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SEPTEMBER 2021 ENRICH BUSINESS RETURNS DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION ANDWINNING STRATEGY INSIDE PLASTICS ENGINEERING VOLUME 77 NUMBER 8 SEPTEMBER 2021 10 It’s good for business: SPE board promotes broad outreach by industry to include more underrepresented groups. Thermoforming GOOD WORKS SPE Thermoforming Conference focuses on new tools and technologies that improve processing and control. Colors and Additives FORMULATIONS TARGET EVOLVING END-USE NEEDS Additive suppliers fine-tune grades that enhance recycled polymers, product aesthetics and shelf life. 16 20 GET YOUR OWN! Plastics Engineering keeps plastics industry professionals informed of the latest news and in-depth reporting on state-of-the-art and emerging technologies that impact the R&D and processing of plastics products. This is the magazine every plastics industry professional NEEDS to read. 4spe.org/Subscribe 4 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR COVER STORY www.plasticsengineering.org | SEPTEMBER 2021 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 128 | Injection Molding NO PELLETIZING NEEDED Engel’s new two-stage process plasticizes recycled flake, increasing circularity and reducing CO 2 emissions. 32 | Analysis DUMB MACHINES CAN BE SMART Some granulators could get smart controls that improve downsizing operations. 5 | Set Point Swiss company 3D prints LCPs, enzyme recycling of PET, Sabic makes PC from PCR, LFAM scrap is reusable. 9 | Data Points Research numbers underscore benefits of DEI strategies. 26 | Materials A BRIGHT FUTURE FOR NYLON Work by Techmer PM to develop vivid colors for nylon fiber could extend to molding. 36 | Environment ‘MAKING THE CASE’ FOR PLASTICS WASTE PREVENTION Student competition promotes scalable local projects to tackle plastics pollution. 47 | Calendar 40 | As I See It DAVID KUSUMA’S NEW JOURNEY David Kusuma leaves Tupperware for a business challenge but remains connected to plastics. 48 | Ad/Editorial Index 28 INSIDE PLASTICS ENGINEERING VOLUME 77 NUMBER 8 SEPTEMBER 2021 44 | New Product News 24 2 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | SEPTEMBER 2021 | www.plasticsengineering.orgPatrick Toensmeier Editor-in-Chief (203) 777-1474 ptoensmeier@4spe.org Michael Greskiewicz Director, Sales & Advertising (203) 740-5411 mgreskiewicz@4spe.org Ryan Foster Art Director (203) 740-5410 rfoster@4spe.org Sue Wojnicki Director of Communications (203) 740-5420 swojnicki@4spe.org Editorial & Publishing Staff President Jason Lyons CEO Patrick Farrey President-Elect Bruce Mulholland Vice President – Chapters & Secretary ScottEastman Vice President – Business & Finance / Treasurer James Waddell Vice President – Professional Development Pavan Valavala Vice President – Sustainability Conor Carlin Vice President – Member Engagement Lynzie Nebel Vice President – Publications Raymond Pearson Vice President at Large Paul Martin Past President Jaime Gómez SPE 2021-2022 Executive Board Contributing Editors NANCY D. LAMONTAGNE ndlamontagne@gmail.com Nancy D. Lamontagne reports on science, technology and engineering. Topics she covers for Plastics Engineering include thermoforming, blow molding, medical plastics, packaging, and education and career development. ROBERT GRACE bob@rcgrace.com Robert Grace has been in B2B journalism since 1980. He covers design and business for Plastics Engineering and is editor of SPE’s Journal of Blow Molding. Professional memberships include the Industrial Designers Society of America. JENNIFER MARKARIAN technicalwritingsolutions@comcast.net Jennifer Markarian focuses on technology. A chemical engineer, she began her career in product development with Mobil Chemical’s polyethylene group. She is also newsletter editor for SPE’s Palisades-New Jersey Section. MATT BECHTEL mjb@matt-bechtel.com MattBechtel has been covering product and technology developments for Plastics Engineering, along with regulatory issues that affect materials suppliers, converters and brand owners. www.plasticsengineering.org | SEPTEMBER 2021 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 3 PEGGY MALNATI peggy@malnatiandassociates.com Peggy Malnati has over 30 years’ experience covering plastics, composites and automotive. She has organized technical conferences for SPE and served as board member and communications chair for SPE’s Automotive Division. GEOFF GIORDANO geoffgio@verizon.net Geoff Giordano has been a contributor to Plastics Engineering since 2009, covering a range of topics, including additives, infrastructure, flexible electronics, design software, 3D printing and nanotechnology. FROM THE Y ears ago, in an ancient history class in college, one of the first things we discussed was the growth of knowledge and culture—activities that mark the advance of societies and civilizations—during the later Bronze Age in what would eventually become the Greek city states. One point the