Basell has recently introduced five new resins as part of a broad new product initiative to address the emerging demands of manufacturers across a wide range of food and non-food packaging applications.
Three of the new grades are from the Clyrell family of polyolefins, while two others are from the Higran and Adstif families of polypropylene resins. These resins are currently manufactured in Europe and are available for export.
“A confluence of industry trends has led to the emergence of new high growth packaging application areas where Basell’s new polyolefin technologies can help customers to drive significant innovation and excellent value all across the packaging value chain,” said Pierre Herben, head of innovation and new business for Basell Polyolefins Europe. “In particular, we’ve noted the swift growth of retailer brands accompanied by intense competition for product visibility and quality positioning through new packaging schemes.”
He added: “We’re seeing new customer demands for packaging line flexibility through the use of Form-Fill-Seal packaging in retailer food factories, along with ever-increasing needs for new flexible packaging solutions and improved transparency and barrier performance. Clearly, packaging suppliers are looking to bring productivity advances along with continually improved aesthetics and low odour and taste to their food company customers. At the same time, packaging companies are also being challenged to bring improved rigidity, impact and toughness to their products.”
Lieve Michiels, technical manager for Basell Polyolefins Europe, said, “It’s a difficult test for packaging suppliers to meet, and Basell is facing this challenge with many new products across a wide range of processing alternatives to address our customers’ requests.”
A new trio of resins for transparent applications: Clyrell RC514L for Extrusion-thermoforming, Clyrell RC1314 for Blown film Extrusion used in high transparency applications, and RC1601 used in BOPP High Barrier applications
Basell’s Clyrell RC514L grade is typically selected by customers for use in applications such as lids, fruit and salad trays and blister packs because of the importance customers in those market areas place on polyolefin materials with high transparency and rigidity. This grade combines the optical performance of clarified RACO materials with stiffness values (1500 Mpa) comparable to a nucleated homopolymer resin.
“Previously the kind of transparency available in our new Clyrell grades could only be achieved by sacrificing stiffness -- for example, in clarified PP random copolymers -- or by accepting the brittleness typically produced using other polymers,” said Luc Monnissen, technical service manager for Basell Polyolefins Europe. “The high stiffness of the Clyrell resin is remarkable plus it combines excellent optical properties with a high degree of stiffness.”
Clyrell RC1601 offers a structure designed for improved metal adhesion and high barrier properties. “RC1601 can bring excellent thermal stability during extrusion lamination,” said Massimo Tornatore, project manager for film applications in Basell Polyolefins Europe. “This material can allow a customer to eliminate surface softening and breaks within the metal surface. The end result can be a package with a smooth surface and excellent gloss. That can lead to improved packaging safety and extended shelf life benefits.”
Clyrell RC1314 is an advanced polymer designed for the blown film process. It provides good impact strength and an excellent softness/transparency balance for customers’ clear blown packaging film applications such as bread bags, breathable fresh cut packaging, overwrap packaging, food pouches, and easy opening soft lids, among others.
“Our experience shows that Clyrell resins can be very attractive materials for processors,” said Michiels. “The Clyrell grades can enable manufacturers to create innovative products and at the same time benefit from significantly better mechanical performance. Additionally, Clyrell materials are polyolefins with excellent recycling and energy recovery potential, which makes them an effective option to replace other polymers with less favourable environmental credentials.”
New Clyrell EC1664 breaks the ice in customer frozen and chilled food packaging.
Clyrell EC1664 is a high-transparency resin with excellent optical properties (haze at 17% is only a little higher than that of a high-clarity RACO resin). At the same time, its good impact performance at minus 20°C makes this grade a candidate for a wide range of low-temperature food applications.
“Achieving transparency in packaging for freezer and chilled food products has been a problem for thermoformers,” said Monnissen. “In fact, this kind of packaging is generally produced using thin-walled injection moulding or by blending random copolymers with impact modifiers. What customers requested was a material approaching the transparency of a random copolymer with the low-temperature toughness of a heterophasic copolymer. This new grade, Clyrell EC1664, aims precisely at that.”
