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Arburg Debuts New Allrounder Injection Molding Machine at NPE2024

The 720E Golden Electric press offers high-precision molding at an “attractive price.”

By Geoff Giordano

Arburg is breaking its tradition of premiering new machines in Germany to give the world its first look at its new Allrounder 720E Golden Electric at NPE2024 in Orlando, FL, in May.

The new machine “combines high precision with a streamlined design at a particularly attractive price,” noted Technical Director Guido Frohnhaus, and is ideal for less-complex products with cycle times of around 15 seconds.

Demo uses 24-cavity mold

At NPE, the machine will use a 24-cavity mold from Hack to produce polypropylene razor covers weighing 1.2 grams in a cycle time of about 8.5 seconds.?

Packing a big clamping force of 2,800 kN, the new machine fits in a smaller space at a width of six feet and features a safety door with recessed handles as part of a design optimized for easy installation. Access to the ejector area has been improved by widening the stroke to about 4? feet. The machine’s mold height adjustment system allows installation heights up to 31? inches.

Designed for easy maintenance

Repeatability is driven by the company’s aXw Control ScrewPilot as well as optimized mold venting with two-stage mold locking. Maintenance is made easier with the same control cabinet style featured on Arburg’s hybrid machines, with the lubrication unit and optional pneumatics on the operating side.?

The 720E comes with the Selogica ND control system and can be customized with core pulls and heating and cooling circuits, as well as automated with all of Arburg’s robotic systems —?from sprue pickers to six-axis robots.

Applications include medical components

Likely applications for the machine include dimensionally stable e-mobility housings, thick-wall closures for household goods, and precision medical and construction components.

"Extending our portfolio of electric machines helps customers to meet current challenges, such as increasing price pressure combined with rising costs for labor, energy, and materials, shorter product life cycles, and ever-faster product changeovers," said Gerhard B?hm, managing director of sales and aftersales.

Visit Arburg at booth W3743.

NYCOA Transforms Into Specialty Polyamides Player

Company dedicates polymerization lines for newly launched long-chain nylon products.

By Stephen Moore

Nylon Corporation of America Inc. (NYCOA) has expanded its product offering and added new production capacity as part of its transformation into a specialty polyamide (PA) supplier. NYCOA has introduced three new long-chain PAs and started up new polymerization lines at its existing Manchester, NH, headquarters. The company will discuss the latest developments at NPE2024 from May 6 to 10 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. It will be exhibiting in booth S34115.

A domestic supplier of PA 6 and 666 copolymers and PA 66 compounds since 1957, NYCOA is re-inventing itself by taking its material development and manufacturing know-how to a new level. The company has undertaken a new growth strategy and elevated its leadership role in high-performance PAs by investing and expanding in its R&D efforts and focusing on developing innovative solutions and technologies. The new capacity in Manchester ensures a dedicated future supply of these new long-chain PA products for a range of markets, including transportation, industrial, and sporting goods.

“We’ve responded to the needs of the market, and we’re excited about the new path we’ve carved out in the specialty nylons segment,” said Carlos Restrepo, vice president of business development for NYCOA. “Our mission is simply to be a best-in-class supplier that can cost-effectively fill critical supply gaps for the domestic market.”

Investing for short- and long-term growth

NYCOA has invested in short- and long-term growth by expanding capacity and increasing staff significantly at the Manchester facility. The new manufacturing capacity will provide an ample supply of NYCOA’s new long-chain PAs, including NXTamid T PA 6.10 and 6.12 grades. These are engineered long-chain polyamides that deliver significant performance features and a unique balance of properties compared to short-chain materials such as PA 6 and 66. These products are a drop-in replacement for competitive materials, offering better dimensional stability, lower moisture absorption, and, in the case of PA 6.10,??the opportunity for a renewable raw material. NXTamid T PA grades are suitable for a range of processes, including extrusion and injection, rotational, and blow molding.

Low moisture absorption, high toughness

NXTamid T 6.10 and 6.12 have high impact strength, wear resistance, electrical insulation properties, and strong chemical resistance. They also exhibit lower moisture absorption than PA 6 and 66 and resist swelling. NXTamid T grades are also less sensitive to stress cracking in several applications. Another interesting performance characteristic of 6.12 and 6.10 is that they retain more of their intrinsic impact resistance and toughness at colder temperatures than shorter-chain polymers such as PA 6 and 66.

NYCOA has also launched NXTamid L, a PA product family that meets or exceeds the performance of PA 12 and PA 11 in many applications and offers a range of customization options. Compared to PA 12, NXTamid L features a tunable backbone, higher service temperature, and low extractables. It delivers sustainability benefits with a 25% to 60% bio-based composition.

