Dow recognized as a Three Star winner for its environmentally sustainable packaging solution

Dow (NYSE: DOW) has been recognized as a Three Star winner for its all- polyethylene (PE) stand-up pouch – winning the Singapore Packaging Awards 2021, AsiaStar Awards 2021, and WorldStar Awards 2022.

Dow’s all-polyethylene (PE) stand-up pouch: Recyclable with outstanding

Dow’s all-PE stand-up pouch was developed in collaboration with value-chain partners to be designed for recyclability right from the start. The sustainable packaging solution, made with one raw material – polyethylene, offers the same convenience and performance that multi-material pouches offer, with the added benefit of complete recyclability in existing streams. Other material properties include excellent toughness, enhanced shelf appeal, and reduced plastic weight.

Dow has partnered with brand owners to introduce this sustainable packaging solution to various industries in Asia. These brands include Liby, a leading laundry brand in China, which has collaborated with Dow to produce fully recyclable packaging for its laundry pods using Dow’s INNATETM TF Polyethylene Resins for Tenter Frame Biaxial Orientation (TF-BOPE).

Amorepacific, a global beauty company from South Korea, has also adopted Dow’s INNATETM TF-BOPE for its liquid products under luxury cosmetic brand Sulwhasoo, clean beauty brand Primera, as well as the derma cosmetic brand illiyoon.

The development of Dow’s all-PE stand-up pouch is part of its sustainability targets and commitment to close the loop by enabling 100% of its products to be sold into packaging applications to be reusable or recyclable by 2035.

“We are honored to be recognized for our efforts in sustainability. Being awarded a Three Star Winner acknowledges Dow’s commitment to leverage our advanced materials science capabilities to create valuable products with minimal environmental impact,” said Wu Chang, technical service and development director, Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics, Asia Pacific. “We strive to continue establishing value-chain collaborations with industry leaders to create more sustainable packaging solutions, and work towards achieving a cleaner environment together.”

Singapore Packaging Awards 2021

The Singapore Packaging Star Awards, organized by the Packaging Council of Singapore (PCS), an industry group under the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF), is a prestigious national award that honors companies for their innovative and creative packaging designs and material use. The awards recognize packaging excellence in four commercial award categories – Sales & Display Product,

Environmentally Sustainable Packaging Product, Transportation & Protection Product, and Point of Sale. Dow has won under the Environmentally Sustainable Packaging Product category – which honors companies who have developed packages designed with special considerations for environmental impact during the entire product lifecycle.

AsiaStar 2021

The AsiaStar Award is organized by the Asian Packaging Federation, a non-profit organization established in Japan that unites the packaging interests of all trade and industries across the region under one cooperative umbrella. The award looks at six commercial categories – Consumer Package, Transport Package, Eco-Package, Point of Purchase Package, and Packaging Material & Components. Dow has received the award under the Eco-Package category, which recognizes the brand’s efforts in designing packaging with the environment in mind.

WorldStar Awards 2022

The WorldStar Awards is a global packaging competition led by the World Packaging Organization, which aims to illustrate the continual advancement of the state of packaging design and technology and creates a living standard of international packaging excellence from which others may learn. There are 16 main award categories under WorldStar Awards, which include E-Commerce, Electronics, Packaging Materials, and Components, amongst others.

Dow’s all-PE stand-up pouch won the award under the Packaging Materials and Components category, enabling high production speed of its 100% recyclable solution for a flexible stand-up pouch that was not possible before. This solution was created with Dow Singapore Pack Studios – a packaging expertise center that enables collaboration across the value chain to ideate conceptual packaging designs to develop scalable, innovative packaging solutions. With the recent wins, Dow continues to strive to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy through its products and partnerships.

www.dow.com

Medical & Healthcare TPEs’ Adhesion & Processing Characteristic

The demand for high-performance engineering plastics such as thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) has expanded due to recent advances in healthcare and medical equipment. TPE compounds also satisfy the expectations of manufacturers in terms of production and cost-efficiency.

TPEs bond easily when processed either through overmolding or co-extrusion with most commonly used structural plastics, eliminating the need for additional adhesives and allowing for faster and more cost-effective processing.

One of the main areas of growth for TPEs is overmolding. Many product designers are utilizing TPEs to add a “soft touch” to a rigid material. KRAIBURG TPE, a global TPE manufacturer of a wide range of TPE products and custom solutions for multiple industries, offers the THERMOLAST H series HC/AP, developed specifically for healthcare and medical device applications in the Asia Pacific. The HC/AP series compounds have a hardness range of 30-90 Shore A and can be used in a variety of applications due to their wide range of hardness from soft to semi-rigid.

