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< PreviousSET POINT AMSTY AND ENCINA SIGN CIRCULAR PS FEEDSTOCK DEAL Americas Styrenics (AmSty) LLC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Encina Development Group LLC that will provide AmSty with the opportunity to purchase up to 250,000 tons per year of circular polystyrene (PS) feedstocks from Encina’s facilities. AmSty also signed a long-term offtake agreement for the purchase of circular feedstocks from Encina’s first U.S. commercial plant in Pennsylvania, which is scheduled to come online in early 2025. These circular feedstocks will then be available for purchase as recycled content credits, based on the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC+) mass-balance system. As each new Encina plant comes online, AmSty plans to enter into additional offtake agreements to purchase circular feedstocks from those facilities. Encina Development Group, of The Woodlands, Texas, produces circular materials using a proprietary advanced recycling technology that works at the molecular level. Polymer chains are split apart and converted back into their original chemical building blocks, which can then be reused to make new products. AmSty, also based in The Woodlands, has committed to a 2030 goal that all PS products for food packaging will contain at least 30 percent recycled content. “This new collaboration is vital to helping AmSty meet that goal and demonstrates our commitment to a sustainable future across all our market segments. It is a victory for brand owners and converters seeking sustainable packaging and consumer products that are part of a circular economy,” says Dr. Randy Pogue, AmSty’s president and CEO. “AmSty is one of the world’s leading styrenics companies and has been at the forefront of sustainability innovation for more than a decade,” says David Schwedel, executive director of Encina. “Our agreements with AmSty enable Encina to assist them and their customers to deliver on fulfilling their circular economy and sustainability goals.” “This will allow companies from across AmSty’s portfolio to offer recyclable, sustainable products with the exact same quality and performance that customers expect,” notes Tim Barnette, AmSty’s vice president of polymers and sustainability. “Customers are demanding sustainable practices across the product supply chain and life cycle,” says David Roesser, CEO of Encina. “The feedstocks we manufacture reduce waste, offset the need to produce virgin materials and help manufacturers achieve carbon neutral goals as we transition to a circular economy.” Both companies recently received ISCC+ designations. By achieving the voluntary designation, companies and their customers know that the sustainability characteristics that are claimed, such as percentage of recycled content, have been validated. It allows AmSty and Encina to provide global customers with certified products to meet sustainability goals. AmSty is a joint venture equally owned by Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP and Trinseo LLC. Sizing up the demo unit: (l. to r.) Encina CEO Dave Roesser; David Schwedel, executive director of Encina; AmSty CEO Randy Pogue; and Tim Barnette, AmSty vice president of polystrene and sustainability tour Encina’s process demonstration unit in San Antonio. Courtesy of American Styrenics PLASTICS IS A $600 BILLION BUSINESS AND SIXTH-LARGEST INDUSTRY IN U.S. Plastics has grown into a $600 billion annual business, states the Plastics Industry Association’s 2022 Size and Impact report, the association’s flagship annual analysis of the industry’s contribution to the U.S. economy. Dr. Perc Pineda, chief economist at the association, presented an overview of the report’s findings last month during an online executive briefing for PIA members and the press. Highlights of the briefing include: » The U.S. plastics industry accounts for nearly a million jobs (999,100); when suppliers to the plastics industry are included, that number rises to 1.5 million. » Plastics manufacturing employment grew 3.2 percent from 2020 to 2021, more than twice the growth of manufacturing as a whole (1.5 percent). » U.S. plastics shipments totaled $468.0 billion for 2021; when suppliers to the plastics industry are included, shipments totaled $600.4 billion. “Today’s report shows that the plastics industry, while previously eighth is now the sixth-largest manufacturing industry in the U.S,” said MattSeaholm, president and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association. “Plain and simple, these numbers show that the plastics industry is growing and will continue to do so as part of a circular economy.” “Plastic is remarkable: It saves energy by being lightweight; it saves resources by being efficient to manufacture and transport; and it saves lives through protective gear, medical devices and so much more,” he continued. “The plastics industry continues to develop new technologies that improve the manufacturing process to include more recycled content, less material, design for recyclability and improved performance to better protect things like food and beverages, greatly reducing waste,” Seaholm concluded. 