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The latest breakthroughs in clarifying PPcombined with blowing PP on Series 2+equipment are impressive: “crystal clear”
bottle walls and excellent material distributioncombined make a great looking package withenhanced mechanical resistance, combinedwith the possibility of raising production to out-puts reaching 1,500 bph/m.
These breakthroughs make ISBM PPmore appealing than ever. In addition to being alow cost material with an intrinsic resistance to
heat, ISBM PP now offersbetter looking packages,higher performance, andimproved production yield.
As a result, ISBM PP stands outas a competitive alternative in the food andbeverage field, combining all the benefits of aplastic package with affordable cost for juices,isotonics, dairy products, and water. ISBM cPP iseven more cost competitive for hot fill applica-tions. Consequently, ISBM PP stands out as acomplementary offer to ISBM PP in the Sidelscope of offer, although some limitationsremain: the technology is still unsuitable for car-bonated and O2 sensitive beverages, due toPP’s limited barrier properties. In addition, pac-kage shapes need to comply with specificdesign rules.
Numerous successful trials have demonstratedthat ISBM cPP can be blown in an industrial set-ting on SBO Series2+. Through trials, Sidel hasalso built technical partnerships with key players
in the field. A vital component of this initiativehas been the integration of experts fromvarious fields for ISBM cPP production includingmaterial, additives, preform and bottle design,injection equipment and process, blowingequipment and process. Collaboration withMilliken has been particularly important: combi-ning their expertise has allowed teams tosignificantly improve bottle transparency andsuccessfully broaden process window.
ISBM cPP is popular with end-users and conver-ters who foresee great potential for entering anew market segment. In Brazil, Braskem, theleading thermoplastics supplier (PP, PE, PET andPVC) in Latin America, has entered a technicalpartnership with Sidel and Milliken, to meet theneed of Packpet, a local converter. The projectis driven by a request from Tampico, a majorplayer for the juice drink industry. All actors sha-re the same pioneering spirit and have activelycontributed to setting up a complete ISBM cPPsupply chain.
Momentum builds for ISBM cPP*
INJECTION STRETCH BLOW-MOLDEDCLEAR POLYPROPYLENE (ISBM CPP)IS SETTING NEW BENCHMARKSWITH SIGNIFICANT TECHNICAL ANDINDUSTRIAL IMPROVEMENTS, ANDBRAZIL IS PAVING THE WAY FORTHE CREATION OF AN ISBM CPPSUPPLY CHAIN.
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Market perspectives
End user: Tampico
For Sérgio Romeiro, VP Technical Product& Package Development, market targetdrives the project. “Our brand is associated withhigh quality juice drinks at affordable prices, togetherwith added value packaging. In Brazil, we are laun-ching Tampikids for children. The product containsmore juice and no preservatives. We are also ente-ring new regions like Europe and Asia”, wherethere are “major opportunities for these types ofhigh-quality and low-cost healthy beverages, hot-filled and distributed at ambient temperature“. Thepackage is part of a product’s success. “PPmakes those opportunities affordable. As a pioneer,we need to establish the supply chain from theground up, but it definitively values up our brand”.ISBM cPP is ready for success "producing bott-les of normal weight that feature transparency forgreater product appeal, have no foil seal, good hand-grip, are resistant to deformations and to heat”. Inproduction, ISBM PP bottles “are blown on stan-dard Sidel machines”. This provides a “high level ofstandardization and production performance. In fact,for hot and cold fill, ISBM cP costs less than PET”.
Packpet, «converter»
For Vitor Garcia, Managing Director, ISBMPP is “a new technology in a familiar area, as we arealready producing PET and PP packages for the foodindustry”. This project is “ground breaking work,key for long-term sustainability of our business”.The project is driven by the strategicapproach to the local market. “We detected
the opportunity to offer new packaging to a marketthat currently has limited options. Being the first, Ican capture market shares with a differentiated offe-ring, providing high-quality product for fruit drinks,isotonics, teas, nectars, etc.” Packpet hasrecently purchased an SBO 8 Series2+.“We are targeting customers who want high-qualityproducts and can enjoy the benefits of hot fill: ournew technology investment allows us to provide thebest quality bottles.” Packpet is at the heart ofthe ISBM cPP supply chain in Brazil, and isclear about its ambitions to “be the ISBM leader in Brazil”.
Resin supplier: Braskem
For Luis Felli, PP Sales Director, “EBM PP andPE bottles have long been used mainly by the foodand beverage and home and personal care industries. ISBM PP bottles bring new opportunitiesto these industries providing superior aesthetics, hotfilling, high moisture barrier, and squeezability at acompetitive cost for target markets like juice drinks,isotonics, teas, dry food powders, and some homecare products”. Key to ISBM PP’s success is “itshot fill feature that can satisfy consumer demand forjuice drinks with more juice content and no preser-vatives. Also it is possible to explore the squeezabiltyof the ISBM PP bottle in some home care productsthat require expensive pumping solutions”. SBM PPis a strategic component in Braskem’sdiversified innovation portfolio.Additionally, a “specific random copolymer gradehas been developed, with a specific set of propertiesin terms of viscosity, stiffness, transparency, and
impact strength.” New segments could openup for ISBM cPP, thanks to “new resins withenhanced barrier properties that will allow the use ofISBM PP bottles with products that are oxygenand/or UV sensitive”.
