Home
Search History
Clear History
{{item.search_key}}
Hot Searches
Change
{{item.name}}
{{item.english_name}}
Subscribe eNews
Once A Week Once Every Two Weeks
{{sum}}
{{sum}}
Login

Please Login

Subscribe To Tags, See What You Want To See

Sign Up For Events, Expand your network

Unlock Private Messages, Participate In Interactions

 Register

Hi.{{userInfo.company_name_english||userInfo.truename_english}} Hi.{{userInfo.truename||userInfo.phone||userInfo.email}}

Applications

Franplast introduces biocompatible TPEs for medical sector

MAS launches flagship platform for food-grade PET recycling

3D-printed sculptural coffee table with bio-based transparent polyamide

Products

EuCIA launches Carbon Fiber Europe alliance

Gurit inaugurates Advanced Composites R&D Center in Tianjin, China

COLINES cast film line installed at LyondellBasell’s Cincinnati Technology Center

Activities

  • Fakuma to celebrate 30th anniversary edition in October 2026

  • Italy pavilion at Plast Eurasia proves its rising presence in Turkish market

  • CHINAPLAS 2026: Grand stage for new material, smart manufacturing and green solutions

Pictorial

Industry Topic

ASEAN: The Next Manufacturing Hub

Innovative and Sustainable Packaging

Green Plastics: News & Insights

CHINAPLAS

CHINAPLAS 2025 Focus

CHINAPLAS 2024 Focus

CHINAPLAS 2023 Focus

Exhibition Topic

K 2025 FOCUS

CHINA INSIGHT

Fakuma 2024 Highlights

News Videos

Magnetic mold changing system developed in-house by Shanghai Qiaotian

Xiamen LFT Composite's plastic solutions as alternative to steel

Ausell highlights car-to-car closed-loop recycling technology

Conference Videos

【Mandarin session:Webinar playback】HUSKY: Molding the Future of Drug Delivery: Solutions for the Evolving Autoinjector

[Live Replay] Star Plastics: A Global Solution Provider of Sustainable Material for Your Circular Economy.

[Live Replay] Wanhua Chemical: Green Horizons, Health Guardians - Advancing ESG and Low-Carbon Transition, Innovating Medical Material Solutions

Corporate/Product Videos

ARBURG new electric machine – ALLROUNDER TREND will start mass production in Pinghu, Zhejiang in 2026.

Jiangsu Liside New Material Co., Ltd.

Dow 45 years in China

Exhibition

Playback TECHHUB 2025@CPRJ Live Streaming for CHINAPLAS

Playback TECHHUB@CPRJ Live Streaming for CHINAPLAS

Events

Playback On April 14, the "6th Edition CHINAPLAS x CPRJ Plastics Recycling and Circular Economy Conference and Showcase" at the Crowne Plaza Shenzhen Nanshan is currently being livestreamed!

Playback 5th Edition CHINAPLAS x CPRJ Plastics Recycling and Circular Economy Conference and Showcase

News
NEW
HOT
 Events
NEW
HOT
 SPE Asia
NEW
HOT
 Special
NEW
HOT
 Live
NEW
HOT
 eNews
NEW
HOT
 Essential Guide
NEW
HOT
 Event Calendar
NEW
HOT
 Survey
NEW
HOT
 CHINA INSIGHT
NEW
HOT

Home > News > Packaging

PLA-based material set for commercialization allows easy-to-recycle flexible packaging

Source：Adsale Plastics Network Date ：2024-06-20 Editor ：RC
Copyright： This article was originally written/edited by Adsale Plastics Network (AdsaleCPRJ.com), republishing and excerpting are not allowed without permission. For any copyright infringement, we will pursue legal liability in accordance with the law.

A team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP has developed a flexible and recyclable plastic film material based on polylactide (PLA) bioplastic and prepared for its commercialization.


Fraunhofer_PLA bioplasttic with plasticizers_480.jpg


A new sustainable, flexible PLA material is developed that can be processed and recycled in similar way as LDPE.

 

Challenges of recycling flexible packaging and use of PLA

 

Flexible, disposable plastic films are made mainly from petroleum-based low-density polyethylene (LDPE). In the recycling process, the material is broken down into their basic components to produce new plastics with the same properties. However, part of the material is lost in the cycle of production, use and reuse.