8 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | OCTOBER 2022 | www.plasticsengineering.orgSinochem International Corp., parent of ELIX Polymers of Tarragona, Spain, and a major company in China’s chemical sector, opened a compounding factory in Yangzhou in August. The plant is considered to be a milestone in Sinochem’s industrial strategy for engineering plastics, according to company officials, as well as a way for ELIX to broaden its share of the Chinese market for ABS, polycarbonate and blends. “The operation of the Yangzhou compounding plant has opened a new chapter in the industrialization strategy of Sinochem International for ABS and modified materials,” said Hongsheng Liu, general manager of Sinochem. “In ABS, Sinochem forecasts major growth in China of home appliances, electronic devices, automobiles and other relevant markets [that make use of ABS], with special focus on mid- and high-end market requirements.” The plant is in the Yizheng Chemical Industrial Park, Yangzhou. Sinochem plans to build an annual capacity of 56,000 tons of ABS and polycarbonate modified materials in two phases. The plant will be operated by Sinochem Engineering Plastics (Yangzhou) Co. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sinochem International Corp. The first phase of the project, which just started its operations, has an annual capacity of 24,000 tons of ABS and modified materials. The second phase, with a capacity of 32,000 tons, is scheduled to start production in 2023. Sinochem International formally entered the ABS sector in 2019 through the acquisition of Europe's leading ABS and ABS blends manufacturer, ELIX Polymers. ELIX has more than 45 years of experience in the ABS business, with a strong market share in the European specialty ABS market. ELIX is an ABS and blends producer that is recognized as a benchmark in the European and American markets. The company offers specialized and innovative solutions with best-in-class services across different industries such as automotive, healthcare, consumer goods, appliances, electronics and toys. The operation of the Yangzhou factory is also an important step forward in increasing ELIX’s global footprint, especially its growth in the Chinese market. Local production of ABS, PC/ABS and PC blends through Sinochem Engineering Plastics under the ELIX brand will enable the plant to serve the Chinese market locally with innovative, high- quality, customized and sustainable products and services. SINOCHEM OPENS COMPOUNDING PLANT IN CHINA FOR ABS, POLYCARBONATE Sinochem’s new compounding plant in China will market ABS, PC and blends under the ELIX name. Courtesy of ELIX Polymers STRUKTOL COMPANY OF AMERICA, LLC | Stow, Ohio | USA 330.928.5188 | CustomerService@struktol.com | www.struktol.com ENGINEERED TO IMPROVE PROCESS AND PRODUCT PERFORMANCE THROUGHOUT AN EXTENSIVE ARRAY OF INDUSTRIES. >Activators >Dispersants >Homogenizers >Lubricants > Metal Stearates > Montan Ester Wax Alternatives >Odor Control >Peptizers >Plasticizers > Polyethylene Waxes >Processing Agents > Silane Coupling Agents >Slip Agents (Amides) >Tackifiers > Viscosity Modifiers We’ve Got You Covered SPECIALTY ADDITIVES FOR THE POLYMER INDUSTRY www.plasticsengineering.org | OCTOBER 2022 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 9SET POINT HUGH L. KARRAKER CHRONICLED THE HISTORY OF BAKELITE RESIN Hugh Lenox Karraker was an actor who for more than three decades had a successful career in film, theater and television. He never worked in plastics, but his family background gave him entrée to many in the industry. Karraker was the great grandson of Dr. Leo Henricus Arthur Baekeland, the Belgian chemist who invented Bakelite phenol formaldehyde resin in 1907 and patented it two years later. Bakelite was the first plastic made entirely from synthetic materials. Karraker died of pneumonia on Aug. 17 in a hospice in Danbury, Conn. He was 74. In a determined, almost destined effort to memorialize the great grandfather he never knew, Hugh Karraker spent six years beginning in 2009 developing a one- hour documentary film about Baekeland titled “All Things Bakelite: The Age of Plastic.” His inspiration came primarily from his mother, Céline Baekeland Roll Karraker, who spoke often of Baekeland, who was her grandfather, to Karraker as he was growing up, sharing stories about him, as well as photos and mementos. The documentary, which Karraker filmed with director John Maher, became something of a classic. It has been shown, predictably, at chemical and plastics conferences and events, historical societies and colleges, but also at film festivals, museums and even multiple times on PBS television. Moreover, the documentary’s audience is global—the film has been translated into at least five languages and is available on streaming services. The film drew attention to the L.H. Baekeland Project, which promotes the history and achievements of Karraker’s famous ancestor, as well as the need to manufacture, use and recycle plastics responsibly, in keeping with Karraker’s interest in environmentalism. In commenting on Karraker’s passing, a representative of the Amsterdam Bakelite Collection, a museum in Ghent, Belgium, said: “With great energy, Hugh brought his great grandfather’s ground-breaking invention to the attention of a broad audience, despite serious health issues.” Karraker, lived in Redding, Conn., and was married for 44 years to Sherry Arell Karraker, who survives him. Hugh Karraker posing in Ghent, Belgium, with another popular product from the country. Courtesy of Amsterdam Bakelite Collection Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, brought