and partitions because an SPE member since 1962 and an active of its flexibility and cushioning properties. However, envi- member of the Philadelphia Section, serv- ronmental stress cracking remains a problem. Morita, Kakuta ing as president and national councilman for several years. The above patents are and Taniguchi produced a multilayer foam sheet by coex- selected from the 100 to 400 plastics- truding a foamable, low-density polyethylene (LDPE) with a related patents found by reviewing 3,000 physical blowing agent and a foamable blend of 80 to 20 to 7,000 U.S. patents published each Tues- wt% ethylene-propylene random copolymer and 20 to 80 day. Readers can review the complete list of plastics-related patents by week at wt% polyethylene homopolymer. This multilayer foam sheet www.plasticspatents.com. is resistant to environmental stress cracking with excellent

# Extrusion – heating & insulation provided by band heaters and insulation is vital to reduce energy use and for Health and Safety. 74 Most of the heating in extrusion comes from frictional or shear heating as the plastic is being moved along the barrel by the screw. In most cases the barrel heaters are used at a Actions: very low level and the energy used is much less than for Check extruder controls to make sure that the heating and injection molding machines. Shear heating is also more • cooling are working efficiently together and not competing efficient than external barrel heating which only acts on the with one another. outer layer of the material at the barrel interface. • Check the barrel heater ammeters. If the heaters are Insulation can be effective on extruder barrels but not in all constantly “on” then shear heating is not providing all the sections or for all applications. If the shear heating is low then heating required and insulation could well be beneficial. insulation will reduce the energy needed from barrel heaters. • Extrusion dies, transfer pipes, screen changers/melt filters If shear heating is high then insulating the extruder barrel and almost everything downstream of the extruder screw can lead to a “runaway process.” tips can be insulated with either flexible or with board type insulation. Downstream from the extruder screw tips there is very little shear heating because the flow is mainly through channels Dr. Robin Kent — ©Tangram Technology Ltd. with low shearing. In these areas, almost all the heating is (www.tangram.co.uk)

Note: Dr. Robin Kent is the author of Energy Management in Plastics Processing, published by Plastics Information Direct, and managing director of Tangram Technology Ltd., consulting engineers specializing in energy management in plastics processing. [email protected].

64 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | JUNE 2017 | www.4spe.org | www.plasticsengineering.org 60-65 Patents_046854 IndustryNews.QXD 5/22/17 7:35 AM Page 65

SPSPEPE SEPTEMBER 11-13, 2017 mofTher ormof mmingg CoConff enceerence® Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld® - Orlando, Florida

Hear keynote presentations from:

Tuesday, September 12 Ryan Avery Youngest World Champion of Public Speaking in History and Best-Selling Author

Motivating Millennials™: How to Recognize, Recruit and Retain the Next Generation of Leaders

Wednesday, September 13 John Register Paralympic Silver Medalist and Two-Time TEDx Speaker

Citius – Altius – Fortius! Business Lessons from Olympic and Paralympic Medalists

Advance Registration Ends August 25

Questions / Information: Lesley Kyle, CMP Conference Coordinator P: +1 914-671-9524 | [email protected]

Follow: @SPEThermo Visit: thermoformingdivision.com 66-67 Events_046854 IndustryNews.QXD 5/22/17 7:33 AM Page 66

INDUSTRY EVENTS

June 28-29 – Single-Screw Extrusion Seminar SPE & PARTNERED CONFERENCES University of Maine - Chemical Engineering Dept., Orono, Maine 2017 Contact: Greg Campbell Tel.: 207-271-7730 June 14-16 – PEPP Europe 2017 (25th Polyethylene- Email: [email protected] Polypropylene Chain Global Technology & Business Web: www.4spe.org/singlescrew Forum) Hilton Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany Aug. 1-3 – Injection Molding Innovations Conference Contact: IHS Markit Marriott Hotel, Oakbrook, Ill. Web: http://www.ihs.com/events/pepp- Contact: Scott Marko 2017/overview.html Tel.: 203-740-5442 SPE-Partnered Event Web www.4spe.org/injectionmolding

