First System House in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region for more sustainable MDI version

Pearl Polyurethane Systems, the leading polyurethane (PU) systems house in the Middle East and Africa region, will in future receive climate-neutral1 MDI (methylene diphenyl diisocyanate) from Covestro. It is climate-neutral from cradle to the factory gate1 of Covestro, thanks to the use of alternative raw materials – based on plant waste – that are allocated to the products using certified mass balancing according to ISCC PLUS.

The new MDI enables Pearl to help its downstream customers reduce their carbon footprint by offering a broader portfolio of more sustainable raw materials as part of its newly rebranded EcoPearl product range. The new MDI grades from Covestro can be used in numerous construction, cold chain and automotive applications.

Pearl is the first system house in the EMEA region to receive the carbon-neutral1 MDI from its former joint venture partner and long-time supplier Covestro. The latter has already received ISCC-PLUS certification for five of its 16 main sites and is able to supply climate-neutral MDI from its sites in Uerdingen, Germany, and Caojing, China.

Following a comprehensive ISCC audit to trace the supply chain and assess raw material sustainability requirements, Pearl became the first local polyurethane systems house to be ISCC certified in March 2022, enabling it to verify the various sustainability credentials for its product formulations and raw materials used. The certification followed an internationally recognized five-step process and allows end users to measure the sustainability performance of the ISCC-certified products they use.

In the context of commercial building insulation, ISCC PLUS certification allows end users and tenants of such buildings constructed with Pearl-supplied insulation products to easily measure and verify the sustainability performance of the buildings they occupy. This is a factor that is becoming increasingly important to businesses as consumer interest in the environmental impact of companies grows.

“This mass-balanced carbon neutral MDI further enriches our broad portfolio focused on the circular economy and responds to the growing demand for more sustainable products,” says Sucheta Govil, Chief Commercial Officer of Covestro. “By working with multipliers such as Pearl Polyurethane and helping a growing number of downstream users in various industries achieve their sustainability goals, together we are accelerating the transition to the circular economy.” Covestro plans to further expand its portfolio of carbon-neutral products.

Martin Kruczinna, CEO of Pearl Polyurethane Systems, commented, “rigid polyurethane foam, as a superior insulating material, plays an important role in meeting the Paris Agreement to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius at best. Just as Covestro is leading the way among PU raw material producers to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035, Pearl is acting as an agent of change in the PU systems industry, giving its customers a competitive advantage by helping them adapt to greener technologies and improve the thermal insulation performance of their products. The addition of carbon neutral1 MDI-based solutions to our newly named EcoPearl product range helps our customers achieve their emission reduction and circular economy goals.”

Change in the Management Board of ALTANA AG

At the beginning of next year, Dr. Christoph Schlünken will hand over his Management Board responsibilities to Dr. Tammo Boinowitz

The specialty chemicals group ALTANA has announced a change in the composition of its Management Board. Dr. Christoph Schlünken will retire at the end of this year and hand over his board responsibilities to Dr. Tammo Boinowitz as of January 1, 2023. Dr. Boinowitz is President of ALTANA’s largest division, BYK, and for the time being will continue to hold this position in parallel.

Dr. Christoph Schlünken (60) joined the ALTANA Group in 2001 as Managing Director of ELANTAS GmbH, having held various sales and marketing positions at the former Bakelite AG since 1994. In 2005, the PhD chemist took over as President of the ECKART division. As part of the rotation of all four division presidents, Dr. Schlünken became head of BYK in November 2012. In 2014, he was appointed to ALTANA’s Management Board.

“For more than 20 years, Christoph Schlünken has very successfully helped to shape ALTANA’s growth and corporate culture,” said Martin Babilas, Chairman of the Management Board of ALTANA AG. “For this achievement, he deserves our highest recognition and our warmest thanks. We wish him in advance all the best for his well-deserved retirement.”