professor made was that this flowering of society followed recurring migrations of people into the area who were fleeing natural disasters, wars and other calamities. He couldn’t prove it at the time, he said, but he believed that the relatively speedy influx of migrants in the space of only several hundred years or so, many bringing unique skills, ideas and experiences with them, created a dynamic stew that helped nourish the growth of societies in the emerging city states. In other words, diversity works in populations when it comes to generating ideas, innovations, and productive and enriching solutions that contribute to societal growth and well-being. This idea was true back then, and as our cover story reveals, it’s true to this day. The data are clear from multiple studies: companies that invest in diverse and inclusive workforces, and support equitable environments for all personnel, significantly outperform those that don’t in metrics that determine growth and profitability. The SPE is undertaking an initiative in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) that will have a positive and far-reaching effect on the plastics industry. A DEI Advisory Board has been formed with people from different backgrounds, all of whom bring broad industry and business expertise to the table, as well as insights, experiences, and importantly, clear ideas about the objectives they want the board to achieve. One reason for the Advisory Board’s formation is the observation that the plastics industry, like many U.S. businesses, needs to increase the opportunities it offers to capable people from different backgrounds. These include women and people of color, of course, as well as ethnically diverse individuals, the LGBTQ community, disabled people and others who are part of underrepresented groups in business and the industry. This is not a case of doing the right thing, though that’s certainly one aspect, or following another company’s lead. Researchers at consultants as tuned to the business needs of corporate America—and the world—as McKinsey and Deloitte, as well as many others who analyze companies that embrace DEI strategies, make a detailed and convincing case that diversity, equity and inclusion are a sound investment. Executives who are responsible for growth and profitability, and who invest in DEI strategies, will, studies show, see a positive and relatively rapid ROI in innovation, product development, market share, higher-than-average cash flow and profitability. They’ll also build positive connections with customers and consumers who want to know that the suppliers they deal with, or the companies that make the retail products they buy, are building organizations that reflect the demography and cultural makeup of society. One compelling reason to promote DEI strategies comes from Sherrika Sanders, senior technical engineer at compounder Manner Polymers in Texas, an Advisory Board member and one of the people interviewed for the cover story. “I have a PhD and am an African American woman. I know others like me. It’s false to assume there is nobody [like me] available [for engineering jobs]. It’s important for me to be around as an example for future generations, and important that we all be part of the innovation and greatness in America.” DEI strategies work. And in the end, as with the first flowering of civilization in Greece, one of the greatest civilizations of all time, everyone who can do the job deserves an opportunity to contribute and be part of the greatness of America. PAT TOENSMEIER Editor-in-Chief ptoensmeier@4spe.org BUILDING BUSINESS BETTER 4 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | SEPTEMBER 2021 | www.plasticsengineering.orgSET POINT Despite the number of polymers available for 3D printing, a conspicuously absent performance family is liquid crystal polymers (LCPs). That’s changing now that a Swiss startup reports it has solved the technical challenges of 3D printing LCPs and is scaling up initially to offer LCP printing services and ultimately a custom printer/material/software platform based on fused-filament fabrication (FFF) technology to companies wishing to print their own LCP parts. The company is based in Zürich and called NematX, a clever play on the nematic (mesomorphic) phase of liquid crystals. It’s the brainchild of co-founders Silvan Gantenbein, chief technology officer, and Raphael Heeb, chief executive officer. The company’s technology was developed over a 5-year period by Gantenbein during his doctoral work at ETH Zürich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology). “To successfully print LCPs, you must understand what happens in the material at different length scales,” Gantenbein explains. “While I knew LCP’s anisotropic behavior could be challenging—and, indeed, a major technical challenge I faced was achieving good adhesion between layers in the vertical printing direction—I also understood the potential of