June 19-20 – Plastics Decorating & In-Mold Decorating Aug. 14-15 – Plastics 3D: The Materials Conference for Marriott Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, Ill. Additive Manufacturing Contact: Jeff Peterson Co-organized with Plastics News Tel.: 785-271-5801 JW Marriott, Indianapolis, Ind. Email: [email protected] Contact: Scott Marko Web: http://www.plasticsdecorating.com/topcon/2017 Tel.: 203-740-5442 Web: http://www.plasticsnews.com/plastics3D June 20-21 – Medical & Analytical Plastic Product & SPE-Partnered Event Part Design Courtyard Marriott Boston Marlborough Aug. 24 – The Future is Plastics: A Celebration of SPE’s Contact: Michael Paloian 75th Anniversary Tel.: 516-993-0285 The Gem Theatre, Detroit, Mich. Email: [email protected] Contact: Scott Marko Web: www.spe-pd3.org Tel.: 203-740-5442 Web: www.4spe.org/events June 20-22 – The Future of Composites in Construction Organized by JEC Group Sept. 6-8 – 17th Annual Automotive Composites McCormick Place Lakeside Center, Chicago Conference & Exhibition (ACCE) Contact: Thierry-Alain Truong Diamond Banquet & Conference Center at the Suburban Tel.: +33 1 5836 4398 Collection Showplace Email: [email protected] Novi, Mich. Web: www.jeccomposites.com/events/the-future-of-com- Contact: Rani Richardson posites-in-construction-2017 Tel.: 201-675-8361 SPE-Partnered Event Email: [email protected] Web: www.SPEautomotive.com/acce-conference June 27-29 – Re|focus Recycling Summit Organized by the Plastic Industry Association (PLASTICS) Sept. 11-13 – SPE Thermoforming Conference Rosen Shingle Creek, Orlando, Fla. Renaissance at Sea World, Orlando, Fla. Contact: PLASTICS headquarters in D.C. Contacts: Juliet Goff & Paul Uphaus Tel.: 202-974-5200 Tel.: 914-671-9524 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] or puphaus@primexplas- Web: www.refocussummit.org tics.com SPE-Partnered Event Web: www.thermoformingdivision.com

66 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | JUNE 2017 | www.4spe.org | www.plasticsengineering.org 66-67 Events_046854 IndustryNews.QXD 5/22/17 1:03 PM Page 67

Sept. 17-19 – Color & Appearance Conference Nov. 8 – 47th Automotive Innovation Awards (CAD RETEC®) Dinner & Gala Wisconsin Center/Hilton City Center, Milwaukee Burton Manor, Livonia, Mich. Contact: Bruce Mulholland Contact: Jeffrey Helms Tel.: 859-525-4756 Tel.: 248-459-7012 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Web: www.speCAD.org/events Web: www.speautomotive.com/inno.htm

Oct. 1-4 – Automotive TPO Conference 2018 Marriott Hotel, Troy, Mich. Contact: Sassan Tarahomi Feb. 25-28 – SPE International Polyolefins Conference Tel.: 248-455-3981 Hilton Hotel North, Houston, Texas Contact: Chuck Crosby (SPE South Texas Section) Email: [email protected] Tel.: 281-793-4536 Web: www.auto-tpo.com Email: [email protected] Web: www.spe-stx.org/conference.php Oct. 2-4 – SPE Blow Molding Conference Doubletree Oak Brook, Oak Brook, Ill. May 7-11 – NPE 2018: The Plastics Show Contact: Ron Puvak Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Fla. Tel.: 419-867-5400 Contact: PLASTICS headquarters in D.C. Email: [email protected] Tel.: 202-974-5200 Web: www.blowmoldingdivision.org/conferences/confer- Email: [email protected] ence-2017 Web: www.npe.org

Oct. 9-12 – SPE FOAMS 2017 (15th Int’l Conference on Advances in Foam Materials & Technology) University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany Technical Contact: Prof. Volker Altstad Tel.: + 49 172 4556564 Journals Email: [email protected] Web: www.4spe.org/foams2017

Oct. 10-12 – Vinyltec 2017 Journal of Vinyl & Additive Technology Marriott Plaza, San Antonio, Texas A peer-reviewed Contacts: David Owen technical publication that provides research Tel.: 281-884-4451 papers on polymer Email: [email protected] VHYLWLGGDGQDVUHȴLGRP  vinyl polymers and & Dave Peeples selected review papers. Tel.: 225-354-8237 Email: [email protected] JVATT also covers technology of additives Web: www.4spe.org/vinyltec OODURIVUHȴLGRPGQD OOIȴLGG VUHP\ORSIRVHVVDOF  as well as papers on Nov. 6-8 – Design in Plastics 2017 vinyl technology and College for Creative Studies, Detroit, Mich. PVC additives. Contact: Bob Grace Tel.: 330-289-9488 Email: [email protected] Web: www.4spe.org/designinplastics

www.plasticsengineering.org | www.4spe.org | JUNE 2017 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 67 68-72 Market Place_editorial 5/22/17 7:32 AM Page 68

