Recent News

Interface Polymers secures major Innovate UK grant to enable high value recycling of multi-layer mixed plastic flexible packaging

Interface Polymers Ltd. has been awarded a £638K Innovate UK ‘Plastics Innovation: towards zero waste’industrial research grant to reduce mixed plastic waste by recycling multi-layer flexible plastic packaging back into high value uses. The grant winning project, titled – Polarfin-Blue: compatibilization of polymers to enable recycling – will focus on using Interface Polymers’ proven polyolefin compatibility and surface functionality Polarfin® additive technology to develop next generation polymer alloys, sparking a paradigm shift in mixed plastic recyclability and solving a growing, increasingly costly, worldwide industry problem.   

Multi-layer plastic films offer added value product packaging performance for industrial and household products, providing major benefits such as extending shelf-life, reducing organic waste and enabling global trading of produce. However, the major problem facing the multibillion dollar packaging industry worldwide is that the majority of the flexible mixed plastic film packaging products currently in use are too difficult and costly to separate and reprocess, other than for limited, low value uses. According to the 2015 Deloitte Sustainability report, of the 31.3 million tonnesof plastic annually produced for the top five usage EU countries, approximately 23% of the plastics packaging waste flows is lost in landfills and 47% is incinerated. The remaining share of low value mixed plastic packaging waste (approximately 30%) is recycled locally or exported. Prior to last year, about 2.7 million tonnesof plastic waste was shipped abroad annually from the EU; to add to the ongoing mixed plastic disposal problem, EU export levels had to dramatically reduce in 2018 due to the introduction of new waste import restrictions from China and other Asian countries. Sociopolitical pressures are building globally to reduce plastic waste and find alternatives that can be recycled, with the EU having set a 55% recyclable target for plastics across all sectors by 2025. New approaches and materials are needed to achieve this ambitious target.  

Using this Innovate UK grant funding, Interface Polymers intends to develop commercially viable, sustainable solutions to this costly and environmentally unacceptable flexible plastic packaging waste problem. The R & D project team will be using Interface Polymers’ patented Polarfin chemistry to create new Polarfin-Blue additive materials which will enable compatibility between currently incompatible target thermoplastics used in multi-layer packaging (primarily polyolefin/ polyamide/ polystyrene/ EVOH). The objective is to develop new commercial grade Polarfin-Blue compatibilized polymer alloys which will not require a costly, complex, recycling infrastructure to separate multi-layered films, thus providing a viable recycling solution.    

Interface Polymers’ technology approach to this problem is based on proven results with a number of non-compatible polyolefin product applications, such as a polyethylene with a polyethylene terephthalate or polyamide film.  Dr. Christopher Kay, Interface Polymers’ Chief Scientific Officer, explains: “The complexity of modern current multi-layer plastic packaging makes separation for recycling extremely difficult. When the packaging is remelted with virgin polymers for potential reuse, the different incompatible plastics are repelled from each other like oil and water and this creates voids in the mixture which makes the recycled plastic very weak. This limits its application to low performance and therefore low value applications. This is not the case with a Polarfin chemistry additive, which can be fine-tuned to make polar and polyolefin block chains of any size, enabling the combination of a wide range of currently incompatible thermoplastics for producing plastic products with desired combined properties.” 

Dr. Kay went on to say: “Our new Polarfin-Blue polymer alloys will make it possible to manufacture new mixed plastic packaging products which can be recycled multiple times by existing separation processes. Additionally, recycled material from Polarfin-Blue polymer alloys will retain mechanical property levels for high value uses and save cost by requiring less virgin material to be used”. Interface Polymers is aiming for its new Polarfin-Blue additives to have inclusion levels of <5% by weight; this will eliminate voids and agglomeration issues and create polymer alloys which demonstrate superior performance properties, even if recycled multiple times, providing a higher value end-of-life material.  

Development work in the laboratory has already started on new Polarfin-Blue products and this latest grant funding will enable the company to take the project to the next level. Interface Polymers has secured a number of commercial partners, including a leading polyolefin packaging film producer, but the R & D team is looking for more companies to participate in processing trials and application development. Project partner Thompson Coatings Ltd will be carrying out trials during the development of new layered high quality film products using Polarfin-Blue polymer alloys to demonstrate effectiveness in applications for the construction industry 

Simon Waddington, Interface Polymers’ Business Development Director, commented: “This is a global challenge facing all packaging supply chain players and we are actively looking for more partners to work with on this project. Using our unique Polarfin technology, we are looking to develop game changing new products that will create a new and exciting market stretching across and beyond the flexible packaging industry into multiple industrial, construction and consumer markets. We believe that it will provide an opportunity to expand the polyolefin market, which is currently constrained by limitations around compatibility and specific barrier properties, creating an estimated £200m opportunity in the UK alone”.

Interface Polymers Ltd., a spin-out from the University of Warwick, was established in February 2016. The company has been developing a range of block copolymer Polarfin additive technology-based products in response to growing customer-led market demands for polyolefin surface functionality and polymer matrix compatibility solutions which can offer enhanced material performance and reduce production costs across a wide range of applications in the packaging, construction, agriculture, automotive and recycling sectors.

POLARFIN® is an internationally patented technology and registered trademark of Interface Polymers Ltd.

* Source data: Deloitte Sustainability- Blueprint for plastics packaging waste: Quality sorting & recycling – final report 2015.

