SABIC Highlights Resource And Energy-Efficient Packaging Solutions At Chinaplas 2017

Guangzhou, China, May 17, 2017 – Securing product value from factory to consumer is the most important contribution of plastic packaging. Working close with industry partners, SABIC devises plastic-packaging solutions that offer great value with minimum resources and extremely lightweight designs that protect the product, help manufacturers serve their customers, and safeguard the environment.

SABIC’S NEW PHTHALATE-FREE POLYPROPYLENE IMPACT COPOLYMERS FOR THIN-WALL PACKAGING ENABLE DOWNGAUGING AND FASTER PROCESSING

Thin-wall packaging is ubiquitous in today’s world, particularly for food – from ready-meals to butter, cream, and cheese – but also in applications like houseware, appliances, caps and closures. In response to major industry challenges and to better meet customers’ needs, SABIC is introducing a new phthalate-free range of polypropylene impact copolymers SABIC® PP FLOWPACT™ FPC70 (MFR 70), SABIC® PP 512MK46 (MFR 50) and SABIC® PP 513MK46 (MFR 70), in addition to the recently introduced SABIC® PP 311MK40T (MFR 30) polymer in China.

These new offerings open further opportunities for packaging manufacturers and convertors with production efficiency through shorter cycle times and weight savings through thin-wall manufacturing. The new grades comply with industry’s organoleptic requirements for taste and odor, with excellent stiffness and higher top-load strength for high stackability that help manufacturers achieve lower transport and storage costs.

Developed for thin-walled packaging applications for both food and non-food applications, high-flow injection-molding grades SABIC® PP 512MK46 (MFR 50) and 513MK46 (MFR 70) provide a great balance between high stiffness and impact strength than a standard impact copolymer. They have excellent organoleptic properties with very low smell and taste, and allow for easy mold-filling and very short cycle times thanks to high crystallization temperatures and excellent flow behavior, minimizing manufacturing time and costs. The grades are typically used in rigid packaging such as packaging for frozen, chilled and ambient food, dairy products, applications in the housewares, appliances, toys, caps and closures. These new products are produced in SABIC’s Saudi Kayan facility in Jubail and they will be available for customers around the world.

Today’s fast-paced lifestyles are driving demand for pre-packed food and for hot-filling packaging such as cups and bottles as well as microwave use. SABIC® PP FLOWPACT™ FPC70 incorporates important advances in polymer chemistry that yield a material with a great balance between high stiffness, impact strength and high heat distortion temperature than a standard impact copolymer. Rigid packaging made with SABIC® PP FLOWPACT™ FPC70 polymer includes applications that can be filled with hot content, as well as containers intended for packaging foods and non-food products, caps and closures, and in the production of housewares. It is an excellent candidate for thin-wall packaging applications where a good balance of high stiffness and high flow is required. It enables up to 10% thinner walls and fast injection (MFR 70), thus reducing material usage and energy consumption, and increasing productivity. It also has considerably higher top-load strength than identical products made with current benchmark materials, which in turn improves stackability, providing better economics in transport and storage. SABIC® PP FLOWPACT™ FPC70 is produced in Europe.

Similarly, SABIC® PP 311MK40T is tailor-made high crystallinity PP impact copolymer having very high stiffness and with balanced impact resistance to distortion and warpage. Injection-mouldable phthalate-free SABIC® PP 311MK40T enables customers to design thinner wall applications and utilize its high heat distortion temperature (120°C at 0.45MPa) for hot-fill applications, and is used for applications such as containers and caps and closures. Manufactured in SABIC’s joint-venture plant with Sinopec in Tianjin, China, its close proximity means greater convenience for Chinese manufacturers.

“The need has never been greater to find efficient solutions to the challenges – especially in food packaging – that the world faces today. SABIC understands the need for its packaging customers to not only stay ahead of industry trends and regulations but also meet the demand for lowering weight and cost by reducing packaging thickness with downgauging, faster production cycle times, and minimizing waste and the environmental impact. SABIC’s new impact polypropylene grades are created to help our customers remain at the forefront of industry where consumer safety and sustainability are all critical,” said Dr Fabrice Bertinchamps, Vice President, Performance Polymers & Industry Solutions, SABIC.

SABIC’S NEW SML-FREE LLDPE, SUPEER™ MLLDPE AND COHERE™ POLYOLEFIN PLASTOMER OFFER DIFFERENTIATED SOLUTIONS FOR FLEXIBLE FOOD PACKAGING AND STRETCH-HOOD FOR PALLETIZED GOODS

Flexible packaging is the most economical method to package, preserve and distribute food and other products needing extended shelf life.

“Our new concepts for multilayer laminate pouches for food packaging reduce weight, greenhouse-gas emissions, and energy requirements across the product lifecycle compared to glass or metal packaging ,” said Sami Al-Osaimi, Vice President, Global PE, Polymers Sales and Market Development & Technical Services, SABIC. “Different layers of films use different polymer blends to collectively provide the required strength, stiffness, optics and hygienic properties for the flexible pouches. The use of fillable pouches can offer significant savings in transportation versus transporting pre-filled, rigid containers.”