online in September the Rebound Plastic Exchange, a global, digital trading platform for recycled plastics. In a report in the local Gulf News, the enterprise is described as especially important to Abu Dhabi and the UAE as a way of effectively dealing with plastics and pollution. Among the initiatives in place or soon to be law, Abu Dhabi has a ban on single-use plastics bags, and Sharjah, a major city in the UAE, plans to ban single- use plastics bags in 2024. As reported earlier this year (February Plastics Engineering, p. 5), this platform for certified recycled plastics aims to enable buyers, sellers and governments to efficiently trade plastics feedstock for recycling with trust and confidence. The Rebound founders estimated then that by 2025, if Rebound trades 5 million metric tons of recycled plastics as planned, it would be the carbon dioxide equivalent of removing emissions from 5 million cars. The multisector conglomerate International Holding Co. (IHC), which was founded in 1989 and is the largest company listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, announced the plan to create the platform on Jan. 18, 2022. The new exchange says it will introduce globally recognized standards, certification, insurance and quality assurance into the supply chain for recycled plastics. The initiative aims to increase the efficiency of recycling plastics at scale, provide new economic opportunities and reduce the impact of plastics pollution on the planet, according to Doug Woodring, who conceived the project. The news takes on additional significance since more than 70 businesses—including major packaging firms such as Berry Global Group Inc., Amcor Ltd., Alpla Inc. and Greiner AG, and global brands like Coca-Cola Co. and Walmart Inc.—urged negotiators at the UN Environment Assembly session in Nairobi, Kenya, Feb. 28 to March 5, to start serious talks on a global treaty aimed at cutting virgin plastics production. Facing increasing legislative pressure, consumer packaged goods companies and other types of global brands have been making public commitments to incorporate more post-consumer recycled plastics into their products and packaging. Many brands are aiming for 20 to 30 percent increases in their use of such materials. But the pipeline currently is nowhere near adequate to meet all that demand. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has predicted a shortfall of 6 million tons of recycled plastics by 2025, and there currently is no global supply chain to provide companies with the volume of quality material they need to meet these commitments. Woodring, a serial entrepreneur and founder of the Ocean Recovery Alliance non-governmental organization in Hong Kong, said in a telephone interview earlier this year that the timing is a “perfect storm” for this platform to be created. It is the big intervention needed to facilitate the creation of a global circular economy for plastics feedstock and to greatly improve recycling capacities. Additionally, he said, the UAE is the ideal partner to host this project, as it has the vision, leadership and long-term thinking for bringing about large-scale solutions from which the world will benefit. “Plastics pollution is one of the most complex environmental problems of our time,” said Maryam Al Mansoori, general manager of the Rebound Plastic Exchange. “We’ve worked to develop a global trading solution that offers a large- scale opportunity to reduce some of the world’s plastics pollution via recycling,” she remarked. “By capturing the value of plastics feedstock, we allow companies from all sectors, apparel to automotive, to access recycled content with confidence, while creating new opportunities for communities in the value chain to grow their economies.” IHC says the Rebound Plastic Exchange will fill a significant gap in the market, facilitating a circular economy as it creates a quality-assured platform to purchase and provide feedstock of recycled plastics to meet the growing demand from multinational companies and consumer sentiment. RECYCLED PLASTICS EXCHANGE GOES ONLINE IN THE UAE 10 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | OCTOBER 2022 | www.plasticsengineering.orgTHE LEGAL ANGLE Changes are afoot in global food-contact packaging regulations. Here are two: The U.S. FDA is being pressed to reconsider bisphenol A in packaging and other food- contact materials; and FDA has proposed a change to its process for wiping out existing clearances for food-contact substances. BPA is back in the headlines because after years of squabbles over whether typical exposure to it is harmful, there’s been an important development that is bound to keep BPA on a front burner of controversy. Advocacy groups have petitioned FDA asking it to withdraw remaining approvals of BPA for use in adhesives and coatings, based on recent findings of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that the level of safe exposure “is more than 5,000 times below what FDA says most Americans are safely exposed to,” writes the Environmental Defense Fund, one of the petitioners. EDF asserts that EFSA’s work shows that current exposures lead to endocrine disruption and other adverse health effects. A first reaction here is how surprising it is that such a closely studied substance might now be the subject of a bombshell finding that is dramatically different