Exhibitors at Chinaplas 2023 add sustainability to their focus

ExxonMobil targets Chinese processors with portfolio of sustainable solutions

US materials firm ExxonMobil, with a focus on serving the fast-growing market in China, is progressing a world-scale chemical complex with a 1.6 million-tonne/year flexible feed steam cracker and more than 2.5 million tonnes/year high performance PE and PP units in HuiZhou, GuangDong Province.

The company also recently celebrated the key milestones of lifting the project towers and ground-breaking at the Dayawan Technology Centre (DTC). DTC will be ExxonMobil’s fifth global technology centre and the first comprehensive technology centre equipped with a pilot plant outside of North America, integrating product R&D and process development.

To serve the Chinese market further, the company will demonstrate a host of products at its Chinaplas 2023 Booth 17J61 and at the booths of machine manufacturers (OEMs). Solutions with sustainability benefits will be featured that highlight the use of Exceed S performance PE, ExxonMobil PP, Achieve Advanced PP, Vistamaxx performance polymers, and Exxtend technology for advanced recycling of plastic waste in a broad range of applications including packaging, hygiene, automotive, agriculture, building and construction, and consumer products.

Some of the solutions produced with sustainability benefits through collaborations include:

• Downgauged solutions that can do more with less by reducing material use while helping to maintain or boost performance using ExxonMobil performance polymers. Samples will include downgauged air tube bags.

• Solutions designed for recyclability by reducing the number of components, including those often considered more difficult to mechanically recycle. Samples will include:

- Mono-material full PE stand-up pouches (SUP); full PE laundry seed packaging; and thermoformed packaging containing no polyamides.

- An electric vehicle (EV) neat resin pillar.

- Resilient luxury polyolefin tile (LPT) flooring; thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) carpet tiles; and PE raised temperature resistant (PE-RT) pipe.

• Solutions that help enable mechanically recycled content to be incorporated, and even increased, because ExxonMobil says its performance polymers are used to help maintain or boost performance. Samples will include:

- Heavy duty sacks (HDS), trash liners and courier bags that incorporate recycled PE content.

- Mobil lubricant bottles that incorporate recycled HDPE content that has been modified with Vistamaxx that can help enhance bottle durability.

- Mini suitcases incorporating Vistamaxx and recycled PP content.

• Solutions made with ISCC PLUS certified-circular polymers through mass balance allocation that leverage Exxtend technology for advanced recycling of plastic waste, which can help broaden the range of plastic waste that can be recycled. Certified-circular polymers can deliver the same performance as virgin resins, which are critical if the value chain wants to use these materials in sensitive applications like food packaging.

Also being featured is ExxonMobil’s new Exceed S performance PE that can offer combinations of stiffness and toughness while being easy to process, enabling converters to rethink film redesign for simpler solutions. Exceed S can help facilitate solutions with sustainability benefits by enhancing film performance, maintaining comparable performance at a thinner gauge, producing more durable mono-material film structures, or enabling the incorporation of high percentages of recycled content.

Demonstrating how Exceed S can deliver “so much, so simply”, Nordmeccanica (Booth 1B15) will run a PE// PE pillow pouch made with Exceed S; and Haboshi (Booth 2S41) will run a downgauged HDS made with Exceed S.

ExxonMobil’s Exceed S performance PE resins are said to provide tougher, stiffer air tube packaging, helping products ordered through e-commerce transactions get delivered safely and potentially reducing product returns

For the first time in China, ExxonMobil will also introduce an Exact plastomer medical grade, which complies with a number of regulatory requirements for use in a variety of medical applications including syringes, IV bags and bottles. Several medical product samples will be showcased, while Borche (Booth 12J31) will run medical pipette tips made with ExxonMobil PP6014MED, a medical compliant homo-polymer PP grade.

Kiefel showcasing new KMD 90 Smart; capable of processing recycled/PLA resins

German machinery firm Kiefel is demonstrating the new Speedformer KMD 90 Smart steel rule cutting machineengineered in Germany and made in China, it adds. The model is equipped with the latest features and options, processing various materials for the packaging industry. Furthermore, new solutions for the appliance industry - also engineered in Germany and made in China - will be shown at its booth 10Q21 in Hall 10.

The world premiere of the new Kiefel machine, Speedformer KMD 90 Smart, will launch it globally for sales in China and many other countries. It is engineered for the production of food and non-food plastic packaging e.g. trays and containers, made from PET, PP, PLA, PS, PE or recycled plastics.

The machine is 100% made by Kiefel and combines German technology with Chinese local manufacturing benefits, made in parent company Brueckner Group’s factory in Suzhou, China.

The KMD 90 Smart complements the smaller KMD 78 Smart, which was shown at Chinaplas 2021.

The high degree of automation and the time-saving tool change system are as much part of the mature concept as the steel rule cutting and the integrated stacking station. Additionally the machine comes with a forming area of 870 x 920 mm, a tool dimension area of 890 x 940 mm and can produce formed parts with a height of up to 160 mm. The machine is said to be efficient and sustainable, e.g. through the film temperature measurement with closedloop control or drives with energy recovery system.

Kiefel is also underlining its presence in China with its new machine solutions for the appliance industry. From now on Kiefel is building Sharpformer Kid 1.250 Smart machines in China.

This inline thermoforming machine for the production of HIPS and ABS refrigerator inner-liners and doorliners utilises vacuum-pressure forming technology for more demanding shapes and higher production speeds. The 1.250 Smart can produce side-by-side products using just one mould.

Following Kiefel’s strategy dedicated to the Chinese market, the 1.250 Smart is also engineered in Germany and assembled in China, Suzhou.

Furthermore, Kiefel says that since the machine has been “well received” by Chinese customers, further machine