Especially for medical and healthcare applications, KRAIBURG TPE’s HC/AP series of TPE compounds can be over-molded to produce comfortable, non-slip, and abrasion-resistant handles, grips, and buttons. Through multi-component injection molding and extrusion, the THERMOLAST H HC/AP series has good bonding with polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) resins, allowing for flexibility in product designs. As such, the compounds can be over-molded to alter the surface feel, improve aesthetics, and cushion against vibrations.

All-round material solutions

Good haptics, soft-touch properties, and elasticity improve function and design, allowing medical device manufacturers to be more creative with their product applications. KRAIBURG TPE’s HC/AP compounds have a good compression set and are thus fitting for sealing and closure applications. Furthermore, the compounds can be sterilized in an autoclave at 121°C or with ETO (gas); and have good thermoplastics processing and flowability, stretching the possibility for more medical part designs.

The HC/AP series compounds are safe for use in medical applications and meet standards such as cytotoxicity ISO 10993-5, GB/T 16886.5, biocompatibility testing according to ISO 10993-5 and GB/T 16886.5, as well as a number of international food contact and medical standards.

Other properties such as good chemical resistance, good sealing, and no cytotoxic potential, as well as the ability to be colored into various chromatic effects, present KRAIBURG TPE’s HC/AP compounds as all-round material solutions for the medical and healthcare segments.

#TPes’ #thermoplastic elastomers #healthcare #medicalequipment 

www.kraiburg-tpe.com

SABIC collaborates with China’s Dongfeng to produce lightweight truck-mounted toolbox with novel plastic-composite hybrid solution

“This plastic composite solution is a great example of how SABIC helps automotive customers expand design options and simplify production so they can achieve their goals,” said Abdullah Al-Otaibi, general manager, ETP & Market Solutions, SABIC.

“By combining two different materials, our solution improves both performance and processability. Now that this composite technology is validated and in mass production with Dongfeng, we see many other automotive applications that could benefit and we are excited to help manufacturers seize those opportunities.”

In addition to truck tool boxes, automotive applications for this hybrid solution with STAMAX resin can potentially include tailgates, seating, front-end modules, and battery housings for electric vehicles. The use of this plastic composite solution can enable manufacturers to not only reduce weight, but also lower carbon emissions, control costs through production efficiencies, and achieve higher performance.

Design and Performance Optimization

SABIC’s hybrid solution combines STAMAX resin with thermoformed composite inserts made of unidirectional (UD) glass fiber-reinforced PP tape from China-based Qiyi Tech, a company dedicated to the development and production of continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite materials.

The laminate inserts are pre-heated before being placed in the tool and over-molded with STAMAX resin in a single operation. The inserts add stiffness and strength to critical areas of the part, enabling the use of thin-wall geometries that can reduce weight.

Compared to steel, the conventional material for truck toolbox applications, SABIC’s plastic composite hybrid solution expands design options, enables the consolidation of parts, and avoids secondary operations that can add costs and prevent high-volume production.

The plastic composite solution reduces the weight of the toolbox by approximately 30 percent (from 6 to 4 kg) without sacrificing the stiffness, toughness, or strength required for this utility application.

STAMAX resins feature 10-25 percent lower density than some competitive materials for weight-out. Their properties include high stiffness and impact strength, excellent structural performance, and easy flow for thin walls.

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  Covestro launches climate neutral MDI

Covestro is consistently pursuing its path to a circular economy and is now offering customers a climate-neutral MDI (methylene diphenyl diisocyanate). It is climate neutral¹ from the cradle to the factory gate of Covestro, thanks to the use of alternative raw materials – based on plant waste – that are allocated to the products with the help of certified mass balancing according to ISCC PLUS. The new MDI grades can be used in numerous applications in the construction, cold chain, and automotive sectors.

According to a common calculation model, on balance, no CO₂ emissions are generated in the aforementioned part of the value-added cycle. The climate-neutral MDI and its precursors are manufactured at the ISCC PLUS-certified Covestro sites in Krefeld-Uerdingen, Antwerp, and Shanghai.

