Lab life: revolutionary R&D in Neder-Over-Heembeek

INEOS NOH is at the heart of the development of revolutionary flexible packaging INEOS is the first resin producer to invest in film blowing equipment coupled with an MDO unit (Machine Direction Orientation). This new tool has allowed the INEOS research centre at Neder-Over-Heembeek to develop a fully-recyclable mono-material stand up pouch made of 95% polyethylene. A second rigid MDO mono-material film, made of more than 50% plastic waste, never seen before on the market, has also been developed. In what way is this revolutionary?

Let’s take a tour of the labs at INEOS O&P in Neder-Over-Heembeek and review its development with the people who have been working on this new packaging film.

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Research laboratory

A layer of circularity

Éléonore Triffaux is a Technical Service & Development Engineer who has been working at INEOS O&P for 7 years. She is a member of the team developing projects relating to circularity. In particular, she works on research into flexible packaging made of polyethylene.

Since she joined INEOS in 2016, the plastic industry, and in particular the production of flexible plastic packaging, have undergone profound changes brought about by the impact of environmental concerns and new European regulations such as PPWR (Plastic Packaging Waste Regulation). By 2030, all packaging must be recyclable and meet specific recyclability criteria.

“People who look at packaging don’t see that it is made of many layers.

And these different layers have specific purposes: to offer rigidity, transparency or printability, to provide sealing, to act as a barrier, etc. To ensure each layer has the proper characteristic, different materials are combined. Then, other layers are added to ensure all these layers are compatible.

But, that’s all in the past now. Since 2019, the concept of a circular economy has become increasingly important. Among the initiatives, one should mention CEFLEX (Circular Economy for FLEXible packaging). One of its missions was to establish rules governing the production of recyclable packaging. Polyethylene was therefore seen as the mono-material of choice, because of its intrinsic qualities, and because specific polyethylene recycling facilities already existed.”

INEOS’ investment in blown film technologies, combined with an MDO machine direction orientation unit, are perfectly aligned with concepts of circularity and mono-materials.

Indeed, the machine direction-oriented stretching of polyethylene increases its rigidity, and can be used to replace BoPET in flexible packaging.

This, in turn, allows the development of monomaterial recyclable pouches, like the ones developed at INEOS. This new development tool is also aligned with the integration of recycled materials in packaging, as set forth under new European regulations.

Indeed, the MDO film, which is made of more than 50% plastic waste, has been developed based on Recycl-IN hybrids created by the INEOS O&P team, by integrating different research projects in this innovation. Recycl-IN hybrid resins are made of at least 50% recycled materials and of a virgin material, called booster, which allows us to obtain a hybrid resin that features the same properties as virgin resins and that can be used in critical applications such as film MDO.

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02

Catalysis and polymerisation laboratory

Booster resins, polymerisation recipes...

There is a lot to talk about!

The polymerisation laboratory is upstream of the entire process. We are welcomed

by Robin Peters, a chemist who has spent 20 years with the company. He will tell us about the development of such a resin.

Robin works at the laboratory, where he is in charge of a mini factory, where small quantities of polymer (500g -1kg) are analysed to verify that their properties meet expectations. Based on his initial results, Robin repeats the tests and optimises, as necessary, the curing parameters (temperature, pressure...) until he achieves a product that meets the specifications.

“As part of the development of this booster resin, for the production of hybrid resins used to manufacture packaging, different catalysts and polymerisation recipes have been tested, and the best platform and optimal manufacturing conditions have been selected.”

The catalysis laboratory of INEOS O&P is at the cutting edge of catalytic platform synthesis.

Which is why Robin has spent three months in the research labs of the University of Liège, working on improving and optimising the production processes of catalysts. Right from the start the task was complex, but the result of this collaboration between local experts exceeded every expectation.

“After 3 months of research and development, new and more efficient catalyst production methods were developed.”

Some definitions P O LY M E R

A substance made of molecules and characterised by many repeating subunits, known as monomers.

In the case of polypropylene (PP), the subunit is propylene, and for polyethylene (PE), the subunit is ethylene. The industrial polymerisation process relies on a catalyst to bind, in a controlled manner, several thousands of units together to form a long chain.

VISCOSITY

A viscous or sticky state. It is the resistance of a fluid to the sliding of one layer with respect to another.

MDO

Acronym for Machine Direction Orientation.

This technology allows the stretching of a film in the direction of extrusion through a series of heated rollers.

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03

Analysis laboratory

Under Jacynthe Regout’s scrutiny and microscope

In order to pursue and confirm their developments, researchers need analyses and data. They get them from Jacynthe, who has been in charge of infrared spectrometry analyses and has been the head of the laboratory at INEOS O&P Neder-Over-Heembeek for 23 years.