One of the most critical challenges for the food packaging industry worldwide is compliance to Specific Migration Limit (SML), a food safety regulation aimed at controlling exposure to substances in food contact materials. To help our customers meet this challenge, SABIC is introducing a new LLDPE grade - SABIC® LLDPE118P. This new material solution contains a high performance stabilization package which is a registered food additive that is phosphate and sulphur-free, and most importantly has no Specific Migration Limit (SML-free), making it ideal for food packaging such as being one of the layers of a flexible food pouch.

SABIC® SUPEER™ (mLLDPE) and SABIC® COHERE™ (polyolefin plastomer) use leading-edge NEXLENE™ technology that combines the solution process and proprietary metallocene catalyst to yield a state-of-the-art molecular design. The resulting materials offer a variety of very high-performance properties and can be typically used for manufacturing flexible packaging and wrapping materials.

SABIC® COHERE™ (polyolefin plastomer) offers outstanding sealing properties, toughness, optical properties and processability. It requires a lower seal initiation temperature (SIT) yet yields higher ultimate hottack, seal strength and improved film toughness, resulting in improved packaging reliability and integrity and reducing leakage and waste of food, as well as enabling a longer product shelf-life, bringing significant benefits to food packagers, brand owners, consumers and for the environment. Lower SIT enables faster packaging speed, enhancing production efficiency for food packagers and film converters, and at the same time lowering energy consumption.

Concepts based on SABIC® SUPEER™ (mLLDPE) and SABIC® COHERE™ (polyolefin plastomer) for stretch-hood film application offer up to 10 percent downgauging potential, which saves more resources than current stretch-film-based packaging concepts. SABIC® SUPEER™ (mLLDPE) and SABIC® COHERE™ (polyolefin plastomer) also improve the packaging’s recyclability and protects against leaks or damages during bulk-palletized transport. Based on our internal lifecycle analysis, these concepts could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 16% across the value chain, from feedstock to processing to application use and end-of-life handling.

SABIC’S DIVERSE FOAM SOLUTIONS PORTFOLIO WORKS TO PROTECT GOODS AND FOOD DURING TRANSPORT

Foam packaging helps absorb shock, reduce weight and provide thermal insulation; they are also lightweight, chemical-resistant, safe for food contact and cost-efficient. Companies are designing packaging to use as little material as possible, yet provide the cushioning to protect food and goods to survive the delivery process. SABIC, with more than 35 years of experience in foam and its dedicated Foam Innovation Center in The Netherlands, is continually working with its customers to develop high quality and consistent foam grades to meet customers’ needs for improved flexibility and high-yield production, including those with sustainability features such as reduction in material footprint.

SABIC’s diverse portfolio of foam products include a new series of “fast converting” foam material solutions that provides further improvements in the production efficiencies of foam manufacturers. SABIC® LDPE 2102FC, a fast-converting low-density polyethylene foam grade for protective packaging, is the first in a series of product that combine up to 50% shorter degassing storage time at the foam manufacturer – reducing the foam manufacturer’s inventory - and 5% higher production efficiency due to less manufacturing waste and better foam consistency.

Recently launched LDPE foam grade SABIC® LDPE HP0824NDF offers material and energy savings while retaining or even improving product performance. The advantages of SABIC® LDPE HP0824NDF are high viscosity, giving good head pressure for uniform and thicker foam thickness, and relatively higher resin density for better mechanical strength. This grade is less sensitive to web-breaks and foam-collapse due to high consistency and a wider operating window compared to existing materials in the market, resulting in a higher material yield during processing. The foams produced give a higher compression strength, better resilience, uniform surface and cell structure, and fewer pinholes, as well as better dimensional stability compared to existing materials. This offers opportunities for material savings during production.

Follow the SABICChinaPlas WeChat account for more information and the latest news:

SABIC® PP 311MK40T enables customers to design thinner wall applications and utilize its high heat distortion temperature (120°C at 0.45MPa) for hot-fill applications, and is used for applications such as containers and caps and closures.

Developed for thin-walled packaging applications for both food and non-food applications, SABIC® PP 512MK46 (MFR 50) and 513MK46 (MFR 70) are typically used in rigid packaging such as packaging for frozen, chilled and ambient food, dairy products, applications in the housewares, appliances, toys, caps and closures.

Multilayer laminate pouches use different polymer blends to collectively provide the required strength, stiffness, optics and hygienic properties for the flexible pouches. Pouches also reduce weight, greenhouse-gas emissions, and energy requirements across the product lifecycle.

SABIC® COHERE™ (polyolefin plastomer) offers outstanding sealing properties, toughness, optical properties and processability, resulting in improved packaging reliability and integrity and reducing leakage and waste of food, as well as enabling a longer product shelf-life, bringing significant benefits to food packagers, brand owners, consumers and for the environment. Applications include vacuum-pack for frozen foods such as salmon and sachets for powders or liquids such as seasoning oils.

SABIC® LDPE 2102FC, a fast-converting low-density polyethylene foam grade for protective packaging, is the first in a series of product that combine up to 50% shorter degassing storage time at the foam manufacturer – reducing the foam manufacturer’s inventory - and 5% higher production efficiency due to less manufacturing waste and better foam consistency.

SABIC® LDPE HP0824NDF is less sensitive to web-breaks and foam-collapse due to high consistency and a wider operating window compared to existing materials in the market, resulting in a higher material yield during processing.