in scale than prior findings, even prior findings of EFSA. FDA will look at the information in the petition and at EFSA’s work, decide if it’s well-founded and then take action accordingly. As for that proposed FDA regulation change, it’s one of those obscure bureaucratic steps whose motivation isn’t obvious, but which could, if finalized, make for more removals from FDA’s clearance list of food-contact substances. Clearances of specific uses of food additives can result from one of several pathways, including a Food Contact Notification, food additive regulation, a Threshold of Regulation exemption or a use can be exempted from treatment as a food additive based on its status as Generally Recognized as Safe. The foundation of any clearance is a conclusion that the intended use is safe—that there’s reasonable certainty that no harm will result from use, taking into consideration an estimate of the amount of the substance that will get into the average American’s diet. FDA has long had a regulation that states, in the case of food-contact substances that are cleared via a Food Contact Notification, that if data indicate an intended use is “no longer safe,” it can declare the FCN no longer effective. The regulation adds that after this determination, FDA must give the affected manufacturer or supplier a chance to dispute the new information. The proposed regulation would change this process. First, it would give affected companies a chance to make their case before FDA decides the FCN should no longer be effective, not after. Second, it expands the reasons FDA could decide an FCN should no longer be effective. It would add “instances in which the production, supply or use of the food- contact substance for its intended use has ceased or will cease,” or if the use of the substance is otherwise cleared under a food additive regulation or is covered by a threshold of regulation exemption. Why would FDA propose doing such things? If the current regulation didn’t allow FDA to withdraw a clearance based on new safety concerns, you could understand their wanting to add that power. But safety concerns were already in the regulation, and in fact that is the only reason FDA can now reconsider a clearance. A clue could be found within FDA’s recent experience with PFAS (fluoropolymer) coatings and products, where FDA got “voluntary commitment letters from certain manufacturers” whose uses of PFAS were based on cleared FCNs that they’d stop using the substances in the U.S. “[H]owever,” FDA noted, “these FCNs remain effective.” So now, FDA proposes allowing companies who have stopped or will stop using a food-contact substance to not just notify FDA, but to ask FDA to declare the FCN no longer effective so FDA can remove the clearance. In sum, FDA’s proposal would give companies a chance to make their case before FDA makes a final decision on removing a food-contact substance clearance and would also give the agency more grounds for removing clearances. It adds up to a little more fairness for companies, as well as the prospect for more removed clearances. Time will tell how these potential changes fare. Eric F. Greenberg is Principal Attorney of Eric F. Greenberg, PC, Chicago, with a practice concentrated in food and drug law, packaging law and commercial litigation. Website is www. Ericfgreenbergpc.com. This column is informational only and not legal advice. A version of this column appeared in the August edition of Packaging World. FDA RETHINKS FOOD-CONTACT RULES BY ERIC F. GREENBERG www.plasticsengineering.org | OCTOBER 2022 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 11FLOATING SOLAR FARM An ambitious clean energy project in Portugal showcases the potential of this eco-friendly material BY ROBERT GRACE EDP’s floating solar park is in the Alqueva Reservoir in Portugal, Europe’s largest artificial lake. The site combines hydro power from the adjacent dam and solar power from the floating farm, using only one point of access to the electricity grid. The project is co-financed by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund—EMFF. (Proyecto cofinanciado por el Fondo Europeo Marítimo y de Pesca.) Courtesy of EDP and Isigenere COVER STORY 12 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | OCTOBER 2022 | www.plasticsengineering.orgW ith clean energy in demand, three companies in southwestern Europe believe the time is ripe for floating solar farms. They now have gone a step further and developed an innovative cork polymer composite that will be used to mold the components upon which the solar panels float. Made of waste cork and recycled high-density polyethylene, this composite is designed to replace virgin HDPE resin and serves to further improve the environmental benefits of such technology. EDP Group, a global energy company based in Lisbon, Portugal, that is present in 29 markets and derives 75 percent of its energy from renewable resources, in mid-July inaugurated its most ambitious project yet of this type—a floating solar park on the Alqueva reservoir in southeastern Portugal. Alqueva is the largest artificial lake in Europe, covering nearly 100 square miles. The solar platform installed there comprises almost 12,000 photovoltaic (PV) panels, or just under 10 acres, according to EDP. EDP is partnering with Portugal’s Amorim Cork Composites SA (ACC) and Spain’s Isigenere SL on the project. The energy company adds that