 

Biopolyester PLA – a bio-based, biodegradable, easily recyclable material – can solve the challenge. With high stiffness, PLA suited for rigid packaging such as disposable cups, but it is not for flexible packaging.

 

Plasticizers as the solution

 

The team discovered that by coupling with plasticizers, so-called polyethers, directly with the polymer chain to make PLA more flexible. Polyethers are non-toxic, commercially available and can also be produced from bio-based raw materials.

 

However, the plasticizer molecules migrate out of the material over time, making the PLA stiff and rigid again.

 

To prevent this migration, the team anchored the polyether to the polymer. “To achieve this, we synthesized PLA-based block copolymers in which the polyether chain segment is covalently linked to PLA chain segments at both ends,” explained Dr. Benjamín Rodríguez at Fraunhofer IAP.

 

Sustainable and flexible packaging

 

The end result is a flexible PLA material that does not contain migrating plasticizers, with at least 80% bio-based material.

 

André Gomoll, also from at Fraunhofer IAP, added that the team might be able to increase this proportion to almost 100%.

 

The novel material can be produced cost-efficiently from commercially available raw materials in a simple synthesis process. This process can also be implemented locally by medium-sized companies.

 

In addition, the new PLA material can be processed into plastic films using conventional processing equipment in a similar way to LDPE, and it can be chemically recycled with considerably less energy input than LDPE.

 

Not only for flexible packaging films, the new material can also be applied to new use cases, such as in the automotive sector, textile industry and additive manufacturing.

 

Commercializing the material

 

In 2023, SoBiCo GmbH, a subsidiary of the Polymer-Group, commissioned a production plant for the new PLA block copolymers in Pferdsfeld, at western Germany. It produces 2,000 tons of the new bioplastics per year under the name Plactid. In the long term, it is set to produce 10,000 tons of the new flexible PLA material each year.


 Like 丨  {{details_info.likes_count}}
Biodegradable
Bioplastic
Plasticizer
Flexible packaging
PLA

The content you're trying to view is for members only. If you are currently a member, Please login to access this content.   Login

Source：Adsale Plastics Network Date ：2024-06-20 Editor ：RC
Copyright： This article was originally written/edited by Adsale Plastics Network (AdsaleCPRJ.com), republishing and excerpting are not allowed without permission. For any copyright infringement, we will pursue legal liability in accordance with the law.

A team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP has developed a flexible and recyclable plastic film material based on polylactide (PLA) bioplastic and prepared for its commercialization.


Fraunhofer_PLA bioplasttic with plasticizers_480.jpg


A new sustainable, flexible PLA material is developed that can be processed and recycled in similar way as LDPE.

 

Challenges of recycling flexible packaging and use of PLA

 

Flexible, disposable plastic films are made mainly from petroleum-based low-density polyethylene (LDPE). In the recycling process, the material is broken down into their basic components to produce new plastics with the same properties. However, part of the material is lost in the cycle of production, use and reuse.

 

Biopolyester PLA – a bio-based, biodegradable, easily recyclable material – can solve the challenge. With high stiffness, PLA suited for rigid packaging such as disposable cups, but it is not for flexible packaging.

 

Plasticizers as the solution

 

The team discovered that by coupling with plasticizers, so-called polyethers, directly with the polymer chain to make PLA more flexible. Polyethers are non-toxic, commercially available and can also be produced from bio-based raw materials.

 

However, the plasticizer molecules migrate out of the material over time, making the PLA stiff and rigid again.

 

To prevent this migration, the team anchored the polyether to the polymer. “To achieve this, we synthesized PLA-based block copolymers in which the polyether chain segment is covalently linked to PLA chain segments at both ends,” explained Dr. Benjamín Rodríguez at Fraunhofer IAP.

 

Sustainable and flexible packaging

 

The end result is a flexible PLA material that does not contain migrating plasticizers, with at least 80% bio-based material.

 

André Gomoll, also from at Fraunhofer IAP, added that the team might be able to increase this proportion to almost 100%.

 

The novel material can be produced cost-efficiently from commercially available raw materials in a simple synthesis process. This process can also be implemented locally by medium-sized companies.