self-reinforcement, a property that could be exploited in 3D printing to create parts with tensile stiffness values to 26 GPa and tensile strength to 600 MPa. That motivated me to study the influence of material composition, process parameters and hardware to better control material microstructure and improve printed quality of high-performance polymer parts. While LCPs behave somewhat differently than other thermoplastics, those characteristics are highly attractive in parts, which 3D printing can bring to market faster and at lower cost.” “Although printing speed is very part-geometry dependent, LCP’s rapid solidification helps us print at faster relative speeds than other performance plastics and their low melt viscosity enables us to print with much higher resolution—25 microns being our production- solution target,” adds Heeb. “By freezing the induced molecular orientation in each layer, polymer products with currently unmatched mechanical and thermal properties and excellent inertness become feasible. Furthermore, LCPs don’t necessarily require a heated chamber the way other high-performance polymers do, simplifying hardware design.” FINALLY! 3DP OF LCP SWISS COMPANY DEVELOPS TECHNOLOGY TO PRINT LIQUID CRYSTAL POLYMERS Do you have an article that you would like to submit for Set Point? Contact Pat Toensmeier, Editor-in-Chief, Plastics Engineering, at ptoensmeier@4spe.org. LCPs are known for high thermo-mechanical capabilities and broad chemical compatibility, which enables their use in critical applications. Usually injection molded, extruded or made into film, sheet or coatings, 3D printing of LCPs is now within reach. Images courtesy of NematX Continued on p. 7 BY PEGGY MALNATI Biotech startup Carbios of Clermont-Ferrand, France, which promotes the recycling of PET waste in an enzyme process, acquired shares of a joint venture, Carbiolice, which strengthens its capacity to develop activities on polymer biodegradation beyond PLA (polylactic acid). In May, Carbios raised €114 million ($133.4 million) to support construction of a first-of-a- kind 100 percent polyethylene terephthalate recycling production unit using its enzymatic technology. The Carbios technology converts PET in waste soda and other consumer bottles into consumer-grade rPET for applications including a tire component supplied by Michelin. The company is partnering with such brands as PepsiCo, Nestle, Suntory Beverage & Food, L’Oreal and Michelin, as well as with one of the world’s largest enzyme producers, Novozymes, to scale up and produce PET- degrading enzymes. The tire market that Carbios is developing is estimated to consume nearly 3 billion scrap PET bottles per year that could be recycled into technical fibers for use in Michelin tires. This adds another layer to the company’s utility in a growing PET market of $70 billion, as well as a $40 billion waste stream following its breakthrough technology that enables polyester textile fibers to be upcycled. The consumer brands Carbios is working with have announced the production of the first food-grade PET bottles produced entirely from enzymatically recycled plastics. Each company in the consortium successfully manufactured sample bottles based on Carbios’ enzymatic recycling technology for products such as Biotherm, Perrier, Pepsi Max and Orangina. The announcement is the culmination of nearly 10 years of research and development CARBIOS BROADENS ENZYME RECYCLING TECHNOLOGY Continued on p. 6 www.plasticsengineering.org | SEPTEMBER 2021 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 5Sabic has announced the launch of certified circular polycarbonate (PC) resin and blends made from the upcycling of post-consumer mixed plastics. The company says the development is an industry first. The certified circular PC is produced in an advanced recycling process (also known as chemical recycling). Representatives say it demonstrates Sabic’s commitment to advance a circular economy for plastics, by increasing the availability of sustainable products. Based on an internal life-cycle analysis by Sabic that takes into account the impact arising from diversion of plastics waste from incineration-to-energy recovery processes, the certified circular PC offers a potential carbon footprint reduction of up to 23 percent in comparison with the conventionally produced polycarbonate the company supplies. The PC is produced by recycling of post- consumer mixed plastics that could otherwise end up in incinerators or landfills. Using pyrolysis, difficult-to-recycle plastics are broken down into pyrolysis oil. This is used as a feedstock to create certified circular building blocks for high-performance plastics with the same properties as virgin material—in this case, polycarbonate. Polycarbonate—specifically Lexan resin— is part of Sabic’s extensive engineering thermoplastics portfolio, which includes PC blends like Cycoloy and Xenoy. End- users in a number of markets—electrical/ electronics, automotive, healthcare, building and construction, and consumer goods, for example—can specify the certified circular PC under identical process conditions to those used for its incumbent. The PC is certified by an independent third party under the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC Plus) scheme using a standardized mass balance approach, which provides a method of asserting the recycled content based on predefined and transparent rules. The ISCC Plus accreditation additionally provides traceability along Sabic’s supply chain, from feedstock to final product, demonstrating a chain of custody based on the mass balance system. The PC is part of Sabic’s Trucircle portfolio of circular solutions. Launched in 2019, the portfolio is intended to close the loop and create a circular economy for plastics by providing manufacturers with access to more sustainable materials. The portfolio includes design for recyclability, mechanically recycled products, certified circular products from feedstock recycling of plastics, certified renewables from biobased feedstock and closed-loop initiatives to recycle plastics into high-quality applications, all of which help prevent valuable used plastics from becoming waste. SABIC MAKES POLYCARBONATE FROM POST-CONSUMER RECYCLED PLASTICS SET POINT Bales of mixed plastics scrap await processing at Sabic facility. The company uses advanced recycling technology to convert waste into virgin-like polycarbonate and PC blends. Courtesy of Sabic by Carbios to create a process and supercharge an enzyme naturally occurring in compost heaps that normally breaks down leaf membranes of dead plants. By adapting this enzyme, Carbios fine-tuned the technology and optimized the enzyme to break down any type of PET plastic regardless of color or complexity into its building blocks, which are then converted into like-new, virgin-quality grades. The patented enzymatic recycling process allows a wide variety of PET scrap to be recycled into food- grade polymer. PET scrap that would otherwise go to landfills or be incinerated, can be brought back into a continuous circular recycling system that can be done at high speed: breaking down 97 percent of plastics in just 16 hours—reportedly as much as 10,000 times more efficient than biological recycling to date. The consortium brands will scale this innovation to meet global demand for sustainable packaging. This month, Carbios breaks ground on a demonstration plant, before launching a 40,000-ton-capacity industrial facility by 2025. “We have created food-grade clear bottles from enzymatically recycled colored and complex plastics with identical properties to virgin PET, in partnership with the consortium of brands, says Jean Claude Lumaret, chief executive officer of Carbios. “We have proved the viability of the technology with leading brands. This is a transformational innovation that could fully close the loop on PET supply globally, so it never becomes waste.” Enzymatic recycling overcomes the issue of degradation in conventional recycling and can be used with any type of PET. Since the Carbios process works under mild conditions, it could also lower the carbon footprint of PET waste treatment by reducing CO 2 emissions 30 percent compared with a conventional mix of incineration and landfill. Carbios plans to license its technology to PET manufacturers worldwide, accelerating the adoption of enzymatic recycling for all types of PET-based products. Carbios, p. 5 These consumer brands are among the first to use enzyme technology from Carbios to recycle PET into food- grade polymer for reuse. Courtesy of Jérôme Pallé 6 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | SEPTEMBER 2021 | www.plasticsengineering.orgBy harnessing the unique properties of LCPs, NematX offers heretofore unachievable stiffness and strength values. NematX recently installed a specialized pilot extrusion line to produce filaments for inhouse development and to print customer parts. In parallel, they’ve developed a proof-of-concept printer. NematX recently installed a specialized pilot extrusion line to produce filaments for inhouse development and to print customer parts. In parallel, they’ve developed a proof-of-concept printer (build envelope currently 20 x 20 x 20 centimeters—7.9 x 7.9 x 7.9 inches—with 40 x 40 x 40 centimeters—16 x 16 x 16 inches in testing) and are working with hardware partners to develop commercial equipment. They also have a procedure to recycle printed parts and waste material into new raw material to support the circular economy. 3DP, p. 5 NematX’s initial market focus is industrial markets requiring high- performance precision parts in small to medium volumes—electronics, precision mechanics and vacuum/chemical equipment. Longer term, aerospace/aviation, medical devices and automotive may be targets. www.plasticsengineering.org | SEPTEMBER 2021 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 7Next >