Extrusion International USA 6-2019

14 Extrusion International 6/2019 INDUSTRY NEWS 14th Global Bioplastics Award 2019 For the 14th time now, the international trade publication bio- plastics MAGAZINE is honoured to present the “Bioplastics Os- kar”. Five judges from the academic world, the press and industry as- sociations from America, Europa and Asia have selected the five finalists for the 14th Global Bioplastics Award. The prize will be awarded to thewinner onDecember 3rd, 2019 during the 14. Eu- ropean Bioplastics Conference in Berlin/Germany. The 14th Bioplastics Award recognises innovation, success and achievements bymanufacturers, processors, brand owners, or us- ers of bioplastic materials. To be eligible for consideration in the awards scheme the proposed company, product, or service must have been developed or have been on the market during 2018 or 2019. The 5 shortlisted companies/products are (without any rank- ing): Carbiolice, (France) – Enzymatic masterbatch to make PLA home compostable: In December 2018 Carbiolice (Riom, France) launched its innovative and unique enzymated Evanesto® mas- terbatch – an additive that enables PLA to biodegrade under typi- cal home composting conditions. Even if PLA offers very good properties for rigid applications, its biodegradability is currently limited to industrial composting. Carbiolice has nowdevelopd Evanesto, a new enzymatic additive to be used as a masterbatch, that will make PLA polymer com- postable under domestic conditions. Initial tests carried out by independent laboratory OWS on thin films containing 30% of PLA and 5% of Evanesto, and the rest being other biodegradable and biobased polyesters, such as bio- based PBAT, TPS…) have shown that complete disintegration is achievedwithin a time frame of 182 days (6months) under home composting conditions. Tests on thicker films obtained by calandering and thermoform- ing are still ongoing, but the initial results are very positive. www.carbiolice.com Bio4self (15 partners form EU) – Self-reinforced PLA composites: Self-reinforced PLA composite materials, which are being devel- oped as part of the Bio4self project fundedby EuropeanResearch FundH2020, open up completely newareas of application for the biobased plastic PLA. In theproject, twodifferent PLAtypeswithdifferentmelting tem- peratures are combined to a self-reinforced PLA composite (PLA SRPC) in such a way that the higher melting PLA is embedded as a reinforcing fiber in the lower melting matrix. The resulting material stiffness can compete with commercially available self- reinforced polypropylene (PP) composites. This makes it possible to produce mechanically demanding components for the auto- motive and electrical household appliance sectors, among others. www.bio4self.eu Kartell (Italy) – First modular storage system from Bio-on’s bio- plastic: Kartell (Noviglio, Milan, Italy) is offering a new eco-friend- ly and sustainable edition of one of its best sellers - a modular storage unit in the 100 % natural bioplastic material by Bio-on (Bologna, Italy). The Componibili storage unit, which is cylindrical in form with sliding panels, was first created by Italian designer and Kartell co-founder Anna Castelli Ferrieri in 1967. www.bio-on.it , www.kartell.com Dantoy (Denmark) – Biobased toys: In February 2018 launched its new line of BIO products, which has gainedmuchmore attention than initially anticipated. All of Dantoy’s Plastic toys are licensed for the Nordic Swan Ecola- bel, thus theymust complywith theworld’s strictest requirements for plastic contents, going far beyond the Danish law. www.dantoy.dk Nölle Kunststofftechnik and Fraunhofer IAP (Germany) – New splint for bone fractures: A novel splint made of PLA for immobi- lizing bone fractures has been developed that can be repeatedly reshaped during treatment. The new immobilisation concept, called RECAST was developed by Nölle Kunststofftechnik It makes use of variously sized pre- shaped splints made frombiobased and biodegradable PLA. The plastics processor worked closely with the polymer develop- ers at the Fraunhofer IAP in Potsdam-Golm on the development of theoptimummaterial. Itwas decided touse PLAas abasepoly- mer, a bioplastic that has a major disadvantage for most applica- tions: It becomes soft at around 58 °C. The low thermal softening point of PLA is a great advantage when used as an orthopaedic splint. This means that the product can be shaped repeatedly and quickly by heating. The Fraunhofer researchers combined PLA with suitable fillers and developed a formulation that met all the requirements. www.noelle-kunststofftechnik.de, www.iap.fraunhofer.de www.bioplasticsmagazine.com Carbiolice, (France), Enzymatic masterbatch to make PLA home compostable