I w w w. b o r e a l i s g r o u p. c o m Polyolefins Moulding Bottles
I Polyolefins Moulding Bottles I www.borealisgroup.com About Borealis Borealis is a leading provider of innovative, value creating plastics solutions. With more than 40 years of experience in the polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) business, we focus on pipe systems, energy and communications cables, automotive and advanced packaging markets. We are strong in Europe and growing in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific through Borouge, our joint venture with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). Our technology shapes plastic products that make an essential contribution to the society in which we live. We are committed to lead the way in Shaping the Future with Plastics. With EUR 5 billion revenue in sales and 4,500 employees, Borealis is headquartered in Vienna, Austria with innovation centres, customer service centres, and main production sites in Europe and the Middle East. Borealis has representative offices and operations in Asia, North and South America. At its heart, the company s four values of Responsible, Respect, Exceed and Nimblicity, define its way of doing business. For Borealis, success is achieving value creation through innovation. Borstar is Borealis proprietary technology supporting differentiated PE and PP products. Borstar is a registered trademark of Borealis A/S. Learn more about us at www.borealisgroup.com
I 0 Contents 02 Blow moulding: a changing market 04 A complete polyolefins portfolio to meet your needs 05 Our range of high impact and high stiffness randoms 07 High melt strength PP 08 Special technologies for PP 09 Borealis PE for bottles 12 PE for milk and dairy beverages
02 I Polyolefins Moulding Bottles I www.borealisgroup.com Blow moulding: a changing market The blow moulding market is currently characterised by continued consolidation in the industry, with Central Europe becoming the manufacturing base for leading blow moulding companies. Concurrent with these developments, the blow moulding industry is increasingly becoming a service industry to brands, as more and more retailers introduce their own branded product lines. Package offerings from suppliers are becoming more common, including involvement in design issues, and encompassing the bottle, label, closure, filling line etc. Another aspect of production expected to increase is "hole through the wall" operations, where instead of receiving bottles from a remote plant, the customer is supplied directly by an on-site bottle production facility, literally via a hole through the wall. A growing preference for plastic Due to environmental and other factors, plastic bottles are steadily gaining market share as the switch from glass and metal containers continues. In the food segment for example, glass packaging for ketchups dressings has been replaced almost totally by squeezable barrier PP bottles during the last two years. Other examples include fresh and shelf-stable soups in barrier PP and HDPE jars and the strongly increasing demand for HDPE and PP bottles and containers in the personal application segment. Figure 1: Polymer demand by country for bottles (2002) Total = 3.9 million tonnes
I 0 Adding strength to the value chain Consumers and end-producers of food and industrial products are becoming increasingly demanding in terms of packaging performance and functionality. Borealis Business Unit Moulding is strongly placed to meet the challenge with advanced technologies and leading edge products, and is committed to the continuous development of material saving and cost effective solutions which provide optimal value along the entire value chain. Polymer supplier Converter Brand owner Retailer Consumer Broad product range R&D competence Best in class products Reliable supply Compatible to filling goods & multi-layermaterials Functionality Approved grades Cost Be the first with new packaging Strong influence on approvals High transparency High barrier No taste or odour Cost Increasing influence due to own brands High turnover of bottles / time unit Basic needs Cost Safety (no leakage) Risk free Functionality Squeezability Emptying the bottle Cost Life cycle for polyolefin bottles Table 1: Market challenges for each player in the value chain Origin Growth Maturity Saturation ISBM bottles HDPE Demand / Quantity EBM bottles PP ISBM bottles PP Marketing/ R&D Figure 2: Life cycle for polyolefin bottles
04 I Polyolefins Moulding Bottles I www.borealisgroup.com A complete polyolefins portfolio to meet your needs Borealis offers a complete polyolefins product portfolio of competitive and differentiated products, developed to meet constantly evolving market needs. We have an extensive number of end user approvals, achieved through focus and long-term commitment to selected segments, end users and customers. High performance solutions Our market understanding, together with patents and proprietary technologies such as Borstar and BNT (Borealis Nucleation Technology), enable us to deliver high performance polyolefin solutions, as well the environmentally best alternative to PVC, PET, PC and glass. PP proves its value Polypropylene in general has excellent water vapour barrier properties, good heat resistance and is suitable for sterilisation, pasteurisation and hot filling. Borealis has developed a leading product range that is designed to meet our customers' demanding requirements in Extrusion Blow Moulding and Injection Stretch Blow Moulding. The market is dominated by random copolymers on account of their good transparency and gloss. Market share for random copolymers is currently around 75%, the remainder being heterophasic copolymers (20%) and homopolymers (5%). Figure 3: Market segmentation by application
