PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2019

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 09/19 www.petpla.net 29 PET bottle material – some highlights 1999-2019 as reported in PETplanet Insider 1999 When PETplanet was launched in 1999, PET prices were hitting the floor due to world-wide overcapacity, and the enthusiasm to invest in the business was damped. Manufactur- ing costs for small scale plants were just below the market price. In an article in our first issue we summa- rised the world-wide market situa- tion. 2000 In issue 1 Wilson Color business of M. A. Hanna Company was serv- ing the particular interest to make PET bottles looking like glass bottles with its FX range of frosted colours. The article also points out that - under some circumstances - a UV barrier or stabilisation function may be desired; this was why combined formulations were being developed. (Ed., in 2001 M.A. Hanna merged with Geon Corporation and formed PolyOne.) Eastman Chemicals has devel- oped a number of different PET grades for specific purposes, includ- ing PET for beer bottles and PET for water bottles. The Eastapak Aqua range was designed specifically to meet the stringent standards of opti- cal clarity and taste established by the major international water compa- nies and regulatory bodies (issue 7). How to keep the taste of beer in PET bottles was a question answered by a resin from Darex. The Dareval oxygen barrier resin enables multi-layer PET bottles to have glass-like oxygen barrier capa- bilities (issue 12). 2001 In issue 8, Polyone gave an insight in the development work of its Technical Centre and the grow- ing need for precise colour match- ing. At the Centre in Georgia, USA the company had more than thirty standard colours, effects and addi- tives available for PET, as well as offering a bespoke colour matching service. 2002 The range of colours used for beverage bottles had, hitherto, in most cases remained fairly conservative and marketers have had stuck to tra- dition: amber for beer, blue for water. As PET continues to find applications in an ever-wider range of product sec- tors, colour additives offering almost unlimited options to the packaging designer, and protecting the contents of the container are accelerating. In issue 4, we were reporting on the Macrolex colour additives which were supplied in the form of micro-granules by Bayer. In issue 6+7 we discussed with M&G the uses of PET and how the end use application drives the resin attributes required. Different require- ments for CSD, water, beer or juice were examined. Issue 8 took a look at some of the functional additives available from ColorMatrix Europe. Besides their range of acetaldehyde scavengers, UV absorbers or reheat performance additives, the company forecasted a barrier additive that should sig- nificantly improve the barrier perfor- mance of single layer PET bottles. 2003 Acetaldehyde can be a particular problem in water bottles, which is why PET resin producers such as Voridian were tackling it head on with specif- ically-tailored resins, as we reported in issue 1. The first step to reduce AA levels is choosing the right PET resins with an IV. The low IV minimises AA generation during melt-processing. The resins can be combined with an AA scavengers which react or com- bine with AA to ‘lock’ it into the poly- mer matrix so that it cannot migrate into the product. A new resin range developed by M&G, ActiTUF, contain barrier prop- erties within the resin in the form of an oxygen-scavenging additive. As reported in issue 3, M&G believed that, by eliminating the risk involved in selecting a specific barrier technology, more brand owners could be encour- aged to convert to PET. ColorMatrix tackled the wine market with a pallet of PET colourants familiar to the wine industry (issue 4). Having recognised the potential and the technical demands the company announced it was working on a range of additives for mono-layer PET pack- ages, that would complement existing multilayer solutions. 2004 Using accelerated UV exposure testing in refrigerated UV chambers, Milliken scientists simulated retail store environments and explored the impact of UV light on beverages at various levels of light exposure and various levels of UV protection. These research studies have been instrumental in the development of ClearShield, a homogenous polymer additive that provides UV protection at the 390 level (issue 3). In issue 5, M&G’s International Marketing Manager, David Swift explained the differences in the needs of customers in specific regional mar- kets. So the European market had not generally moved towards darker resins for faster reheat of preforms to speed bottle blowing operations, whereas the US market had placed less empha- sis on grades that are specifically designed for still mineral water. At a press conference in Septem- ber, Eastman Chemicals announced that they had developed a new way of making PET and will build their largest ever plant based on this technology. Named ‘Integ-Rex’, the new technol- ogy promised four times the space efficiency, lower energy requirements, and overall lower costs (issue 10). New brands and products intro- duced on the market in PET had height- ened the need for product protection