A quick interview with Zotefoams

How can the packaging industry reduce carbon emissions?

From COVID-19 to sustainable development, two ExxonMobil experts—Francois Chambon, polyethylene global strategic marketing manager and Etienne Lernoux, senior technical expert—looked forward to the future of the flexible packaging market.

The growth of the packaging industry is currently being driven by two major trends: global population growth and an expanding middle class. Compared with today's 7.5 billion, the global population is expected to reach 9.2 billion by 2040. At the same time, the global middle class is expected to grow by 66% in the next ten years, from 3 billion to more than 5 billion, and people will live longer, healthier, and better lives.  

The improvement of living standards will lead to more people getting more cars, electrical appliances and electronic products. This is especially true in China, where per capita GDP is expected to triple by 2040, reaching more than US$40,000, which will be similar to the purchasing power of the European Economic Cooperation and Development Organization (OECD) in 2030.

Chemical demand growth outlook

In the next ten years alone, these megatrends will lead to an estimated increase in global chemical demand by nearly 45%, or about 4% annually. This growth is higher than forecasts for energy and GDP growth over the same period. The expected impact on the plastics industry includes:

Almost all of this growth is expected to occur in developing countries, with two-thirds in the Asia-Pacific region. By 2040, the middle-class population of India and China is expected to exceed 1 billion, which will especially drive the demand for packaging and polyethylene (PE). 

Although the growth of the global population and middle class is driving the demand for chemicals and plastics, other trends are affecting the packaging landscape.

Pressure to resist single-use plastics: It is expected that the packaging value chain participants and the public will promote the reduction of single-use plastic waste. Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, some retailers (especially in Europe) experienced early plastic deselection. 

Once the crisis has passed, as consumers' emotions change to "health and protection first", people may pay more attention to packaging safety. This may change consumers’ perceptions of packaging, making them more focused on hygiene rather than sustainability).

E-commerce and convenience: The rise of e-commerce and the increasing demand for convenience are shaping new B2B and B2C customer expectations. E-commerce and home delivery businesses have experienced a huge boost during the pandemic, but packages need better impact and puncture resistance because they are handled by more people than traditional value chains. 

For example, due to sharp objects, careless handling or improper selection of packaging materials that lead to seal failure and puncture, leakage of fresh meat packaging is the number one complaint for fresh electronic grocery delivery. The packaging of liquid products has also changed from rigid packaging to flexible packaging because e-commerce purchases require enhanced integrity.

Smart value chain: Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT) are changing industrial production and creating new opportunities in the PE value chain. Industry 4.0 helps ensure traceability from packaging production to final product placement on retail shelves and is expected to play an increasingly important role in ensuring traceability of packaging ingredients, especially when recycled content is included.   

However, the demand for more sustainable solutions in the packaging industry value chain will continue to grow, focusing on three aspects of using PE:

In terms of increasing recycling rates while maintaining performance, value chain cooperation is imperative, because packaging must be functionally effective-all of which is to achieve the European Commission's goal of using 10 tons of recycled plastic per year by 2025.

Many packaging structures traditionally use composite structures (laminates), which usually include PE films used as sealants, and oriented films such as polyester or PA films used as substrates. These multi-material structures are difficult to recycle in the mechanical recycling process.

In recent years, people have created solutions to replace these substrates with PE films that are easier to recycle, and many new solutions are being developed. Special attention is paid to directional PE, whether it is one-way (MDOPE) or two-way (BOPE). These PE//PE laminates can improve recyclability and may contribute to a circular economy.

A successful case is the full PE laminated stand-up pouch (SUP) solution (red and white SUP) to replace the traditional multi-material structure. In the presence of procedures and facilities for collecting and recycling plastic film, these all-PE SUPs can be easily recycled. This is the first step.

The second step is to recycle the content of the full PE self-supporting bag (green SUP). It is made of MDO film using 100% virgin PE, laminated to the sealing film, which contains the recycled material of the full PE SUP from step 1. Recycled materials are combined with the original Exceed™ XP, Exceed™ and Enable™ high-performance PE polymers and Exact™ plastic products to maintain the mechanical properties of the final SUP. This entire laminate combines 30% recycled content PE film and 70% virgin PE. 

It has excellent packaging integrity, puncture and optical properties, making it ideal for non-food applications such as detergent and dishwasher labels. The creation of SUP took advantage of the collaboration with Hosokawa Alpine (film extrusion and MDO equipment), Erema (recycling machinery) and Henkel, the latter of which developed optimized adhesives for mechanical recycling to improve the re-extrusion process. Processability, and reduce the influence of the odor and discoloration of the recycled materials.