Flexible solutions for rubber replacement

Rounding out the new long-chain PA offering is the NY-Flex elastomeric line of engineered materials that encompass a variety of chemistries, including random copolymer alloys and polyether block copolymers (PEBA). NY-Flex grades provide superior flexibility, low material weight, and high-impact toughness in rubber replacement applications.

Polyether-block-amide (PEBA) copolymers are true elastomeric grades that are based on a PA hard segment and polyether soft segment. They deliver excellent recovery and shock-absorbing properties. NYCOA offers PEBA grades in a range of hardnesses from 55 to 80 Shore D. Custom grades are also offered with specialized additive packages for improved thermal stability, hydrolysis resistance, and UV resistance. These elastomeric grades are used in athletic shoes, ski boot components, and other sports and leisure products as well as technical films.

Amorphous high-performance PAs

As part of the PA family expansion, NYCOA has also developed amorphous 6I/6T PAs branded NY-Clear. They are high-performance PAs that offer higher temperature resistance, lower moisture absorption, and better retention of properties compared to PA 6 and PA 66. Amorphous PAs are known for their dimensional stability, low creep at elevated temperatures, and chemical resistance compared to many high-performance engineering plastics. NY-Clear is commonly used in flexible food packaging requiring high strength, stiffness, and hydrolysis resistance.?

Analyzing the Advanced Recycling Sector

Research from nova-Institute investigates 127 technologies and the providers pushing advanced recycling forward.

By Kate Bertrand Connolly

An updated and expanded report on advanced recycling from nova-Institute, Hürth, Germany, explores technological advances, identifies key companies, and provides a view into the current state of advanced recycling in Europe and worldwide.

The report offers a structured overview of the advanced recycling landscape, defining the technologies and profiling providers of advanced recycling — particularly chemical recycling.

The report maps more than 340 planned and installed advanced recycling plants worldwide, with the majority in Europe; the total input capacity is 1,477 kilotonnes/1,628 kilotons per year. Europe’s input capacity is expected to more than triple by 2027. Globally, input capacity is expected to double by 2027.

On the output side, the global production capacity for advanced recycling is 1,082 kilotonnes/1,182 kilotons per year. Products include polymers, monomers, naphtha, secondary valuable chemicals, fuels, and energy.

A range of advanced recycling technologies.

Advanced recycling includes technologies suitable for plastic waste streams of various compositions and quality. The technologies are used to transform the waste into a range of raw materials for reintroduction into the plastics value chain.

The report provides an overview and classification of the technologies and providers, presenting 127 advanced recycling technologies that are currently available or will be in the near future.

?The technology categories include:

• Dissolution
• Solvolysis
• Pyrolysis
• Gasification
• Enzymolysis

Dissolution is a technology that uses solvent to dissolve targeted polymers from mixed plastic waste, keeping the polymer’s chemical structure intact. Other plastic components such as additives, pigments, and fillers do not dissolve and can be separated from the dissolved polymer. An anti-solvent is used to precipitate the target polymer from the clean solution. No polymerization step is required, in contrast to solvolysis.

The report indicates that the current maximum capacity for the dissolution method is 8,000 kilotonnes/8,818 kilotons per year, with most of the technology providers located in Europe, North America, and China, respectively.

Solvolysis, which is also solvent-based, is used to depolymerize polymers, primarily polyethylene terephthalate (PET), into building blocks such as monomers, dimers, and oligomers. After depolymerization, the building blocks are separated from additives and other plastic components, and the cleaned building blocks are re-polymerized.

Some 24 companies use solvolysis technology, with most located in Europe, North America, Japan, and China, respectively.

Pyrolysis is a thermochemical process that converts mixed plastic waste (mainly polyolefins) and biomass into liquids, gases, and solids using heat, under anaerobic conditions. Products of the conversion include oils, diesel, naphtha, and monomers, plus syngas, char, and waxes. Some of the products can be used as feedstocks for the production of new polymers.

Pyrolysis has an annual global capacity of 40,000 kilotonnes/44,092 kilotons, and most providers are in Europe and the US.

Gasification is also a thermochemical process. It is used to convert mixed plastic waste and biomass, in the presence of heat and oxygen, into syngas and carbon dioxide. The researchers have identified 12 gasification technology providers; currently, the largest capacity achieved is 200,000 kilotonnes/220,462 kilotons per year. Most providers are in North America and Europe.

Enzymolysis is a biochemical process that uses biocatalysts to depolymerize polymers. This technology is still in early development and is available only at a laboratory scale.

In addition to profiles of companies that provide these advanced recycling technologies, the report looks at six providers of pre-and post-processing technology. Their solutions include feedstock pre-treatment before advanced recycling and the conversion of secondary valuable materials into chemicals, materials, and fuels.

The US Composting Industry Has a Plastics Problem

Though it may not be what you think, according to a report from the Composting Consortium, which partnered with 10 compost manufacturers to research contamination rates.