I 05 Our range of high impact and high stiffness randoms Property RB206MO RB607MO RB307MO Mechanics Tensile modulus (MPa) 1150 900 900 Dropping height 1l bottle 0 C (m) 1.1 1.4 1.4 HDTB ( C) 86 80 80 Optics Haze (%) 17-20 18-21 18-21 Gloss (%) 90-100 90-100 90-100 Processing Filling speed (%) 100 93 93 Hot filling 100 C 90 C 90 C Plate out very low low low Table 2 Benefits summary Excellent transparency due to highly effective nucleation agent Low taste and odour Good impact strength and high drop resilience due to high ethylene content RB307MO, RB477MO High stiffness and compatible to hot filling RB206MO Organoleptically safe Full compliance with food contact regulations Full recyclability of all grades Exceptional impact for our block copolymer grade BB125MO
I 07 High melt strength PP Improved processability with Daploy PP randoms are limited in extrusion blow moulding technology in terms of bottle size and bottle weight due to the melt strength of the materials. The use of materials with higher molecular weight has a negative influence on optical properties and cycle time, and increases energy costs. However with the addition of only a few percent of Daploy HMS (High Melt Strength) to standard PP random, the melt strength increases without any negative influence on processability or the article s properties. Benefits summary Dry blend of RB307MO or RB607MO and approximately 5% Daploy WB130HMS Higher melt strength and higher draw down velocity Possibility to produce transparent containers up to 10 litre Improved processability for large bottles up to 4 litre Figure 4: Effect of Daploy on melt strength
08 I Polyolefins Moulding Bottles I www.borealisgroup.com Special technologies for PP Borealis RF926MO, the newly developed ISBM material, is a highly nucleated random PP which can be converted in a one-step or two-step process. The very efficient nucleator, the randomness of the material and the additive package together provide excellent processing and stretching behaviour as well as a uniquely competitive product proposition. Besides detergent packaging, this grade is also suitable for the food, dairy and water industries and fulfils the strict organoleptic requirements for these segments. Due to the polymer design, the very efficient nucleation, Millad 3988, and the additive package, articles produced from this material can achieve a transparency that rivals glass. It also enlarges the processing window so that it can compete successfully with other plastics. Picture 1: Borealis RF926MO: this bottle was produced in a one step process Borealis RF926MO key features compared to Extrusion blow moulded bottles ISBM materials such as PET Other packaging such as glass Superior optical properties Improved mechanical properties (biorientation) Higher productivity No production waste Lower density Enables weight reduction Hot fillable Sterilizable Environmentally friendly Lower bottle costs Lower investment cost Lower blowing pressure required Convenience Less safety issues (non breakable) Squeezable Table 3
I 09 Borealis PE for bottles Capable and versatile: Borealis HDPE HDPE is the most versatile and cost efficient material which fulfils market needs in consumer packaging. It is also one of the most long standing materials, being easy to convert and allowing a great variety of bottle design, as well as being environmentally friendly. Borealis has the capability to produce both unimodal and bimodal products for HDPE bottles. Figure 5: Market segmentation of PE bottles applications
I 11 A choice of both bimodal and unimodal Bimodal and unimodal PE both have their own advantages in the production of PE bottles. Borealis supplies both, using our proven proprietary Borstar PE technology for our bimodal range. Unimodal materials in general have higher swell. Our product range includes high impact materials with good ESCR and high stiffness grades, especially for the food industry. The lower swell of bimodal materials enables weight reduction due to the high stiffness and excellent environmental stress cracking resistance. The ability to switch between unimodal and bimodal materials very often depends on whether the equipment can be adjusted to the different swell. Bimodal vs. unimodal for bottles Figure 6: Influence on MWD on PE characteristics - bimodal vs unimodal PE blow moulding Bimodal Unimodal High ESCR High stiffness Better processability at same MFR compared to unimodal Lower swell Good impact High opacity Better gloss Table 4 Unimodal products Bimodal products BL2521 BL2571 BL2631 BS2541 BS2581 BS4646 Table 5