the Alqueva initiative is in line with its strategy of being 100 percent green by 2030 and increasing investment in innovation and renewable projects. “Becoming carbon neutral is the dream,” says Carlos Duarte, strategic development director of ACC, a unit of Corticeira Amorim. “We’re not there yet, but we’re working on it.” Leveraging the carbon- capture benefits of cork trees, the partners’ goal is for this type of platform to become neutral or even carbon negative eventually. Based in northern Portugal, just south of Oporto, Corticeira Amorim is the world’s biggest cork processing group. Founded in 1870, it employs 4,400 people, is present in more than 100 countries and punches out some 5.5 billion cork stoppers a year. The parent company formed ACC in 1963 to take advantage of 70 percent of the waste produced by the cork industry. In 2018, Amorim Cork Composites opened i.cork factory, a pilot plant dedicated to the research and development of innovative products that value cork. The group invests some €10 million ($10.1 million) a year in R&D to find new ways to use the natural material. The factory’s main mission is to design new materials and to test and explore the application of technologies that haven’t yet been industrialized in the sector. Speaking in a telephone interview, Duarte said that ACC first developed cork polymer composites (CPCs) roughly a decade ago, blending the leftovers from cork stopper production or the forest with various materials—from HDPE, rubber or polyurethane to ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) or thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs)—to use in novel applications. The lightweight, fire-resistant material is now being evaluated by Rolls-Royce to provide thermal protection for batteries used in its prototype, high-speed, all-electric plane. Automakers also are looking to use cork as a casing for EV battery packs. Amorim’s CPCs have found use in Nordic ski pole handles and cutlery handles, automotive gaskets and as a patented core layer (mixed with recycled HDPE) in flooring. It has even Carlos Duarte www.plasticsengineering.org | OCTOBER 2022 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 13partnered with Nike to use some of the sportwear giant’s surplus pro- duction to create a flooring un- derlay called Go4Cork Blend, which has a negative car- bon balance. For that proj- ect it combined its CPCs with EVA foam, using recycled scrap called Nike Grind from Nike’s footwear manufacturing process. Amorim calls the cork composites that it blends with recycled waste polymers its Circular Economy line of products. Duarte, a 24-year company veteran and board member, heads ACC’s solar park project, along with Eduardo Soares, the firm’s innovation and product management director. ACC, in turn, works closely with Isigenere, a renewable engineering and product development company based in Alicante, Spain, in the southeast of the country on the Mediterranean coast, that has created a modular floating solar system “Isifloating” that supports PV panels installed in bodies of water in southeastern Spain. “We supply the pellets,” said Duarte, “and they do all the magic” to design, mold and install the floaters, referring to Isigenere. Miguel Redón is an assistant pro - fessor of construc- tion and materials at the University of Valencia in Spain and a consultant to Isigenere. He and a partner in 2007 created an initial solar float prototype, using rotomolded pan- els. However, the 2009 to 2010 eco- nomic crisis caused the solar energy industry in Spain to collapse. Un- deterred, Redón continued his de- velopment work and used it as the basis for his PhD, which he obtained in 2011. He began collaborating with Isigenere to further refine the concept, which has evolved into the Spanish firm’s Isifloating solar panel system. The parties worked with EDP and Amorim to apply the CPC technology to the product, first with small test pieces, then with full-size float components. Redón said they are using a variable blend of up 30 There is an increasing amount of attention being directed toward floating solar farms, especially in densely populated areas where available land space is at a premium. Saudi Arabia-based resins and chemicals giant SABIC is among companies active in this promising area. SABIC has worked on floating solar farm projects in India, Japan and China, and developed grades of HDPE for use in durable floating photovoltaic (FPV) power stations. The company says SABIC B5308 resin is suited to withstand the intense weathering conditions of such applications, including extended exposure to UV radiation and blistering heat. The grade has already been approved by several companies specializing in FPV systems. HDPE B5308 is a high-molecular- weight material with so-called multimodal molecular distribution that provides processing and performance characteristics. The company claims it has high environmental stress cracking resistance, excellent mechanical properties, a good balance of toughness and stiffness, durability for long life and easy blow molding processability. SABIC notes that FPV systems installed to date typically use primary and secondary floats, which range in volume from roughly 50 to 300 liters. These floats usually are produced on large extrusion blow molding machines. Processors require resins with the right melt-flow properties to run on their machines, with