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          [email protected], www.tangram.co.uk                           Twin screw compounding      !""#$%&! %' extruder trials available! ()  *+ ,   ) + ,   ) JSWUSA: Japan Steel Works America, Inc. 24387 Halstead Road Unit B, Farmington Hills, Michigan 48335 USA Office: 248-536-0288 X103 Email: [email protected]

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68 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | JUNE 2017 | www.4spe.org | www.plasticsengineering.org 68-72 Market Place_editorial 5/22/17 7:32 AM Page 69

■PROFESSIONAL ■HELP SERVICES WANTED

Plastic Design Engineers We Buy Equipment! Chicago, near O’Hare Airport. We Are “Sniffing Out” Plastics Equipment Engineering Company wishes to create a team of engineers to design presses and molds for pallet > Compounding Lines manufacturing; structural foaming. The company wishes to manufacture its own product and has > Recycling Lines need for 20,000 new pallets per week. > Profile Equipment > Sheet Lines There are only two companies currently in the > Shredders world that make structural foaming pallets and > Grinders and more... one of the companies has 97% market share. THEREFORE, if possible, we will find the Tell Us What You Have For Sale engineers to design and supervise the www.aaronequipment.com/sniff construction of the presses and molds. or call: 855-722-5165 This is an ongoing need of a major food manufacturer. We believe in free enterprise ant this talent will be well compensated.

EOE, health insurance, stock options available. Relocation package may be available. Salary commensurate with experience.

This is a career opportunity. Please send resume WITH PHONE NUMBER to [email protected] with a subject line “Plastic Design Engineers” MF/EOE

www.plasticsengineering.org | www.4spe.org | JUNE 2017 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 69 68-72 Market Place_editorial 5/23/17 9:58 AM Page 70