 

In addition, the new PLA material can be processed into plastic films using conventional processing equipment in a similar way to LDPE, and it can be chemically recycled with considerably less energy input than LDPE.

 

Not only for flexible packaging films, the new material can also be applied to new use cases, such as in the automotive sector, textile industry and additive manufacturing.

 

Commercializing the material

 

In 2023, SoBiCo GmbH, a subsidiary of the Polymer-Group, commissioned a production plant for the new PLA block copolymers in Pferdsfeld, at western Germany. It produces 2,000 tons of the new bioplastics per year under the name Plactid. In the long term, it is set to produce 10,000 tons of the new flexible PLA material each year.


全文内容需要订阅后才能阅读哦~
立即订阅
信百勒 英文横幅 AdsaleCPRJ.com A1 420x90 EN
elin Packaging Machinery Co., Ltd TAIZHOU WATON MACHINERY.,LTD Shini button ad EN

Recommended Articles

Packaging
The bio-based reusable cups can be chemically recycled
 2025-11-27
Packaging
Chanel's sustainable cosmetic closures manufactured on KraussMaffei machines
 2025-11-24
Packaging
Corvaglia and Wisecap partner to produce beverage closures in Europe
 2025-11-21
Packaging
SACMI’s digital production lines for caps and preforms at Drink Japan
 2025-11-19
Packaging
Amcor introduces roll-ons with new lightweight design and PCR content
 2025-11-17
Packaging
Henkel Packaging RecycLab launches in China to drive recycling
 2025-11-05
AdsaleCPRJ.com A1 - EMP - EN Jiangyin Yuexing Machinery Co., Ltd.
北京化学工业 Factory customized color masterbatch functional masterbatch FCP flexible composite pipe - Hydrogen delivery
  • Must See
    • News
    Images
    Watch it
1
The 6 key takeaways from CPRJ Automotive Plastics Conference in Shanghai
2
How did Chinese chemical and material companies perform in Q3?
3
CHINAPLAS 2026: Grand stage for new material, smart manufacturing and green solutions
4
WITTMANN Group sets up subsidiary in Morocco
5
Clariant expands Care Chemicals investment at Daya Bay site in China
1
Avient's TPE alternative to suede: Low-odor, luxurious feel
2
ARBURG new electric machine – ALLROUNDER TREND will start mass production in Pinghu, Zhejiang in 2026.
3
CPRJ Automotive Plastics Conference unlocks future trends
4
LKIMM micro-foaming technology for lightweight NEV
5
Mianyang Walthmac enhances pipe yield with ultrasonic online thickness measurement system
  • Hot Specials

You May Be Interested In

Change
  • People
  • Company
loading... No Content
{{[item.truename,item.truename_english][lang]}} {{[item.company_name,item.company_name_english][lang]}} {{[item.job_name,item.name_english][lang]}}
{{[item.company_name,item.company_name_english][lang]}} Company Name    {{[item.display_name,item.display_name_english][lang]}}  

Polyurethane Investment Medical Carbon neutral Reduce cost and increase efficiency CHINAPLAS Financial reports rPET INEOS Styrolution Evonik Borouge Polystyrene (PS) mono-material Sustainability Circular economy BASF SABIC Multi-component injection molding machine All-electric injection molding machine Thermoforming machine

PLA-based material set for commercialization allows easy-to-recycle flexible packaging

识别右侧二维码，进入阅读全文
下载
x 关闭
订阅
亲爱的用户，请填写一下信息
I have read and agree to the 《Terms of Use》 and 《Privacy Policy》
立即订阅
Top
Feedback
Chat
News
Market News
Applications
Products
Video
In Pictures
Specials
Activities
eBook
Front Line
Plastics Applications
Chemicals and Raw Material
Processing Technologies
Products
Injection
Extrusion
Auxiliary
Blow Molding
Mold
Hot Runner
Screw
Applications
Packaging
Automotive
Medical
Recycling
E&E
LED
Construction
Others
Events
Conference
Webinar
CHINAPLAS
CPS+ eMarketplace
Official Publications
CPS eNews
Media Kit
Social Media
Facebook
Linkedin
Adsale Group ｜  About Us ｜  Terms of Use ｜  Privacy Policy ｜  Contact Us ｜  Media Kit ｜  Consent Letter for Processing Personal Data ｜