Clarifying agent supplier:Milliken Chemical
“The third generation of Millad is the world’smost widely used clarifying agent for PP,” saysRaj Batlaw, Director of Global BusinessDevelopment. ”Millad 3988 addresses suchcritical issues as manufacturing productivity,bottle wall, neck and base clarity, productstrength, higher rigidity and HDT of bottles. Inaddition, it enables processing control and sta-bility in the blowing process.” According toBatlaw, “the strongest applications for PP arefresh juices and juice drinks, fresh milk, chilledflavored milk and other dairy products, as wellas hot filled juice drinks, isotonics and othernew age drinks.” On the identified mar-ket segments, “cost and functionality,” willdrive conversion to ISBM cPP, whichoffers “excellent price points while deliveringsuperior aesthetics, squeezability for sportsapplications, duplication properties for engra-ved designs and logos, hot fillability for juicedrinks and isotonics, and the ability to use exis-ting infrastructure.” Additives will evenfurther contribute to opening up newsegments. “Improving barrier properties willfurther expand the market to include productsthat are O2 and/or UV sensitive.”
ASIASingapore
P: 65.6377.0770F: 65.6377.0990
EUROPEGent, Belgium
P: 32.9.265.10.84F: 32.9.265.11.95
LATIN AMERICASao Paulo, Brasil
P: 55.11.3043.7170F: 55.11.3043.7196
NORTH AMERICASpartanburg, SCP: 864.503.2200F: 864.503.2430
®
Technical perspectives, points of view
> Primarily sells high-quality, value added juice drinks through the dairy system in the USA. Sells internationally in over 50 countries.> Total sales of US$300 million to wholesale and US$400 million to retail.> Headquarters: Chicago, IL - USA.
Tampico's top requirements included “good material distribution, good stability at the filling line, high level ofstandardization, and low cost”. And the companies involved in the project were a strong selling point for theproject. “Sidel and Milliken are already committed to working together to offer this new product worldwide”. Fordeployment, “the most critical is: regional chemical companies to produce proper cPP resin, regional companiesto inject cPP preforms, and local companies to blow the bottles”. For the Brazilian market, Tampico is confidentin the competitive advantages of the supply chain that includes Braskem, Milliken, Sidel, and Packpet. “The
relationship, built step by step between companies established in Brazil, is very strong”.
> Largest petrochemical company in Latin America, is dedicated to the production and marketing ofchemicals and thermoplastics (ethylene, propylene, benzene, HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, PP, PET and PVC).>13 facilities in Brazil for chemical products with production capacity of 3.7 million tons/year and
a thermoplastics facility with a capacity of 2 million tons/year. Currently increasing PP plant capacityfrom 550 ktons/year to 650 ktons/year.
> Total revenues in 2003: US$ 3.8 billion.> Headquarters: São Paulo
For Luis Cassinelli, Innovation and Technology Director, “the key challenge was to design a resin to guarantee performance in an industry setting for this brand new process and provide enhanced bottle properties. Cost was also a challenge.” Braskem has relied on“know-how in process, catalysis, additives and resin design”, andtaken advantage of its Technology Development Unit’s “six pilot
plants and the largest Innovation Center in Latin America,” to develop“special synthesis conditions and obtain a random copolymer
with enhanced properties”. To Cassinelli, “the collaboration of these technical partners,” has been “the decisive factor in providing end users with the reliability necessary to switch from one solution to another”.
In order to adapt blowing to the specific needs of PP, Sidel takes advantage of the wide array of capabilitiesand high consistency level of its SBO Series2+ machines.Through trials, specific experience has been grown, to specifi-cally set reheating process. Mold design has also been adaptedto address all issues related to the specific shrinkage ratio ofPP, venting, and bottle cooling. All settings are customized ona case-by-case basis, according to preform and bottle designsand production specifications.
> Division of Milliken & Company, one of the world’s largest privately held textileand chemical corporations.> Market leader in additives for plastics, including Millad 3988 clarifying agent,Hyperform nucleating agents, Cleartint polymer colorants, and Clearshield UVabsorbers.> Headquarters: Spartanburg, S.Carolina - USA.
According to Marta Janowitzer, MarketManager Latin America, “the beverage indus-try has been interested for some time in theuse of cPP, but poor processing speeds havekept it from being a viable option.Technological breakthroughs now open thedoor for applications currently in HDPE, cartonand glass.” The use of Millad 3988, Milliken’smost advanced additive, “in properly formu-lated and processed PP results in the clearestpossible bottle, increased resin throughput,productivity gains, and enhanced physical pro-perties, including resistance to hot fill. Highly
cost efficient bottles are produced on existingSBM machines at high speeds”. Milliken shares pre-
form design expertise with Sidel: “Preform design with thinner walls anda low composite stretch ratio, along with excellent injection process controlis critical”. To Janowitzer, partnership has been key: “this kind of tech-nology development can only happen if all the participants bring theirexpertise and know-how to the table”.
> Brazilian company, market leader in 5 and 20 liter water bottles made in PET using ISBM process. > Headquarters: Barueri - Brazil.
According to Vitor Garcia, the Braskem,Milliken, Sidel partnership “is the mostimportant component of this project. Allshare the same vision of bringing ISBM cPPto the market. Many milestones have beenachieved through the hard work, determination,and financial and technical investments of these part-
ners.” Based on “long-term collaboration”, Vitor Garcia, hascome to trust Braskem for “high quality product, prompt ship-
ments, and reliable products and services”. As the second step in the supply chain,“Milliken provides the only clarifying agent that yields the best quality, highesttransparency, without taste or odor transfer to foods, helps to process the material,and provides better physical properties to the bottles”. Finally, Series2+ has “all capa-bilities needed to ensure the highest quality processing of PP: excellent walldistribution, good process stability, higher productivity, a reliable machine manufac-tured in Brazil, and local service”.
BRASKEM
TAMPICO
PACKPET
MILLIKEN CHEMICAL
SIDEL
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