April 24, 2007 - Basell is introducing two new low density polyethylene grades, Purell PE 2420 F and Purell PE3020H. The resins have been produced in conjunction with a medical protocol tailor made to address the specialised requirements of customers in medical blown film applications. Basell’s Purell family of select polyethylene and polypropylene grades brings advantages in terms of design, regulatory and functionality that the medical and pharmaceutical markets will appreciate. Interested customers are expected to be producers of packaging for syringes and diagnostics equipment.
Additive-free resins
The new products surpass the performance capabilities of conventional polyethylene, particularly when it comes to their high level of purity. “Due to Basell’s medical production protocol, Purell 2420F and Purell 3020H achieve the requested properties and performances without the use of additives,” said Hans-Jürgen Bach, Basell’s Application Development Manager. “This eliminates the problem of small amounts of additives migrating into the application, which can occur with conventional resins.”
Additives are substances that are often added to a resin which dictate the specific properties of the plastic. Typical regulatory laws strictly regulate which additives in which maximum quantities are permitted to “migrate” out of the plastic. These laws are even more stringent for medical applications than, for example, food packaging.
Consistent quality packaging
In addition to their high level of purity, the new grades provide good puncture and tear resistance and their mechanical behaviour has demonstrated resistance to the usual variations encountered on industrial processing lines. “The use of Purell resins gives customers the way to produce medical packaging with consistent quality, which is essential in the medical sector,” said Mike Freudenstein, Basell’s PE Marketing Manager. “We launched the new grades in order to address market demands for high-quality PE film that can be produced at the level of the well-established Purell resins.”
The new grades complement the existing Purell family of grades used by customers in injection and blow moulding applications, and mark the first step for Basell into PE film applications used in the medical industry.
Basell’s Medical Protocol
Basell Medical Protocol has been designed for manufacturers in the medical sector with special requirements – their products must undergo an intensive validation process before they are approved for use, which can take months to complete. The Medical Protocol includes Basell’s confirmation on the compliance of the selected Purell grade with certification for European Medical Device Directive (MDD) and European and US pharmacopoeia and drug master file (DMF) listing, which facilitates obtaining approval by the customer. Through the Protocol the customers undertakes to use the selected products only in selected and approved applications. “With Purell resins, customers will be informed at least 24 months in advance of relevant changes to the formulation that might become necessary,” said Freudenstein. “We could not provide this assurance of formulation consistency for a standard PE grade”
The resin is currently manufactured in Europe and is available for export.
Basell is the global leader in polyolefins technology, production and marketing. It is the largest producer of polypropylene and advanced polyolefin products; a leading supplier of polyethylene and catalysts, and the industry leader in licensing polypropylene and polyethylene processes, including providing technical services for its proprietary technologies. Basell, together with its joint ventures, has manufacturing facilities in 19 countries and sells products in more than 120 countries. Additional information about Basell is available at www.basell.com.
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For more information contact Waldemar Oldenburger, Basell Corporate Communications at +49 69 305 854 59 or waldemar.oldenburger@basell.com