In his new role as ALTANA Management Board member, Dr. Tammo Boinowitz (55) will be responsible for the BYK and ECKART divisions as well as the central functions Key Account Management, Innovation Management, Environment, Health & Safety, ALTANA Excellence, and Procurement. Dr. Boinowitz already has more than 25 years of experience within the specialty chemicals sector with a focus on customers, technology, and innovation. Until 2020, Dr. Boinowitz, who holds a doctorate in chemistry, held various management positions at Evonik. At the beginning of 2021, he moved to the ALTANA Group where he became President of the BYK division.
“Tammo Boinowitz is not only ideally suited professionally but has already proven his expertise as well as his value-oriented leadership style within the ALTANA Group,” said Babilas. “We are looking forward to working with Tammo Boinowitz on the ALTANA Management Board and already wish him great success and joy in his future position. Together, we will continue ALTANA’s story of sustainable profitable growth.”

As of January 1, 2023, the Management Board of ALTANA AG will thus consist of Martin Babilas (Chairman), Dr. Tammo Boinowitz, and Stefan Genten.

Multi-touch Conquers The International Board Market

Flawless, smooth surfaces are mandatory for floor boards, refrigerator panels and optical panels such as those built into TV sets. Precisely for these applications, battenfeld-cincinnati now offers sheet and board extrusion lines with a Multi-Touch roll stack, which will be exhibited at the company’s booth. Although the technology was originally developed for PP sheet extrusion, these special roll stacks have caught the attention of numerous board extrusion companies in recent years. Since the previous K in 2019, several lines have gone into operation with outstanding results in terms of tolerances and flatness. These extrusion lines are already well-established in the international market and running in many countries around the world.

The Multi-Touch roll stack achieves its competitive edge in terms of flatness and flawless surfaces of the boards produced from PS or PP through the particularly long, intense contact between the smoothing rolls and the product, large number of smoothing gaps and the even cooling on both sides. For this purpose, every Multi-Touch roll stack comes with a pre-calibration and a recalibration unit. First, the extruded melt passes through the flat-sheet die into a roll stack consisting of two rolls for pre-calibration. This is followed by a recalibration unit which can be equipped with up to seven rolls, depending on specific product requirements. The long contact between the semi-finished product’s surface and the cooling rollers and the uniquely homogeneous cooling of the board ensure perfect dimensional stability plus high-quality visual attributes, and thus a wide range of applications for the products.

One product manufactured very successfully on a sheet extrusion line with a Multi-Touch roll stack from battenfeld-cincinnati is environmentally friendly floor coverings based on PP. In view of the downstream processing steps following the extrusion process, such as printing, and the fact that these types of boards may be exposed to high stress through solar radiation in later use, the standards for tolerances and flatness must be set extremely high. Due to the functional principle of Multi-Touch technology as described above, the produced boards perfectly meet all of these requirements.

Just like the more familiar PVC floor coverings, those made of PP are also dimensionally stable, abrasion- and water-proof, as well as foot-warm, yielding and footfall sound insulating. Therefore, they are very popular for commercial premises, offices and private homes. In contrast to PVC floor coverings, though, PP floor boards are significantly more compatible with the environment, since they are free of halogen and easily recyclable. First alternative floor coverings made of PP have even been awarded the German “Blue Angel” quality seal.

Pulsation-free Passage Through The Pvc Die

At this year’s K in Düsseldorf, battenfeld-cincinnati will provide information about Steady flow, an additional module to minimize pulsation in PVC extrusion, thus ensuring continuous, even output performance and consequently reliable high quality in semi-finished products. The patent pending new software module is already in use by several customers and achieves excellent results. Steady flow is one of the modules from battenfeld-cincinnati which optimizes production equipment in the era of Industry 4.0, and facilitates its operation and handling.