“With the launch of our climate-neutral MDI, we are now further expanding our portfolio of climate-neutral products,” says Sucheta Govil, Chief Commercial Officer of Covestro. “I am pleased that this will enable us to even better support our customers in large parts of the world in meeting their own sustainability goals and transitioning to a circular economy.” Only last December, the company announced the launch of its climate-neutral polycarbonate.

Hermann-Josef Dörholt, Global Head of the Performance Materials Business Entity, adds: “Climate-neutral products are an important factor in achieving our sustainability goals. Our climate neutral MDI has another major advantage: it is a drop-in solution – so our customers can use it immediately in their production without any changeover and without compromising on quality.”

Even more sustainable building insulation

 This is the case, for example, in building insulation. MDI is an indispensable raw material for the production of polyurethane (PU) insulation boards and sandwich panels, among other products. These have proven their value for many years as highly efficient elements in the thermal insulation of buildings. The heating or cooling requirements of buildings can be reduced by up to 70 percent through the use of PU insulation. This saves CO2 emissions and is good for residents’ wallets. Because PU insulation elements can therefore be designed thinner to achieve good insulation performance already, they save resources and make more usable space accessible than other insulation materials.

In addition to the good thermal insulation properties of PU insulating materials, Covestro’s climate-neutral MDI now provides a further sustainability benefit: By practically avoiding emissions during its production, it even helps to reduce embodied carbon over the life cycle of a building. The use of PU insulating materials made from it in new buildings as well as in the renovation of older real estate can thus make an important contribution to the responsible use of primary resources and to significantly reducing CO2 emissions.

#launch #newmdi #covestro

Clariant at ACS 2022 Discover Beyond Color innovation for high-performance coatings products

“The coatings industry is evolving. As specialists in collaborative problem solving, we’re excited to bring multifunctional solutions that elevate performance and inspire innovation to address industry-wide challenges and the toughest, application-specific unmet needs, “explains Ray Gonzales, Head of Additives Sales – North America, Clariant.

Clariant will feature its wide-ranging formulation tools and additives for formulators and manufacturers that meet emerging trends, regulatory changes, and higher performance requirements as the industry transitions to creating more sustainable consumer and industrial products.

“Clariant presents a new VITA range of surfactants & polyethylene glycols (PEGs), a 100% bio-based portfolio that sets a new standard in green surfactants by raising the renewable carbon content of the end product. Simplifying the formulation process and handling of water-based paints is key to help address new regulations while boosting protection and aesthetics,” comments Jeff McManus, Head of Industrial & Consumer Specialties, Industrial Applications, Clariant.

Explore Clariant’s latest innovative developments with its experts at booth 2846 and discover extensive support found beyond color in a series of on-show presentations featured below.

Sustainability Beyond Color

• Maximize the renewable carbon content of paints, coatings, and inks with Clariant’s new range of surfactants, polyglycerols, and other processing aids to support formulators and brands with their sustainability efforts. This VITA range is fully segregated, 100% based on plant-based carbon via bio-ethanol. The products contribute to removing fossil carbon from the value chain while offering the same performance and efficiency as fossil-based versions. Solutions for Carbon Negativity with Green Ethoxylated Derivatives.

(Wednesday, April 6, 2:40 – 2:55 pm | Speaker: Sebastian Prock, Global Marketing Segment Leader Industrial   Applications)

• Ceridust 1041 VITA and Ceridust 1060 VITA are sustainable waxes offering very effective matting and scratch resistance properties while providing a soft touch feel in wood coatings and brighter colors in powder coatings. Improve wood coatings and powder coatings using modified natural waxes.

(Tuesday, April 5, 11:20 – 11:35 am | Speaker: Michael Watson, Technical Segment Manager, Coatings and Inks, North America)

Performance Beyond Color

• Adding Dispersogen  PLF 100 to pigment pastes boosts several key aspects when formulating color concentrates. As well as achieving high color strength and significantly improved pigment loading, it extends storage stability, reduces viscosities, reduces process foaming, reduces color blocking, and minimizes leaching. Redefine Color and Performance with a Novel Waterborne Polymeric Dispersant

(Thursday, April 7, 10:00 – 10:15 am | Speaker: Mark Coward, New Business Development Manager, and North America)

Innovation Beyond Color

• Improve the weathering performance of 2K epoxy coatings while addressing the current regulatory changes for light stabilizers. We are excited for our technical expert, Dr. Mouhcine Kanouni to present Clariant’s new additive solution to support paint formulators in overcoming durability and classification challenges.

American Coatings Conference – April 6 2022, Session 7, 09:30 – 10:00.

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