Over 200 visitors to Interface Polymers stand at Compounding World Expo 2018

Interface Polymers Ltd. exhibited for the first time and gave an open forum presentation at Compounding Word Expo 2018, which ran from 27 – 28 June in Essen, Germany. Being an international exhibition for plastics additives and compounding, co-located with the Plastics Recycling World Exhibition, the show was the ideal event for Interface Polymers to showcase its patented, new ‘game-changing’ block copolymer POLARFIN^®additive technology, which modifies the surface chemistry of polyolefin-based materialsto overcome polyolefin compatibility problems and improve surface functionality.

The show was a great success for the Interface Polymers team of commercial and technical people. Both days were very busy, with more than 200 visitors to the stand. There was interest from people working in a broad range of industries with compatibility problems, from packaging films and moulded parts to long fibre thermoplastics (LFT). POLARFIN can be used for a variety of applications depending on the product type, formulation and matrix to  enable permanent interlayer surface adhesion, increase polymer chain entanglement, improve polar particle and fibre matrix adhesion, or provide a tailored dispersion in a polyolefin or polar polymer matrix. There were also visitors from the Plastics Recycling World Exhibition, as POLARFIN can be used as a surface functionality improving additive, not only for virgin materials, but also to help the global environment by enabling the recycling of incompatible plastics, such as PE with PS/ PA/ PET.

The stand was particularly busy on day 1 after the presentation given by Simon Waddington, Business Development Director for Interface Polymers, which attracted an audience of over 140 people, with standing room only for some. The presentation titled: ‘Introducing new additive technologies for overcoming polyolefin compatibility problems and improving surface functionality’, included a ‘live’ demonstration using Super Glue to successfully bond two polypropylene (PP) discs containing POLARFIN additive together that could not be pulled apart.

This innovative additive technology is offering companies new opportunities to significantly improve the performance and cost competitiveness of polyolefin-based materials. POLARFIN additives can be used across a diverse range of market applications and material types, including: masterbatchesand compounds; thermoplastic composites; filled polymers; sheet and film products.   According to Interface Polymers’ processing guidelines, its additives can easily be incorporated into a formulation and used with existing polymer conversion processes, such as extrusion, injection or compression moulding, with little or no need to modify existing production equipment. Specific grades of POLARFIN additive can also reduce processing costs, as well as providing enhanced surface properties and beneficial attributes that add value to end use applications.

The company is on a steep growth curve, having expanded its in-house R & D team at the start of the year, in response to growing customer-led market demands for polyolefin surface functionality and polymer matrix compatibility solutions which can offer enhanced material performance across a wide range of applications in the packaging, construction, agriculture, automotive and recycling sectors.

 

 

 

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POLARFIN^® is an internationally patented technology and registered trademark of Interface Polymers Ltd.

Agricultural film additive breakthrough will substantially increase global crop yield

New POLARFIN® anti-drip additives set to transform performance of agricultural films.

A new anti-drip additive created by University of Warwick spin-out company, Interface Polymers, is set to improve the performance and longevity of agricultural films, transforming their cost-effectiveness in a wide range of applications.  The breakthrough solution uses the company’s unique POLARFIN® block copolymer additive technology to modify the surface chemistry of the film and thereby improve and prolong its anti-fog and anti-drip properties.

Says Interface Polymers’ Chief Executive, Phil Smith:  “The market for agricultural film is huge.  With the world’s population set to exceed nine billion by 2050, the challenge is to produce more food with fewer resources.  Less arable land, a declining agricultural workforce and the need to cut production costs has led governments to encourage farmers to use agricultural films.  These can increase yield by up to 60%, but there are problems.

“Condensation can form on the underside of the film and drop onto the plants, causing both damage and slower growth rates due to interference with the transmission of light.  Additives are already used to address the problem but they have limitations.  Although effective in the short term, they are washed off over time, which means the film has to be replaced regularly.  This is neither economic nor green.  Our Polarfin® anti-drip additive will make these products perform better and last much longer, saving money, maximising crop health and improving yield.”

Christopher Kay, the company’s Chief Scientific Officer, simplifies the concept to explain how it works:  “On a molecular level, polymers are a bit like spaghetti that becomes entangled with itself.  Instead of being washed off, our additive becomes entangled with the film material because it is very similar in nature.  This means that rather than migrating, our molecules are retained over time.”

Business Development Director Simon Waddington recently attended the Agricultural Film Conference in Barcelona where he met a number of end-users who were urgently looking for a new solution to the problem.  “As well as benefitting farmers by preventing damage and disease, reducing the need for pesticides and reducing costs, our Polarfin® anti-drip additives could help ensure an earlier harvest and a substantially higher yield,” he explains. “This would increase the sustainability of smart farming, reduce agricultural plastics waste and make recycling of the film easier.  The development of the technology will also benefit the UK economy by creating high value technical jobs in Loughborough and Coventry and helping to increase exports of film manufactured in the UK.”

Interface Polymers began introducing its game-changing Polarfin® additive technology to potential customers earlier this year, following a period of intensive research and development work funded largely by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency. Since then, the company has raised £3m of private investment from angel investors and won two further grants from Innovate UK.  “Thanks to this mix of funding, we will be able to scale up production of Polarfin® anti-drip additives and accelerate development of other new products targeting the construction, automotive and recycling sectors,” says Phil Smith.