The MDO process significantly improves the elongation resistance in the machine direction and makes the PE film stronger during printing and lamination, which is the key to the success of SUP.

The film structure on the above slide shows a 5-layer PE film developed for MDO and lamination. Since many packaging machines today are designed to process high heat-resistant laminates, a large amount of high-density PE (HDPE) must be added to the formulation to avoid or minimize thermal deformation during the sealing process.

In order to ensure the excellent optical performance after MDO, medium-density Enable™ 4002 and Enable™ 4009 (0.940 density) high-performance polyethylene are placed in each surface layer. Compared with other solutions (such as solutions using HDPE in the surface layer), they also impart excellent film optical properties with a lower stretch ratio. Only 4.6 times of orientation can still obtain very good optical properties, while HDPE resin usually requires about 6 times. The converter can stretch the film less, thereby minimizing the risk of splitting that is not conducive to production efficiency.

In order to enhance mechanical properties and bag drop performance, Exceed™ XP high-performance polyethylene is added to the core layer. If higher heat resistance is required, some HDPE can also be added to the core layer. The MDO film laminated to the PE sealant film has similar bag drop performance to the OPA//PE laminate.

As for further development, ExxonMobil is currently working on a solution to incorporate gas barriers into MDOPE//PE laminates while maintaining performance and recycling opportunities. 

Multi-layer co-extruded structures containing PA may be an important issue for recycling. These structures are commonly used in thermoforming applications and contain 30% to 50% PA. PA has a wide range of uses, with the characteristics of fit, puncture resistance, abrasion resistance, easy thermoforming and barrier properties. 

Removal of PA from these multilayer structures is a key goal for improving recyclability. Exceed™ XP 6026 and 6056 high-performance polyethylene can be used to increase puncture resistance while reducing the thickness of the PA layer. PA can be reduced by 30% while enhancing puncture resistance.

Development work is currently underway to further reduce or remove the PA in these multilayer films, just like the development work on PE thermoformed films or at least polyolefin thermoformed films, which can be easily recycled. 

In the foreseeable future, mixed polymer streams that are difficult to recycle will continue to be a challenge for the industry. Compatibilizers are being developed that can combine polyolefins with incompatible polymers while minimizing performance loss. 

The effect of the compatibilizer on the PE PA mixture is shown in two pictures. If there is no compatibilizer, PA cannot be well dispersed in the PE matrix, forming large inclusions, thereby reducing the performance of PE. Adding an effective compatibilizer helps to disperse PA into smaller inclusions and combine them with PE.

The impact of compatibilizers on performance can be huge. This chart highlights the performance of compatibilizers based on MAH grafted Vistamaxx™ high-performance polymers in post-industrial recycling streams containing PE, polypropylene (PP), PA, and EVOH. The structure represented by the gray shaded area is made of 100% recycled components and has poor performance. Adding a compatibilizer can significantly improve mechanical properties, such as dart resistance, tear resistance, and puncture resistance, as shown by the blue outline.

One problem associated with increasing the recycled content in the formulation is that it adversely affects the performance of the final product. Adding high-performance polymers such as Exceed™ XP can improve performance.

The gray shaded area in the chart represents the basic film structure, which is made of 70% LLDPE and 30% LDPE. As shown by the purple dotted line, the introduction of 75% Exceed™ XP 8656 high-performance polyethylene in the surface layer allows the use of up to 100% recycled resin in the core layer, and the film characteristics suitable for the application are similar to the reference film made of virgin polymer , To be maintained.  

Another way to consider the impact of high-performance PE polymers on the entire film is to use 38% Exceed™ XP to allow the introduction of up to 50% recycled materials.

Using a similar concept, the collaboration between The Barbier Group, a leading French PE film processor and recycler, and ExxonMobil has resulted in the manufacture of a finishing shrink film containing 50% post-consumer recycled content and Enable™ 4002 high-performance polymer. Performance booster. Packaging with minimal risk of breakage does not degrade mechanical properties, while optical properties (such as gloss and transparency) enable brand owners to effectively promote products. 

Over time, the pressure to develop sustainable solutions that do more with less and contribute to the circular economy will continue and increase. The collaborative efforts of the value chain in leveraging the power of these three technological focus areas will play a key role in the development of innovative solutions that provide the benefits of sustainable development and meet changing brand owner commitments and consumer expectations And regulatory changes. 

Victoria Hattersley talked with Itue Yanagida, Toray International Europe GmbH's graphics system business development manager.

Philippe Gallard, Global Innovation Director of Nestlé Water, discussed the trends and latest developments from recyclability and reusability to different packaging materials.

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