Plastics in the spotlight

Innovations, significant investments and a dedication to sustainability will be central to Borealis’ and Borouge’s presence at K 2010. They will be joined for the first time by Nova Chemicals: together, the three independent companies under the ownership of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) and OMV will share stand A43 in Hall 6.

Completion of the Borouge 2 petrochemical complex at Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, this year will triple Borouge’s annual capacity of polyolefins to 2 million tonnes. Borouge 3, currently under construction, will expand this to 4.5 million tonnes by the end of 2013. A €400 million expansion of the production facilities in Stenungsund, Sweden, was inaugurated in June 2010.

Following the completion of its €50 million Innovation Headquarters in Linz, Austria, in 2009, Borealis has earmarked an additional €75 million for investment in innovation capabilities. Borouge began construction of its new Innovation Centre in Abu Dhabi this April.

“Borouge is currently tripling its annual manufacturing capacity of PE and PP to two million tonnes, thereby laying the foundations to be a major supplier of innovative plastics solutions to the Middle East and Asian plastics industry”, says Gilles Rochas, Vice-President for Film & Moulding.

The latest cast film line from Colines - the Handrollex Triple - will be in operation on stand A39 in Hall 16. It extends the range of sizes offered by the Handrollex-1000 line as, in addition to stretch film rolls for manual and automatic use with in-line slitting, it also produces jumbo rolls up to 500mm diameter.

The new line is designed ’for economy and optimised production costs without influencing functionality and quality’. Thanks to various options, the finished film produced by Handrollex-Triple is said to have great flexibility with the possibility of multiple in-line cutting and the production of mini-rolls. Tests on the pre-stretch are currently being made and a coreless option is under development.

A new stretch film line with a useful width of 2,000mm will be engineered with nanolayer technology claimed to bring ’remarkable improvements’ in the characteristics of the extruded film.

Equipment that supports energy efficiency and cost reduction will be the focus of Davis-Standard’s, exhibit (Hall 16, stand A43, highlighting green technologies that offer greater energy savings, reduced scrap and improved processing for both extrusion and converting operations. This includes the display of a 65mm direct drive extruder, ProCone die mandrel, and control systems for both blown film and extrusion processes. New pelletiser technology that offers significant production and environmental advantages will also be promoted, and there will be a shuttle service to and from Düsseldorf to the company’s Erkrath facility (about 20min away) for winder demonstrations.

Erema (Hall 9, Stand C05) will premiere the new TVEplus recycling system. As a ‘next-step development’ of the proven TVE extrusion system with high performance degassing for difficult recycling jobs, the degassing and homogenisation performance of the TVEplus has been considerably enhanced. It also includes new and improved downstream components in terms of technology, maintenance and cleaning from the hot die face pelletiser to the drying centrifuge.

The Helibar single-screw extruder to be shown by Extrudex (stand B42 in Hall 16) is claimed to afford ‘immense advantages’ in energy savings and durability. Tests are said to have revealed a 10% energy saving compared with state-of-the-art extruders of grooved bushing design; 20% more efficiency compared with older machines – achieved by retrofitting the process unit (screw/cylinder), and keeping the existing gear system/motor; and up to 60% better when replacing the complete extruder with a Helibar.

The Helibar’s throughput rate is optimised by the use of spiral grooves featuring improved self cleaning and less friction. The advantage of the groove technology is accompanied by low RPM at equal throughput and pressure buildup. This means that, for example, the smaller 45 OD screw Helibar can easily compete with a larger 60 OD extruder of grooved bushing design, according to Extrudex.

Visitors to the Meech International stand (Hall 11, stand B-60) will learn about ‘pioneering developments’ in electrostatic control, web cleaning and air technology. The UK manufacturer has pioneered the industrial use of Pulsed DC technology for static control for more than 15 years and now has over 4,500 systems in use in the plastics, converting, printing and packaging industries.

Recent launches include the 977CM pulsed DC controller and the 977HL pulsed DC controller for hazardous area ionisers. The 977CM continuously monitors output and automatically adjusts the input voltage to compensate for the adverse effects of contamination. It also features a fully automated closed-loop feedback system. Easily installed and connected to existing Meech ionising bars, the 977HL provides accurate monitoring of their performance, alerting the operator immediately when they need to be cleaned.

