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A world of new foaming opportunities thanks to expanded extrusion pilot line
At Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, part of Wageningen University & Research, the recently expanded modular pilot line to develop foams helps industries effectively replace fossil-based plastics with (more) sustainable feedstocks. “The foaming process needs a delicate balance of many critical parameters, but with this line we can control these and know exactly what to adjust to get to where we want to be, with any feedstock. It feels like a complete new world to explore.”
Dr. Fresia Alvarado Chacon has worked in foaming processes for nearly a decade and has hardly ever been this excited. The reason? The new modular pilot line in the Biobased Innovation Plant. “Most machines can only solve part of the puzzle. The combination of our extrusion pilot line with the new equipment results in a modular line, providing solutions in various stages in formulation, processing and shaping the materials. So in one machine you can test and try all aspects of the development of a product made of biobased materials .”
Answering many questions in one run
Switching to a new, and more sustainable feedstock for products is not something companies can do over night. They need to test the properties and possibilities of various combinations of feedstocks and see how well they hold up when producing their products. Ideally the new product has the same or better characteristics as its fossil-based counterpart.
“This setup helps companies answer many relevant questions at once”, Alvarado Chacon explains. “You can adjust critical parameters of the formulation, process and shaping all in one go. Not only does this save companies a lot of time in R&D, but the result is also a foam from a process that can easily be upscaled.”
These can be questions like: ‘I want to move to biobased materials or other sustainable feedstocks, is it possible with our foams?’ Or ‘If I foam with this biobased material do we get big or small cell sizes?’ Or ‘What processes do I need to get closed cell foams? Or what formulation do I need to get open cell foams? How do I stabilize my foaming process? Which settings do I need for a flexible foam profile? Researchers can now answer these in one modular setup. This means quicker, better and more efficient answers in the search for more sustainable feedstock alternatives for foams.
Opening doors to more applications of biobased plastics
Alvarado Chacon: “It’s not only existing foamed products that can become more sustainable this way. Foaming could also be a solution to some of the hurdles that currently exist in switching from fossil-based plastics to biobased plastics.” One of these hurdles is the density of biobased polyesters and natural polymers such as starch. When compared to polyolefins, PP has a density of 0.9 g/cm3 whereas PLA has a density of around 1.25 g/cm3. This means that for some applications PLA is currently too heavy. “However, by foaming it, the density lowers, enhancing the properties and making it lighter, in other words, making PLA more competitive with fossil-based plastics.”
Possibilities raging from quick degradation to endless durability
The researchers are currently working on two types of applications for the foams. “We’re trying to find alternatives for plastics use in environments where there’s a high risk of littering or recovering is not an option. Think of agricultural applications, but also in countries where there is no waste management system. That is when you want the material to safely degrade,” says Alvarado Chacon. “However, other materials when foamed could also be a very effective for durable applications such as in the automotive, building and construction industry. This line opens a whole new range of opportunities and gives us the option to explore the newest alternatives. The potential is huge.””