Innovative nanostructured PLA polymer to expand suitable uses of biodegradable packaging

Project Information

BlockPLA

Grant agreement ID: 811532

DOI

10.3030/811532

Project closed

EC signature date 24 April 2018

Start date 1 May 2018

End date 31 May 2021

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 1 413 573,75

EU contribution

€ 989 501,63

Coordinated by

ADVANCED & FUNCTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR BIOCOMPOSITES SL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - BlockPLA (Innovative nanostructured PLA polymer to expand suitable uses of biodegradable packaging)

Reporting period: 2020-07-01 to 2021-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

PROBLEM ADDRESSED: WASTED PLASTICS: a huge environmental challenge

Plastic pollution is one of the most serious environmental challenges of our time. The European Commission adopted in March 2020 a European Plastics Strategy, aligned with this strategy, alternatives such as bioplastics have emerged. There is a clear need for biobased and compostable plastics compatible with current production processes at affordable prices to achieve this transition from oil-based plastics to biobased and environmentally friendly materials.
It is important for society as this environmental problem will only getting worse as more oil-based plastics are produced and then partially discarded in the environment, with very negative consequences both for marine life and food security for humankind.
The overall objective is to develop PLA-Premium grades as an alternative to the use of oil-based plastics in the packaging industry:
We are an R&D intensive SME specialized in the development of highly advanced biomaterials for packaging applications. We have developed bioplastics called PLA-Premium: a disruptive biodegradable plastic grade that provides outstanding technological advances and economic benefits to industry: it solves the drawbacks that PLA currently shows for packaging applications as it provides huge advances in the technical properties and functionality of Bioplastics:
1) High barrier to oxygen and water vapour. Improvements of up to 30%, respectively
2) Improvement of mechanical properties
3) Good transparency similar to PET
4) Food contact approval (FCM)
5) OK industrial compost certificate by TÜV Austria following the European regulation EN 13432

The main particular objectives are:
- To define the technical, functional and economical requirements of PLA-Premium, for each of the different applications selected.
- To demonstrate the feasibility of additive production at a pre-industrial and industrial scale, as a semi elaborated product necessary forPLA-Premium.
- To demonstrate the feasibility of PLA-Premium production at a pre-industrial and industrial scale.
- To measure the performance results of each different grades of PLA-Premium and test them in real use conditions, as per compliance with industry standards.
- To develop a marketing position for the future commercialization of PLA-Premium within its future market, establish a convenient business project, and start informing and testing the future market.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

From the beginning, we completed the definition of the functional, economic, and technical requirements of the proposed market applications for PLA-Premium. The four pilots selected for this task were:
• PILOT 1: Food packaging trays
• PILOT 2: Cosmetic creams jars (injection moulding)
• PILOT 3: Pharma packaging produced by injection blowing
• PILOT 4: Food packaging film
But after, there were adaptations due to the expansion of the project (from August 20 to May 21) and to the COVID-19. With the pandemic, there was some deviation since some companies suffered the consequences of this unexpected situation and their production volumes were reduced or even halted. The final pilots were enlarged and, finally the PILOTS developed during the project were the initial 4 and the following ones:

• PILOT 5: Food packaging clamshells
• PILOT 6: Food packaging film for sliced products
• PILOT 7: Food packaging blown film
• PILOT 8: Cosmetic bottles manufactured by injection blowing
• PILOT 9: Cosmetic products display stand
• PILOT 10: Price holder produced by profile extrusion

Finally, we have achieved 8 different formulations of PLA-Premium grades, covering the 10 PILOTS involved in this project. All developed PLA-Premium grades were well characterised, including thermal (TGA, DSC), viscosity (MFI), and mechanical (tensile, flexion, impact, etc) analysis as well permeability and migration tests. Each grade was well adapted to the requirements of each industrial process, due to many processes were involved in these 10 PILOTS (thermoforming, injection moulding, injection blown moulding, extrusion blown, extrusion cast, profile extrusion).
The main by-product necessary for the manufacturing of PLA-Premium is the own-additive ADBio PLA+ (before called DBC). Own-additive synthesis optimization (including the scaling-up process) and characterisation of own-additive have been totally completed, therefore. Tailored-made own-additive checking and production have been achieved. Synthesis and characterisation of own-additive with the similar commercial additive, have been carried out. PLA-Premium grades at pilot-scale were produced and characterised at ITENE facilities using compounding technology (Coperion machine).
Comparison & Selection | Benchmarks: an exhaustive analysis of the different biobased materials existing nowadays in the market has been completed. 84 companies, prospective future clients, were analysed, and a pricing study was started. A strategic selling price between 5,9 and 6,5€/kg (only the PLA raw material is around 3,2 - 3,5 €/kg) is fixed.
The greatest advantage of PLA-Premium with respect to common plastics has been established as its bio-origin y bio-end-of-life. With our product, we remove the typical brittleness of PLA making the material more flexible, improving as well as the processability (no investment in new machinery) and oxygen transmission rate and water vapor transmission rate (OTR and WVTR up to 30%), while enhancing the elongation at break up to 10 times (mechanical properties) and maintaining the transparency. Also substantial work has already been done on IPR and knowledge protection, developing the Sales Model, and communication & dissemination activities.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

A much closer collaboration has been developed with some of the Brand Owners producing articles in need of a compostable packaging solution. They are very aware of the regulatory pressure under the EU Plastics Strategy and Directives 2018/172 and 2018/852 and the 2030 deadline they set for plastic packaging. Their interest in our PLA-Premium technology has grown much more intense, and they will thus represent the bulk of our future customer base after the COVID-19.
As we have been able to develop the PLA-Premium to the particular technical and functional requirements for each of the 8 grades under the program, more specific values of the required characteristics have been achieved and thus the performance advantage over competing for compostable materials has increased. PLA-Premium goes where virgin PLA cannot, as it shows significant improvements in mechanical properties (elongation at break) and barrier properties, more flexibility, very good processability, etc.
The original target market volume for Bioplastic Packaging of over 43 m€ by 2023 is still a realistic target. In our frequent visits to packaging manufacturing industries, the necessity to comply with these Directives prior to the 2030 deadline implies a bigger interest in our compostable PLA-Premium materials.
European Commission Directives are the main drivers for the implementation of compostable materials. However, some of the potential barriers stated in the DoA are still present: a higher price than traditional oil-based polymers, and the availability of the raw materials needed for the manufacturing of PLA-Premium, such as Polylactic Acid (PLA) although we have a cooperation agreement with Total-Corbion, the second-largest PLA manufacturer in the world.

ADBioplastics bottle

ADBioplastics plant

ADBioplastics tray