DENSITY

Polyethylene “quality” controls include the measurement of density. Measuring density provides an estimation of the crystallinity rate (which relates directly to the material’s rigidity). Most of the time, the measurement is performed with a hydrostatic balance on a polyethylene pellet, moulded under specific temperature and pressure conditions.

R H E O LO GY

Rheology describes the behaviour of a polymer in a molten state. This characterisation technique informs on the behaviour of a polymer during is implementation.

“For this new film blowing line project, the lab team has been developing infrared microscopy techniques that allow us to analyse and accurately identify the different layers of a film, providing us with better information than before, which is particularly valuable to our researchers.

Furthermore, the laboratory has also conducted, for the purposes of this project, rheology and density analyses, which are important aspects when implementing the blowing step. These measures allow us to ensure that the product meets our customers’ expectations.”

I T ’ S T H E F U L L PA C K A G E !

The development of this mono-material film is both highly interesting and very motivating. Packaging is a part of everyday life. Working on the development of polymers based on recycled and recyclable materials is rewarding and important to our future.”

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Sustainably interesting!

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The production of mono-material film from recycled materials reduces the carbon footprint of packaging.

Using a single polymer in the manufacturing of this film makes it recyclable.

INEOS R&D at NOH is developing many solutions to optimise and improve the sustainability and quality of polymers used in the production of bottles, caps, packaging, automotive accessories, medical equipment, etc.

Processing laboratory Mono-material packaging with multiple properties What is the challenge? Achieving recyclability by combining the advantages of different materials in polyethylene alone. How is this achievable? Let’s visit another lab and ask Éric Melchior, Technical Leader of the film application. Éric knows the NOH site very well, having worked there since the beginning of INEOS O&P, back in 2006. Since 2019, projects relating to the circular economy have grown in numbers and are overseen by the implementation laboratory. In this context, investing in the pilot line with the MDO unit opens new perspectives in terms of innovation and constitutes a world first among resin producers.

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"As part of the stand-up pouches project, we perform film extrusions. We let them cure for at least 24 hours in a room at 23° and 50% relative humidity. Then we evaluate them for their stretchability, tearing and welding properties... in short, we examine them from every angle.

A LW AYS LO O K I N G I N A S I N G L E D I R E CT I O N , TO W A R D S T H E F U T U R E

“The new MDO-PE resin is made of high-density polyethylene oriented in a single direction to achieve greater rigidity and greater transparency.

To form a pouch, a second sealable polyethylene film is laminated to ensure high quality welding.

A proper weld is essential to protect the integrity of the packaged content, especially if the film is also intended for the packaging of foodstuffs.

With our mono-material recyclable film, we obtain the same properties as before with very different materials. The MDO-PE is a single-component material, which offers great development potential and numerous applications to meet the future needs of our clients.”

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“Product Stewardship” products regularisation department

Respect across the line

In addition to complying with stringent technical and mechanical criteria and meeting our customers’ requirements, this new polyethylene film must also comply with constantly-evolving standards and regulations. This task falls on Colombe Vendeuvre, who has worked as Product Steward at INEOS O&P for two and a half years.

“We make sure that our products are compliant with health and environmental regulations. We then issue regulatory certificates for more than 450 grades covering different applications: contact with foodstuffs, medical, automotive, cosmetics, etc.

Currently, many projects relate to circularity and sustainable development, in particular the integration of recycled plastic materials in our polymers.”

A N T I C I PAT I N G A N D E X C E E D I N G STA N DA R D S A N D R E G U L AT I O N S

“We are often asked by our clients to exceed official standards. With MDO-PE, we adopt a similar approach and try to reach a level of recycled materials and recyclability that will go beyond future regulations.”

From a supplier of raw materials to a supplier of solutions The paradigm shift brought about by the rapid emergence of the circular economy has encouraged all the stakeholders of the production chain (processors, brands, retailers) to become partners in the development and production of flexible plastic packaging. To achieve our goals, we need cutting edge tools and machines that can perform full-scale tests for our clients. This is precisely what the MDO multilayer line by Hosokawa Alpine, now installed at the INEOS O&P site of NOH, is designed to do; developing solutions in close partnership with its clients. Thanks to this technology, they will be able to apply these solutions directly to their own production lines.

This high technology equipment represents several million euros of investment in Brussels. In the expert hands of renowned researchers working at the INEOS NOH site, this is a true game-changer for our clients and for the environment. This new packaging product development line using mono-material flexible film could avoid several million tons of waste ending up in our landfills every year.

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