Meech already manufactures contact web cleaners and the new ShearClean adds a non-contact version for applications including coating, converting, laminating and speciality plastics where contact cleaning systems are not feasible. This could include substrates with surfaces that are prone to scratching as well as special coatings. ShearClean can be used with reel widths up to 1.8m and speeds to 450m/min, and it can be tailored to suit customers’ requirements.

Rockwood Pigments and Holliday Pigments will be exhibiting on stand D26 in Hall 7. Rockwood has enhanced its existing Solaplex range of yellow and orange metal oxide pigments for plastics applications with a red-shade orange high performance grade (34H1004). This was developed in response to market demand for an environmentally acceptable and richer alternative to less intense pigments previously occupying the red-shade area of the challenging yellow to orange colour space.

Holliday Pigments, a leading supplier of ultramarine pigments, will demonstrate the full capabilities of its plastics portfolio, including Prestige grades with dust-free properties, which are incorporated into a low molecular weight carrier resin. This process contributes to a cleaner working environment while prior incorporation into the low viscosity, low melting point polymeric resin also enables extremely easy dispersion, even under low shear conditions, as well as increased pigment loading in masterbatches.

All of the Prestige grades have been approved for food contact plastics applications, but its specialist Premier BC and BC-R grades have proven taste and taint-free properties and are frequently specified for bulk plastics, including caps and closures.

On stand J54 in Hall 10, TSM Control Systems is offering plastics producers new ways to weather the economic storm and improve their profit margins. New TSM technology focuses on combining standard processing requirements; accurate dosing and homogeneous material mixing, with a third critical component when processing regrind and flake materials: material head pressure.

This new downforce amplifier patented by TSM offers further downward head pressure to the existing cramming action created by the patented reverse flight auger on each of its batch blenders. The downforce amplifier ensures that material throughput and hence production speed can be maximised when processing difficult regrind materials.

TSM claims this latest development will not only improve material flow and mixing characteristics but also enables higher percentage regrind processing while eliminating material throat blockages.

Windmöller & Hölscher will be located in Hall 17, stand A59, and exhibit a blown film line and flexo press – just two examples of W&H's extensive range of equipment for the production of flexible packaging. W&H subsidiary BSW (Bag Solutions Worldwide) will be located on the adjacent stand C60 and present its PP woven sack product range.

Also, during the show, W&H will welcome visitors to an in-house expo at its Lengerich headquarters for live demonstrations of film extrusion, package printing and converting. A complimentary shuttle bus service will provide transport between the Messe Düsseldorf and the W&H Technikum in Lengerich.

The expo will include live demonstrations of two Varex blown film lines and a Filmex Cast extrusion line, and highlight the latest Aquarex, Optimex and MDO (Machine Direction Orientation) extrusion lines. Other machines featured will include flexo and gravure presses for package printing, a Polyrex shopping bag line, an AD Convertex valve bottomer and a Polytex tuber for woven PP sacks.

A new branch of the W&H blown film line family, the Aquarex blows film downwards and uses water instead of air to quench the bubble. The result is said to be soft film with high clarity and gloss, and exceptional puncture and tear resistance, that can be used for barrier films and medical applications.

Finding the highlights

Visitors to K 2010 can make use of the Innovation Compass available on the show website to ensure that they get the most out of their time at the event. Available by visiting www.konline.de the Innovation Compass shows the direct route to all the highlights, covering products and processes expected have a decisive impact in the plastics industry overthe coming years.

K 2010 Davis-Standard’s die plates, manufactured in-house, have been redesigned and field proven to enable greater throughputs while nearly doubling the face life of the die plate. Davis-Standard Ultramarine products from Holliday Pigments. Holliday Pigments Meech’s 977HL pulsed DC controller provides accurate monitoring of hazardous area ionisers. Meech International The new Optimex is an economical, 3-layer blown film line from W&H. W&H New from Erema – the TVEplus recycling system. Erema

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K 2010
Borealis
Borouge
Colines
Davis-Standard Converting Division
Davis-Standard
Erema
Extrudex
Meech International
Nova Chemicals
Holliday Pigments
Rockwood Pigments
TSM Controls
Windmöller & Hölscher