12 I Polyolefins Moulding Bottles I www.borealisgroup.com PE for milk and dairy beverages In this market segment, carton is the leading material. For plastics, HDPE has the biggest share. In product areas such as dairy beverages and probiotics the annual growth rate is more than 10%. The fresh milk market (pasteurised milk) is dominated by the northern European countries with the UK by far the biggest - approximately half of the pasteurised milk volume is consumed in the UK. The shelf life of pasteurised milk is around 4 to 7 days. On the continent UHT milk and sterilised milk are mainly packed in HDPE bottles. To protect the milk against short wavelength and visible light 3-layer bottles are used for UHT milk. For oxygen sensitive products such as vitaminised milk, multilayer bottles with up to 6 layers are used. Both products offered by Borealis are suitable for the converting on shuttle and on wheel machines and can be used for pasteurised and UHT milk. Figure 7: Due to the environmental issues plastic bottles gain market share against the other packaging materials Requirements BL2631 dairy beverages BS4641MO Taste & smell Productivity Impact Stiffness Suitable for Pasteurisation, UHT milk Fresh milk bottles, juice bottles Table 6
Disclaimer The information contained herein is to our knowledge accurate and reliable as of the date of publication. Borealis extends no warranties and makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained herein, and assumes no responsibility regarding the consequences of its use or for any printing errors. Our products are intended for sale to industrial and commercial customers. It is the customer's responsibility to inspect and test our products in order to satisfy himself as to the suitability of the products for the customer's particular purpose. The customer is also responsible for the appropriate, safe and legal use, processing and handling of our products. Nothing herein shall constitute any warranty (express or implied, of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, compliance with performance indicators, conformity to samples or models, non-infringement or otherwise), nor is protection from any law or patent to be inferred. No statement herein shall be construed as an endorsement of any product or process. No one is authorized to make representations or give warranties or assume any other liabilities on behalf of Borealis except if in writing and signed by a duly authorized Borealis employee. Insofar as products supplied by Borealis or its subsidiary companies are used in conjunction with third party materials, it is the responsibility of the customer to obtain all necessary information relating to the third party materials and ensure that Borealis' products when used together with these materials are suitable for the customer's particular purpose. No liability can be accepted in respect of the use of Borealis' products in conjunction with other materials. The information contained herein relates exclusively to our products when not used in conjunction with any third party materials. Borealis Moulding specialises in supplying advanced polyolefin plastics for injection, rotational moulding and blow moulding processing technologies. Through leading Borealis technologies such as Borstar, and BNT (Borealis Nucleation Technology) and a product portfolio for a wide range of applications like bottles, thin wall packaging, caps and closures, transport packaging, houseware and healthcare, Borealis has over 40 years established a leading position on the moulding market across Europe. Borealis believes that customer-driven innovation is the only way to achieve and sustain progress. In the moulding industry, Borealis has pioneered the development of several leading edge solutions. For example, low temperature impact, transparent polyolefins have opened up new opportunities in deep freeze display packaging. In the ISBM segment, biaxially oriented PP has reduced the weight and increased the transparency of bottles. Through foresight and focus on customer needs, Borealis continues to provide innovative solutions for the moulding industry that add real value throughout the value chain. We know the high value that our customers in the moulding industry place on product consistency and processability. We pride ourselves on the performance of our products, and through ongoing investment in upgrades and new plant programmes, we continue to set new records for output efficiency and product reliability. Borealis believes that responsiveness is the foundation of fruitful customer partnerships. Business Unit Moulding ensures this through the resources of strategically placed Borealis hubs across Europe: Borealis Scandinavia, Borealis Central Europe, Borealis Belgium and Borealis Finland, an innovation centre at Borealis Scandinavia in Bamble, Norway, and a strong sales force across Europe. Borstar is a registered trademark of Borealis A/S. Daploy and Nimblicity are trademarks of Borealis A/S.
w w w. b o r e a l i s g r o u p. c o m IN0018/GB MO 2007 05 NI 2007 Borealis GmbH Borealis GmbH I IZD Tower I Wagramerstrasse 17-19 I A-1220 Vienna I Austria Tel +43 1 22 400 000 I Fax +43 1 22 400 333 I www.borealisgroup.com For more information: visit www.borealisgroup.com/moulding