EDITORIAL INDEX

3D Matter ...... 56 Major League Soccer...... 37 Aberystwyth University (Wales)...... 18 McKinsey & Co...... 14, 34 Society of Plastics Engineers Acelon Chemicals & Fiber Corp...... 60 Michigan State University...... 15 Adidas AG ...... 36, 37 Michigan Technological University ...... 9 Adient PLC ...... 31 Milacron...... 29 EDITORIAL STAFF Alpine Waste & Recycling...... 27 NASA ...... 52 American Chemistry Council...... 19, 54 National Association of Container Distributors ...... 46 Editor-in-Chief AMP Robotics ...... 27 National Chemical Laboratory ...... 11 Briana Gilmartin Arkema France ...... 60 National Recycling Technologies LLC...... 27 Association of Plastics Recyclers...... 26, 29, 43 NatureWorks LLC...... 57 Association Pour La Recherche et le Developpement des NineSigma Inc...... 54 Managing Editor Methodes et Processus Industriels ...... 60 Norton Point...... 36 Robert Grace Athens Services ...... 27 Operations and Safety Solutions LLC ...... 52, 53 Australian Vinyl Council ...... 56 Pacific Lutheran University ...... 61 Contributing Editors Battenfeld Fischer ...... 10 Palmetto Synthetics LLC...... 32 Baylor University ...... 11 Parisons Blow Molding ...... 7 Dr. Roger Corneliussen Bekum ...... 10 Parley for the Oceans ...... 36, 37 Jon Evans Biomed Innovation Pvt. Ltd...... 11 Patagonia Inc...... 22, 31 BlueAvocado Co...... 31 Pennsylvania College of Technology ...... 11 Dr. Robin Kent Bollegraaf Recycling Machinery BV ...... 27, 28 Pepsico ...... 28 Borealis AG ...... 55 Plastics Europe...... 19 Marketing & Communications Borouge Pte. Ltd...... 55 Plasticity Forum ...... 6, 21 Braskem ...... 16 Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS)...... 44, 66 Sue Wojnicki Bulk Handling Systems...... 26, 27 Plastics News ...... 46, 66 Canadian Plastics Industry Association ...... 10 Plastic Technologies Inc...... 8 Branding & Design Chemson Group ...... 56 Plastiques GPR ...... 10 Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP ...... 9 Procter & Gamble Co,...... 35, 36 Liz Martland & Kim Wakuluk Citrus World Inc...... 28 Profile Plastics Inc...... 7 Clariant AG...... 54 Progressive Plastics Inc...... 1, 23 Art Director Coca-Cola Co...... 6, 19, 28, 46 Push Plastic...... 56 Gerry Mercieca Covestro LLC...... 58 Quicksilver Inc...... 31 Dell Inc...... 34, 36 Reliance Industries Ltd...... 60 Diversified Plastics Inc...... 6 Research and Markets ...... 44 Publisher Dow Chemical Co...... 9, 48, 50, 51 Reverdia...... 18 Steven Ottogalli DuPont Co...... 52 Roger C. Kipp Sr. & Associates...... 8 East Coast Precision Manufacturing ...... 53 Rogers Foam Co...... 32 Eastman Chemical Co...... 58 Rozalia Project ...... 1, 22, 24 2017–2018 EXECUTIVE BOARD EconCore NV...... 57 SABIC ...... 55 Eindhoven University (Netherlands) ...... 57 SABIC Global Technologies BV ...... 62 President Ellen MacArthur Foundation ...... 12, 14, 17, 18, 19, 54 Sadako Technologies SL...... 27 Raed Al-Zu’bi Emery Oleochemicals LLC ...... 56 Sage Automotive Interiors ...... 31 Engineering Systems Inc...... 10 Saint-Gobain Abrasives Inc...... 61 CEO, SPE Envision Plastics ...... 6 Saint-Gobain Abrasifs ...... 61 European Bioplastics ...... 15, 16 Samsung SDI Co. Ltd...... 61 Willem De Vos Exo-S ...... 32 Savitribai Phule Pune University (India)...... 11 ExxonMobil ...... 6 Schupan Recycling...... 31 President-elect Ferrovial Services...... 27 Silgan Plastic Food Containers ...... 29 FGH Systems Inc...... 7 Smithers Pira ...... 46 Brian Grady Florida’s Natural Growers ...... 28 Sonoco Products Co...... 29 Ford Motor Co...... 30 Steinwall Inc...... 6 Vice President - Business & Finance Forest Stewardship Council ...... 58 Stratasys Ltd...... 55 Jeremy Dworshak FOY Group Ltd...... 20, 21, 22 Structured Growth Capital Inc...... 21 Fraunhaufer UMSICHT (Germany) ...... 16 Swiftwick ...... 31 Freedonia Group ...... 44, 46 Tangram Technology Ltd...... 41, 64 Vice President - Divisions General Motors...... 7, 30, 31, 32 Tetra Pak...... 19, 27 Creig Bowland GEP Fuel & Energy Indiana LLC...... 21 TI Automotive Technology Center GmbH ...... 62 GoatThroat Pumps ...... 52, 53 Titan 3D Robotics...... 56 Hanbury Plastics Recycling...... 28 Unifi Inc...... 31 Vice President - Events Harris Teeter Supermarkets Inc...... 29 Uniloy Milacron ...... 10 Jaime Gómez HEC Business School of Montreal (Canada) ...... 10 United Nations Environmental Program ...... 34, 58 Home Depot...... 29 United Nations General Assembly ...... 37 Vice President - Marketing & Hummel Recycling BV...... 28 Universite Catholique De Louvain ...... 60 IDEO ...... 54 University of Akron ...... 11 Communications IHS Markit ...... 66 University of Delaware ...... 9 Conor Carlin IKEA ...... 19 University of Massachusetts – Lowell ...... 9, 11 Illinois Institute of Technology ...... 10 University of Missouri ...... 62 Ingalls Markets Inc...... 29 University of Oklahoma...... 4 Vice President - Sections Institute of Packaging Professionals ...... 4 University of Quebec (Canada) ...... 10 Monika Verheij Integrated Green Energy Ltd...... 21, 22 University of Utrecht (Netherlands) ...... 17 JEC Group ...... 66 University of Valladolid (Spain) ...... 9 Vice President - Technology & John Deere ...... 8 University of Washington...... 61 Johnson Controls Inc...... 31 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ...... 42 Education Johnson & Johnson ...... 9 Van Dyk Recycling Solutions ...... 27 Brian Landes JSP Corp...... 64 Virginia Tech ...... 9 Kautex Maschinenbau GmbH ...... 10 Waitrose ...... 18 Kellen ...... 4 Westcott Distribution Inc...... 52 Vice President - Young Professionals Keurig Green Mountain Inc...... 26, 27 Wittmann Battenfeld GmbH ...... 57 Sergio Sanchez Kickstarter ...... 23 Wm. T. Burnett & Co...... 32 Kortec Inc...... 29 World Economic Forum ...... 14, 34 K.U. Leuven (Belgium)...... 57 Yumix LLC ...... 8 2016–2017 President KW Plastics ...... 29 Zen Robotics Oy...... 27 Scott Owens McCall Farms Inc...... 29 Zhejiang University (China) ...... 61 McClarin Plastics Inc...... 8