In PVC processing with counter-rotating twin screw extruders, pulsations of the material flow are unavoidable. These fluctuations are caused by the C-shaped chamber profiles formed by the pair of screws. Especially when producing small throughput, for example in the production of small technical profiles, the fluctuations are more significant. This is why the extrusion specialist battenfeld-cincinnati has now developed the module Steady flow, which harmonizes these fluctuations and thus ensures a constant material discharge. For this purpose the melt pressure in front of the extrusion die is measured continuously, and the screw speed during each screw rotation is constantly re-adjusted on the basis of the measured pressure fluctuations. The software includes a learning function, which automatically calculates optimal parameters for the compensation of pulsation during the first production run with any new products or new materials. The screw speed correction parameters identified are saved in the product recipe and thus remain available for every new production start-up. Pressure fluctuations are substantially reduced with the result of a low-pulsation melt flow passing into the forming die. The final results are better semi-finished product quality with fewer dimensional fluctuations and consequently optimal utilization of the material.

Steady flow can optionally be integrated into the BCtouch UX control system of every new PVC extrusion line. But it can also be retrofitted without any problems in existing lines with a modern control system from the UX series.

FREITAG Initiates Recyclable Truck Tarp

Recyclable TPU material solution from Covestro meets high requirements
Making bags and accessories from used materials, especially truck tarp – that is the credo of the FREITAG company. Now the Swiss manufacturer is planning the next big milestone: together with various industry partners – including Covestro – the company is developing a truck tarp that can be reprocessed as often as desired into new products, even after a long life as a FREITAG bag. As if that were not enough, it is to become part of a new endless cycle that creates a significantly lower carbon footprint than the previous disposal of bags at the end of their useful life.

In this application, the demands on the materials are very high: they must be fully recyclable, meaning that they can not only be recycled but also used again and again in new products. When used as truck tarps, the first task is to withstand the harsh conditions of European transit routes. To do this, the tarp must be water- and dirt-repellent. It will then be used in high-quality, durable FREITAG bags, and finally it will be possible to break it down again chemically into its components, which will then serve as the basis for new products.

Covestro and Heytex project is well advanced
Covestro, as an experienced partner fully focused on the circular economy, plays an important role in one of FREITAG’s several solution approaches. Together with tarp manufacturer Heytex, Covestro is developing a solution based on thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), which is applied as a coating to a robust polyester fabric. TPU is available over a wide hardness range from 60 Shore A to 80 Shore D and can be processed using many different processes. The premium plastic is the material of choice when mechanical requirements are high, but flexibility and good abrasion resistance are also desired.

TPU has been mechanically recycled for decades. In this project, the cycle is to be closed without downcycling with chemical recycling, which is another reason why the plastic was identified as a material in addition to its known advantages. In the Cradle2Cradle1 analysis, the Desmopan® 6783A DPS045 grade even passed the demanding requirements for plastics for calendering. The joint project with Heytex is already well advanced, and the TPU has now passed the health safety test.

The two partners are currently working on the material separation between the fabric and the coating, which is not expected to be possible for a few years. The team is therefore working in parallel on a completely new, revolutionary tarp structure that could overcome this challenge.

Successful Extruder Now Also Available In Size 45

Next-generation extruders from battenfeld-cincinnati have long since established themselves in the market. High output rates at low screw speeds, effective melting performance with low melt temperatures plus a reduced pressure profile and consequently less wear on machines – these are the benefits provided by the high-speed solEX NG series. In time for the coming K trade fair, the extruder specialist is now rounding off this series downwards by adding a new solEX NG 45 to the four existing models solEX NG 60, 75, 90 and 120 mm.

This latest and smallest model, solEX NG 45, just like the larger models of the series, has a processing unit consisting of an internally grooved barrel combined with a matching screw geometry. The process technology advantages resulting from this combination ensure an extra-high-quality standard for the extruded semi-finished product. When processing HDPE, these extruders also achieve a 25 % higher output and for PP even of up to 40 %. And in addition to that with reduced melt temperatures of about 10 °C below those in conventional extruders.

Another advantage resulting from the innovative processing unit of the NG series is the reduction in energy consumption, which is around 15 % lower than the previous solEX series. Consequently, this successful series offers advantages not only in terms of process technology, but in terms of higher energy efficiency as well.