Artenius announces new, greener PET packaging resin

Artenius, the PET resin division of LSB Artenius from Spain, has developed a new PET packaging material, Artenius Elite, which combines virgin PET resin and post-consumer recycled PET as feedstock in the resin production process.

According to Artenius, the chemical process of Artenius Elite, said to be a "remarkably pure, energy-efficient packaging resin", replaces conventional non-renewable petrochemical raw materials with recycled material, saving natural resources and reducing the carbon footprint. At the same time, it offers strength and versatility in combining post-consumer recycled materials into a food-safe packaging product with nine different references of resins available to meet various packing and molding process needs.

"We have successfully created a PET packaging material that includes recycled resin in its manufacturing process, but with the same quality as virgin PET," says Jordi Foguet, Technology Manager of Artenius. "The product development was a rigorous joint effort between R&D, our pilot plant, production sites and our in-house suppliers of recycled PET flakes. We are excited to bring this environmentally friendly new product line to the market."

According to the company, the Artenius Elite formulation has been specifically developed for beverage packaging, including both still and carbonated water, and soft drinks. Depending on the base resin used, the product is suitable for processing as stretch blow molding in one- and two-stage processes. Artenius also stresses that all products in the family of Artenius Elite resins offer exceptional mechanical strength, color and transparency characteristics that fulfill essential beverage package manufacturing demands.

Artenius Elite is produced under a proprietary chemical recycling process. The clean recycled PET is de-polymerized and mixed together with standard virgin PET raw materials, integrating both types of compounds into the re-polymerization process.

Artenius also quotes the decontamination challenge tests carried out by Fraunhofer Institute to claim that the Artenius production process results in resins as pure as the 100% virgin resin, even under the worst case contamination scenarios. It adds that such high level of decontamination means that Artenius Elite can be safely used for all direct food contact applications.

Artenius further says that the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) has ruled that Artenius Elite's process should not be treated differently from monomers manufactured by chemical synthesis. Therefore, Artenius Elite resins are covered by authorization of monomers and additives in the Commission Regulation 10/2011 instead of by Regulation (EC) 282/2008 on recycled plastic materials for food contact articles.

The Artenius Elite process has also been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) through its non-objection letter, Artenius adds. According to Artenius, the FDA determined that the proposed process is suitable for accepting a feedstock of clean post-consumer PET at levels up to 50% for containers for food contact with all food types.

"The virgin resin base used to produce Artenius Elite can be Artenius Aqua, Artenius Flow or Artenius Fast Flow+, plus a feedstock of 10, 25 or 50% of clean post-consumer recycled PET," says Mr Foguet. "We have nine different references of Artenius Elite resins, depending on the virgin resin base and on the content of recycled PET added during the chemical process."

It is said that Artenius Elite is currently produced in its Italian factory, and its factory located in El Prat, Spain, will start to produce Artenius Elite soon.