Plastics Engineering (ISSN 0091-9578) is published monthly, except bimonthly in July/August and November/December, by Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., a Wiley Company, 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030 USA. The magazine is compiled and edited by the Society of Plastics Engineers, Editorial and Business Office, 6 Berkshire Blvd., Suite 306, Bethel, CT 06801 USA. Telephone +1 203-775-0471, Fax +1 203-775-8490. SPE Home Page: www.4spe.org. Communications should be sent to the Editor. Send address changes and undeliverable copies to the Circulation Manager at the SPE address given above. Send subscription orders and claims for non-receipt to Wiley Subscription Services at the Wiley address given above. SPE members receive the magazine as a benefit of membership. Subscription rate for nonmembers is $219 for 1 year; add $100 per year for subscriptions outside North America. Single-issue price is $20. Plastics Engineering is printed by Dartmouth Printing Co., a Sheridan Group Company. Copyright 2017 by the Society of Plastics Engineers, Inc. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Plastics Engineering, 6 Berkshire Blvd., Suite 306, Bethel, CT 06801 USA. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Plastics Engineering is indexed by Engineering Information Inc. Neither Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., nor the Society of Plastics Engineers, nor Plastics Engineering is responsible for opinions or statements of facts expressed by contributors or advertisers, either in the articles published in Plastics Engineering or in the technical papers that are presented at the meetings of the Society. Editorials do not necessarily represent the official policy of Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., or the Society. Display and classified advertisements are included as an educational service to readers of Plastics Engineering. Advertising appearing in Plastics Engineering is not to be taken as an endorsement, expressed or implied, of the respective company’s processes, products, or services represented in the ad. Printed in the U.S.A.

70 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | JUNE 2017 | www.4spe.org | www.plasticsengineering.org 68-72 Market Place_editorial 5/22/17 7:33 AM Page 71

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For more info visit us at 4spe.org 68-72 Market Place_editorial 5/22/17 7:33 AM Page 72

AD INDEX

Aaron Equipment Company www.aaronequipment.com/sniff...... 69 ADVERTISING SALES Allgrind Plastics www.allgrind.com ...... 68 FOR PRINT AND ON LINE DIGITAL Arizona Instrument, LLC www.azic.com/pe ...... 5, 41 ADVERTISING SALES in Plastics Engineering magazine Ascend Performance Materials www.ascendmaterials/vydyne ...... Cover 4 please contact:

Battenfeld-Cincinnati www.battenfeld-cincinnati.com/usa/products...... 3 Global Sciences Sales Director Brabender CWB [email protected] ...... 11 Dan Nicholas

Connect With SPE www.4spe.org ...... 71 Tel: +1-716-587-2181 [email protected] DAK Americas www.dakamericas.com ...... 37

IMS Company www.imscompany.com/G6...... Cover 3, 25 Sr. Account Manager Print & E Media Advertising J.P. Curilla Associates Email: [email protected] ...... 68 Roland Espinosa Japan Steel Works www.jswcompounding-usa.com ...... Cover 2, 68 Tel: +1-201-748-6819 E-mail: [email protected] John Anderson & Associates www.plasticsjobsearch.com ...... 68

Plastic Flow www.plasticflow.com...... 68 Product and news releases for Polyhedron Laboratories, Inc. www.polyhedronlab.com ...... 68 Plastics Engineering can be sent Process Design & Technologies www.processdesigntech.com...... 68 directly to [email protected]

Rheo-Plast Associates Inc. www.rheoplastusa.com ...... 68

REPI www.repi.com...... 17

SAM North America www.sam-na.com • Email: [email protected] ...... 68 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030 USA SPE 75th Anniversary Celebration email: [email protected]...... 45

SPE Automotive Composites Conference www.speautomotive.com ...... 33

SPE Blow Molding Conference www.blowmoldingdivision.org...... 59

SPE Innovation Awards www.speautomotive.com ...... 47

SPE Partnership www.4spe.org/partnerwithspe ...... 51

SPE Technical Journals www.4spe.org ...... 67

SPE The Chain thechain.4spe.org ...... 24 6 Berkshire Blvd., Suite 306 SPE Thermoforming Conference www.thermoformingdivision.com ...... 65 Bethel, CT 06801 USA www.4spe.org SPE Vinyltec 2017 www.4spe.org/vinyltec...... 63

Tangram Technology www.tangram.co.uk...... 68

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— Helping Molders Since 1949! — 00 Cover_Layout 1 5/23/17 7:37 AM Page cvr4