By Kate Bertrand Connolly

Despite diligent efforts to combat contamination at industrial composting sites, conventional plastic can persist in the finished compost.

That’s according to the Composting Consortium, New York, which released findings from pioneering research into compost contamination in a report titled “Don’t Spoil the Soil: The Challenge of Contamination at Composting Sites.” The consortium is an industry collaboration led by the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners.

The research captures data from in-field research at 10 leading composting operations of various sizes located across the US, and the report quantifies the contamination in compost feedstock and finished compost. It also discusses decontamination methods and the high cost of managing contamination.

According to the report, curbside collection of organic materials (aka organics) in the US has grown 49% since 2021, but most facilities still process only yard waste. Currently, about 145 full-scale US commercial composting facilities accept food waste and some types of compostable packaging.

“One of the biggest barriers to greater acceptance of food waste and compostable packaging by composters is their concern about increased contamination,” writes Kate Daly, managing director, Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners, in the report’s introduction.

But there has been a lack of information regarding contamination rates at US composting facilities, contaminating materials, and how much composters spend to address contamination.

With this research, the “Composting Consortium … aimed to capture a geographically and operationally diverse dataset on contamination volumes and decontamination practices. Our findings from the field put five commonly held beliefs to the test, challenging what many industry stakeholders had previously assumed as fact,” Daly writes.

Flexible packaging is problematic.

Plastic and packaging are the basis of several of the common beliefs:

• Belief #1. “Conventional plastic is the most common contaminant received by composters.” The study’s findings suggest this is true. On average, 85% of feedstock contamination, by volume, is conventional plastic.
• Belief #2. “Allowing compostable packaging in the organics streams leads to higher contamination rates.” This is not necessarily true. Most composters in the study had contamination, whether they accepted compostable packaging or not. Several factors contribute to feedstock contamination levels.
• Belief #3. “Contamination is a nuisance, but it does not negatively impact a compost manufacturer’s bottom line.” This is untrue. Contamination significantly impacts profitability, with composters earmarking 21% of operating costs, on average, for contamination removal.
• Belief #4. “Conventional plastic impacts the quality of composters’ finished product, threatening their businesses and our environment.” The study’s findings suggest this is true. Four out of 10 of the participating composters had trace amounts of conventional flexible plastic in the compost they produced.
• Belief #5. “Compostable packaging does not break down and ends up in finished compost.” This is sometimes true; however, the study showed that eight out of nine composters who accept compostable products in their feedstock had no detectable level of compostable packaging in finished compost.

Compost study methodology and plastic contaminants.

The study methodology was modeled “on the 2021 Minneapolis Organics Sort, which sorted materials into categories classified as organics, plastic-lined paper, recyclables and ‘other contaminants,’” according to the report.

The Composting Consortium adapted that approach, breaking out several subcategories of recyclables, including rigid plastic, flexible plastic, and multi-material packaging. In addition, the in-field team measured materials and contaminants by both volume and mass.

Measured by mass, the average contamination rate was 1.2% across all 10 composting facilities. Among the nine that accept compostable packaging in feedstock, the average contamination rate was 1%. Rigid plastic was the most common contaminant.

By volume, the feedstock in the nine facilities that accept both food waste and compostable packaging included 3.4% conventional plastics and 22% compostable packaging.

Of the 3.4% plastics, the breakout was: 1.1% rigid plastic; 0.2% plastic film from garbage bags; 1.3% plastic film from wraps, films, and pouches; and 0.8% plastic-lined paper.

Although the report notes that the consortium’s analysis of contamination is a “snapshot in time, it holds significance for the industry as it can inform and guide on-site operational decisions to effectively mitigate contamination at scale.”

MORE WEEKLY NEWS

?? Interested in a Polystyrene Foam (EPS) Recycling Grant? Up to $50,000 per grant for expanded polystyrene is available from the Foam Recycling Coalition for drop-off centers, curbside programs, or MRFs.

?? Medical Plastics Market Projected to Soar by Double Digits: The market is forecast to increase from $25.6 billion in 2023 to $41.2 billion by 2028.

?? Intek Plastics Adds Plastics Extrusion Plant to Portfolio: Acquisition of 72,000-square-foot extrusion facility in Medford, WI, expands twin-screw extruder capability for the fenestration and other markets.

?? Clay and Silicate Flame-retardant Synergists Promoted as PTFE Alternatives: Additives from Tolsa are touted as sustainable replacements for PTFE, part of the PFAS constellation, in flame-retardant polymer formulations.

?? Breaking News in Flexible Packaging March 2024: Adapa film debuts for cheese, Whoa Dough unwraps a new look, new films issue, recyclable Popflex debuts, life-saving snack bags, SUNY bans single-use plastics.