consistency across batches. End-user specifications may call for the floats to be resistant to ambient temperatures ranging from as low as -60°C to 80°C. (Apart from resistance to continuous exposure to the sun, they also have to withstand constant contact with water, need to be airtight and must not affect water quality by leaching any of their chemicals.) The Saudi firm also is promoting its polypropylene compounds for use in FPV floaters, noting that these formulations “potentially can be made using post-consumer recycled PP content.” SABIC expects that there will be many more FPV systems deployed as society grapples with increased pressures to create energy without harming the environment. The company believes that the right polymer solutions can be a “key to helping further unlock the potential of FPV technology.” The World Bank, meanwhile, notes in a report that there are more than 400,000 square kilometers (about 155,000 square miles) of man-made reservoirs in the world, suggesting that floating solar has a theoretical potential on a terawattscale, purely from the perspective of available surface area. “The most conservative estimate of floating solar’s overall global potential based on available man-made water surfaces exceeds 400 gigawatts, which is equal to the 2017 cumulative installed PV capacity globally,” the report says. After ground- mounted farms and building-integrated PV systems, floating solar farms are already the third-largest method of solar energy generation, according to the World Bank. TAILORING RESINS FOR FLOATING SOLAR FARMS Dr. Miguel Redón Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa was at the grand opening of the Alqueva floating solar plant on July 15. Courtesy of EDP and Isigenere 14 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | OCTOBER 2022 | www.plasticsengineering.orgpercent cork content in the CPC compound, with the balance being recycled HDPE. When factoring in the carbon captured in cork forests, an independent life cycle assessment has indicated that floaters made from this composite material reduce the carbon footprint of conventional floaters by some 16 percent, according to EDP. Isigenere has been working for several years now with two plastics processors in Spain: injection molder Crediplast and blow molder Fábricas Agrupadas de Muñecas de Onil S.A. (Famosa). They currently use injection molding for the photovoltaic panel floats, and blow molding for the secondary floats, which provide the walkways through the solar field. At the moment, only the secondary, blow molded floats use the CPC material, while the floats holding the solar panels themselves are still injection molded from virgin HDPE. The Alqueva project alone uses some 25,000 floaters in total, Amorim said. “We continue to work with Amorim to improve the composite, so that we can convert the primary floats to the CPC material,” Redón said in a phone interview. Isigenere is currently adding, via a third-party molder, a new manufacturing line in northern Portugal to increase its production capacity. The necessary molds also will be made in Portugal, which is one of the world’s leading toolmakers. Making the floats locally will reduce their overall carbon footprint, since they won’t need to be transported such a distance. The Portuguese-made mold will be specially designed to handle the injection molded CPC material. Redón said that small pieces of cork in the compound can stick to the mold, which requires frequent cleaning and negatively impacts productivity. The part also can tend to discolor in the mold. The plan is to make some changes to the tool’s material and to apply extra protection treatments in the die to overcome these challenges. The firms are evaluating Portuguese moldmakers as potential partners. This floating solar farm technology offers various environmental benefits: » The system acts as a protective ceiling for the water and therefore can reduce water evaporation by as much as 80 percent. This is vitally important now, given the current high heat and drought conditions, which have led to a scarcity of water. » Thanks to the cooling effect of the water, it increases PV power performance by 10 to 15 percent compared to fixed ground solar systems. » The floating solar farm produces renewable energy close to where it is consumed. » The farm preserves land for agriculture, livestock or forestry. » It reduces visual impact and can even take advantage of non-productive areas. The components of Isigenere’s mounting system. Courtesy of Isigenere Spain’s Famosa blow molds Amorim’s cork polymer composite into the blue secondary floats used as walkways on the floating plant. Spanish molder Crediplast makes the brown primary floats, to which solar panels are affixed. Courtesy of Isigenere www.plasticsengineering.org | OCTOBER 2022 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 15 » It helps improve water quality by significantly reducing algae growth, even in low-coverage areas. The Alqueva dam project employs a concept known as hybridization, which combines hydro (from the hydropower plant) and solar energy (from the floating plant) using only one point of access to the electricity grid. It also includes yet another innovation—the installation of batteries with a storage capacity of around 2MWh (2 megawatts/hour of energy, or 2,000 kilowatts of energy generated every hour). “The integration with