{"id":101647,"date":"2024-05-31T10:20:36","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T06:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/polymervapooshesh.ir\/?p=101647"},"modified":"2024-06-08T08:01:50","modified_gmt":"2024-06-08T04:31:50","slug":"pha-compound-molded-into-worlds-first-biodegradable-bottle-closures-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/polymervapooshesh.ir\/en\/pha-compound-molded-into-worlds-first-biodegradable-bottle-closures-2\/","title":{"rendered":"PHA Compound Molded into \u201cWorld\u2019s First\u201d Biodegradable Bottle Closures"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iranpolymer\/Baspar <\/strong><\/em>After three years of research including the creation and testing of 174 different compounds,\u00a0Beyond Plastic LLC, Commerce, California, says it has arrived at a completely biodegradable injection-molded closure based on polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), with phase two research looking at compression molding of the bioplastic caps. The PHA resin has been supplied by\u00a0CJ Biomaterials Inc., a division of South Korea-based CJ CheilJedang. Heading up the project is Fred Pinczuk, Beyond Plastic\u2019s chief technology officer, who has more than four decades of experience in packaging, including stints at major injection molding and blowmolding machinery OEMs.<\/p>\n

In his three years at Beyond Plastic, Pinczuk has led that company\u2019s research efforts to commercialize PHA for packaging \u2014\u00a0largely based on the material\u2019s end-of-life biodegradability. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be in the closure business,\u201d Pinczuk says. \u201cWe\u2019re in the business to make formulations that can go mass market, be mass produced and replace petrochemical products currently used.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pinczuk acknowledges that\u00a0bioplastics\u00a0in general\u00a0and PHA in particular are not new, but he feels PHA\u2019s properties \u2014 and his company\u2019s research \u2014 put the material in a new position to replace fossil fuel-based plastics currently used in single-use packaging applications, like closures.<\/p>\n

He is also aware of the challenges posed by processing bioplastics, noting that in the early days, the industry didn\u2019t do itself any favors by often positioning bioplastics as drop-in replacements for traditional resins. \u201cIn the past, companies made PHA compounds and sold them as having similar properties to PP,\u201d Pinczuk says. When processors attempted to run these bioresins using the same machine settings\u00a0they\u2019d apply for commodity\u00a0polyolefins, the result was, as Pinczuk puts it, \u201ca fiasco.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Many of PHA\u2019s strengths are also potential challenges to its processing and end-use application. Pinczuk notes that the material can be as soft as an amorphous rubber or as hard as a crystalline acrylic, depending on formulation and its temperature profile in processing. In its development work, Beyond Plastic began with a single-cavity closure tool as it sought to identify PHA\u2019s shrink ratio. It molded caps, compensated for shrink and then formulated a new compound based on its findings, which it then tested in production.<\/p>\n

Today, the company can injection mold 38-mm closures from PHA in a 5.5-second\u00a0cycle from a 16-cavity tool. Key advances that made this possible include specialized tooling, with added attention to venting, from moldmaker\u00a0Dauntless Industries Inc., Covina, California; a custom screw from Robert Barr Inc., Onsted, Michigan; and a unique hot runner design from an as-yet unnamed supplier.<\/p>\n

Eying Compression Molding<\/h2>\n

After proving out the viability of\u00a0injection molding\u00a0PHA closures, Beyond Plastic has shifted gears to using compression molding to produce the bioplastic caps. Partnering with Chinese firm Tech-Long Packaging Machinery Co. Ltd., Beyond Plastic took rush delivery of a machine, receiving the unit in three weeks. Since then, it has disassembled and reassembled portions of the system as it modifies the unit to process PHA. It is currently \u201cdialing in\u201d materials, according to Pinczuk, working toward a goal of creating a 24-cavity compression molding demonstration cell that can run traditional HDPE and PP, as well as PHA, all under one platform.<\/p>\n

In this cell, the goal is to compression mold PHA caps, and then separate 5% of that production, which will be reground into flake and mixed with PET and other scrap. Next, the demonstration cell will use an infrared, 3D flake analyzer provided by Eagle Vizion, Sherbrooke, Quebec to identify and separate the PHA scrap, which will be reintroduced back to the compression molding machine. The aim here is to show that in a mixed-waste stream, PHA is readily identifiable and can be reclaimed for recycled content in new.<\/p>\n

Currently designated as a \u201c7\u201d or \u201cother\u201d material, Beyond Plastic is hoping to prove out PHA\u2019s end-of-life recycling and composting options, as related to regulatory standards. Where another common bioplastic, PLA, is deemed compostable under the ASTM 6400 standard, breaking down in industrial digesters that feature the right temperatures, as well as pH, oxygen and moisture levels, PHA is certified as ASTM 6691 for marine degradation. It is also compostable under all conditions, including home composting, and Beyond Plastic has molded new closures from 100% recycled PHA. Future projects include determining PHA\u2019s viability for extrusion blow molding and thermoforming.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith PHA, you have to reteach people rheology and processing,\u201d Pinczuk says. \u201cThey have to think differently. If you did petrochemical resins your whole life, you must rethink rheology and how you process. Let go of those habits and really understand the limitations \u2014 PHA is shear sensitive; it doesn\u2019t like high temperatures; and it will degrade if you don\u2019t process properly.\u201d<\/p>\n

ptonline<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iranpolymer\/Baspar After three years of research including the creation and testing of 174 different compounds,\u00a0Beyond Plastic LLC, Commerce, California, says it has arrived at a completely biodegradable injection-molded closure based on polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), with phase two research looking at compression molding of the bioplastic caps. The PHA resin has been supplied by\u00a0CJ Biomaterials Inc., a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":101648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31004,69],"tags":[55175,55172,53890,55176,1018,53891,55177,49349,1562,1021,1002,52921,51406,1856,55173,55174],"class_list":["post-101647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news-en","tag-100-recycled-pha","tag-beyond-plastic","tag-biodegradable-bottle-closures","tag-bioplastic-caps","tag-bioplastics","tag-blowmolding-machinery","tag-extrusion-blow-molding","tag-hdpe-2","tag-injection-molding","tag-packaging","tag-pet","tag-pha-en","tag-polyhydroxyalkanoate","tag-polyolefins","tag-single-use-packaging","tag-tech-long-packaging"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/polymervapooshesh.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/polymervapooshesh.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/polymervapooshesh.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polymervapooshesh.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polymervapooshesh.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/polymervapooshesh.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polymervapooshesh.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/polymervapooshesh.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polymervapooshesh.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polymervapooshesh.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}