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UK Advancements in Sustainable Plastics Processing
| By Dr Matthew Thornton, Materials KTN In 2007 Lord Sainsbury stated, in his review of UK Government Science and Innovation Policies that: “In the future it will no longer be necessary to start every report of this kind with the dreary statement that, while the UK has an excellent record of research, we have a poor record of turning discoveries into new products and services. While we believe that our record of innovation is better than is commonly supposed, we have not yet produced the best possible conditions to stimulate innovation in industry.” This statement has challenged Knowledge Transfer Networks to work more effectively with companies and universities to accelerate the rate of exploitation of research. The result is that innovation in the UK is starting to yield increasing commercial benefit, within a climate that now has the infrastructure in place to better support industrial innovation and it is this innovative climate that is key to the UK plastics industry’s continued success and growth. There are a number of ways in which the UK plastics industry can remain innovative; one of most important of these is through becoming more sustainable as an industry in terms of energy consumption, productivity, waste generation and recycling and by using less material in production. The Materials KTN have worked with a number of companies that are exemplars of best practice in doing just that and here we present five case studies showcasing UK advancements in sustainable plastics processing. Case Study : Vales Brothers, Walsall, UK Vale Brothers are a Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) that produces a range of equestrian products, mainly brushes and grooming products. In order to drive their product range forward they saw a need to use plastics to refresh their products through the use of texture and colour. Through utilising design expertise and rapid prototyping technology Vale Brothers decided that they needed to expand production capability and, with support from the Materials KTN, the company took the research and feasibility studies into full scale production and increased it production output by 300%. Case Study : Axion Polymers, Manchester, UK Axion Polymers recycle waste electrical equipment into high grade polymer compounds, however, many of the plastic components of electrical goods are made from ABS which can foam or in which voiding can appear in the reprocessed material. Through contact with the Materials KTN the company worked on some proof of concept trials in collaboration with Swansea University. This proof of concept work offered solutions to overcome voids in the recycled products and these solutions have been demonstrated on full-scale process equipment, giving Axion Polymers the capability to recycle more waste ABS.  Case Study : Cinpres Gas Injection, Middlewich, UK Cinpres Gas Injection set out to solve the problem of solving the problem of reducing energy use for injection moulding by conducting a series of trials in collaboration with the Interdisciplinary Research Centre at the University of Bradford. It was expected that any potential energy saving would be related to the reduced clamp tonnage required for gas assisted injection moulding (GAIM) along with a reduction in, or elimination of, holding time and pressure. The trials showed that the internal gas moulded component demonstrated savings of 50% in energy consumption, 47% in cycle time and could yield a part weight reduction of 29%, thus saving time energy and material. Case Study : Valueform Ltd, London, UK Valueform Ltd contacted the Materials KTN as they were interested in solving the problem of preventing food from rotting. Currently, most active packaging entraps and releases a natural antimicrobial. However, there are concerns over the migration of existing antibacterial compounds into food products, and a legal framework now exists as a result of EU regulation. Valueform Ltd sought to control microbial food spoilage by coating a polymer with static antibacterial properties that would kill pathogenic bacteria by contact. They hoped to do this by modifying chitosan (produced from waste crustacean shells or fungi) to improve its bacterial killing efficacy. A successful solution would both reduce food waste and the risk to human health. The research was carried out in collaboration with The BioComposites Centre at the University of Bangor and the Food Science Department at the University of Reading. The preliminary research findings proposed new rules to characterise biopolymers as a raw material for antibacterial coatings, and modified biopolymers were successfully synthesised, with a significant improvement in performance. The research also showed that, although more active against spoilage yeasts, chitosan also inhibits some Gram-negative bacteria.  Case Study : Re-worked, London, UK |