an existing power plant and grid connections also avoids the construction of new transmission and distribution lines and the consequent land occupation,” notes EDP. “Hybridization also allows the doubling of the energy flow at the same point, without the need to increase the capacity of the line.” It is estimated that this plant, with a capacity of 5 megawatts (MW), will produce around 7.5 GWh/ year and the expectation is that it will supply energy to the equivalent of more than 30 percent of the families in the surrounding region of Portel and Moura, which corresponds to roughly 1,500 families (with an average of four people per household). These floating solar systems need to be securely installed to withstand nature’s forces. In ponds, small lakes, rivers or reservoirs, the floaters can be anchored to the embankments using piles or concrete blocks, said Redón. In large bodies of water, such as in Alqueva, they are anchored to the bottom using concrete blocks and strong cables and elastic ropes. But care is taken to ensure that the mooring system does not affect the riverbed and that there is no lasting impact on the surroundings even if the solar park is removed. Additionally, notes Isigenere, its Isifloating technology offers additional benefits when it comes to installing such systems: » The system adapts to the concave profile of the water surface as water levels go up or down throughout the year. » There is no need to employ specialized and expensive technical teams, and installation should take just weeks, not months. » The system is designed to integrate with and preserve nature in places where wildlife exists. » It offers safe and easy access for operations and maintenance crews. » The system is designed to withstand nature’s forces, be they wind, sun, waves, snow, animals, saline water, algae or fungus, and to last for more than 25 years. The partners experienced some resistance to the concept. “There are non- believers of plastics,” Redón said. “But they start to understand that plastic is 100 percent durable, recyclable and can be one of the best solutions, in terms of sustainability, corrosion resistance and so on.” Floating solar solutions have immense applicability around the world. Isigenere is currently involved in such projects in Colombia and Ecuador, and by early 2023, will work on projects in the U.S. Isigenere is working on Colombia and U.S. projects with solutions designed by Noria Energy (www.noriaenergy.com), a cleantech company based in Sausalito, Calif. Amorim’s Duarte said the Alqueva project “validated the concept” and he sees it being applied successfully around the world. With additional R&D and tweaking of the molding process, the technology can further improve the carbon footprint, in part by locating production close to the end-use area. Blow molded floaters provide safe walkways for individuals performing operational or maintenance work on the installation. Courtesy of EDP and Isigenere Stripped from trees, 3,000-year-old cork is a versatile, lightweight, fire-resistant material. Cork trees proliferate in southern Portugal, the world’s leading cork producer. Courtesy of Amorim Cork Composites 16 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | OCTOBER 2022 | www.plasticsengineering.orgAmorim, a publicly listed, fourth-generation family company, fully intends to expand the floating solar concept. A global company, it has a factory in Wisconsin, as well as plants in Mexico, South Korea, India, China and Singapore. This composite material can be used as a structural part or as a design component, and Amorim is working with partners in the automotive, footwear and toy industries, among others, to find more potential applications. “Cork has been used in the energy market for a long time, but its potential is now more evident than ever,” said António Rios de Amorim, president and CEO of Corticeira Amorim. “From solar energy and wind energy to electric mobility, the ambition is, in the medium term, to make this sector one of the main pillars of growth for Corticeira Amorim in the area of composite materials.” He went on to praise cork for its CO 2 removal capacity and emphasized “the natural technical characteristics of this material. Resistance to extreme temperatures, chemical compatibility, resilience, anti-vibration properties and low thermal conductivity are attributes that enhance the potential of this raw material in numerous applications in this sector.” For each ton of cork produced, the cork oak forest can sequester up to 73 tons of CO 2 . This factor reduces the environmental impact of any solution where cork is applied. When it comes to cork, a 3,000-year-old material that consists of 50 percent air, it seems that innovative polymer technology is opening doors. A recent feature article in Fast Company magazine summed it up this way: “Ultimately, cork is a sustainable material, but it can have a meaningful impact only if there are enough ways to use it. Amorim is part of a vast ecosystem of brands, designers and other companies pushing the boundaries on this ancient material. So next time you pop the cork from your favorite bottle, remember there’s so much more to it than wine.” Cork has been used in the energy market for a long time, but its potential is now more evident than ever. www.plasticsengineering.org | OCTOBER 2022 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 17Next >