He added: “Transparent packaging is a key marketing tool for customers as it allows an attractive food product to sell itself. This new Clyrell resin for extrusion processing opens up to our customers the possibility for a host of customer frozen food products from ice cream and patisserie to applications such as chilled ready meals in which ‘seeing what you’re buying’ is an essential part of the product appeal.”
New Higran RS1684 carries the load better than existing materials in foamed food tray applications
Higran RS1684 is a new foamable polypropylene grade that can bring benefits in medium-to-shallow draw applications such as the foamed food trays used for the packaging of a wide range of fresh foods from fruit to shellfish.
“This material has all the typical food-contact benefits of polyolefins,” said Philip Knapen, Basell Polyolefins Europe innovation project manager. “Food can be packed ‘in-line’, which can minimise the risk of contamination of the trays during transfer from one line to another. The fine-cell structure of foamed PP is aesthetically attractive and comfortable to the touch.”
Knapen added: “For certain producers this can be a drop-in solution for foamed food tray production, using chemically-blown foams of around 0.60 densities. It’s considerably less brittle than competing polymer foams, needs no seal layer and is unaffected by oils or fats. It can be used on Form-Fill-Seal (FFS) lines and behaves well in hot-filling, sterilisation or microwave reheating. We expect a lot of interest in this grade from thermoformers currently using other foamed polymers in medium-draw applications. Higran RS1684 offers a chance to move beyond the drawbacks of conventional foamed materials, with minimal change to processing equipment or conditions.”
Adstif HA1686 breaks down barriers in productivity with clear advantages for both existing and new customer applications.
Adstif HA1686 is a nucleated, high crystalline polypropylene resin for sheet extrusion and thermoforming. Adstif HA 1686 addresses the problem of the severe limit to the amount of regrind that thermoformers can incorporate in transparent PP applications, and does so without compromising the transparency of the product. Adstif HA 1686 resin is an excellent candidate for high-barrier sheet and thermoforming applications requiring high hygiene and freshness after extended shelf time.
“Adstif HA1686 resin allows the recycling of higher regrind fractions in transparent barrier PP sheet,” said Monnissen. Adstif HA 1686 resin exhibits a positive effect on the lifetime of filter screen packs in the regrind extruder. It also has a broader processing window in comparison with current Adstif resins during thermoforming.”
He added: “This can offer better economics and higher productivity in the manufacture of, for example, drinking cups, fruit baskets and hot-fill applications, where transparency combined with good high temperature is important.”
Furthermore, Adstif HA1686 also offers customers the potential to open up entire new markets for their applications. “There is a lot of interest in using transparent barrier PP solutions in pasteurized and sterilized food packaging to replace glass jars and steel cans – and Adstif HA1686 is a prime candidate for this kind of replacement,” said Knapen, who believes barrier PP packaging offers cost savings of around 30% compared with glass and 35% with respect to steel in small portion packs. “If you add in the other advantages of a PP solution – low weight, freezer to microwave capability, highly transparent and good break resistance, design freedom and environmental impact – the potential is clear,” he said.
According to Knapen, there is a whole range of foods, from fruit and vegetables to jams and pet foods, soups and sauces, that could profitably and attractively be packaged in barrier PP. “Adstif HA1686 has the right profile for this replacement role and we’re very excited about the prospects for this new grade,” he said.
About Basell
Basell is the world's largest producer of polypropylene and advanced polyolefin products, a leading supplier of polyethylene and catalysts, and a global leader in the development and licensing of polypropylene and polyethylene processes. Basell, together with its joint ventures, has manufacturing facilities around the world and sells products in more than 120 countries. Additional information about Basell is available at www.basell.com.
For more information, contact Michelle Harrell, Basell Corporate Communications, at +1 410 996 1366, +1 302 438 6574 or michelle.harrell@basell.com
