Innovate to meet stringent standards on food safety

A European chocolate-maker encountered a significant challenge in ensuring customer safety and maintaining its brand reputation after the EU updated its food contact materials legislation. The new regulations restricted acrylonitrile monomer residue in food contact plastics to below 10 ppm to prevent harmful chemicals from leaching into food. The chocolate-maker uses ABS for the toys included with its products, leveraging the polymer's strengths. As a result, it looked for an ABS manufacturer that could comply with the updated limits.

Due to its commitment to high standards, the chocolate-maker further reduced its internal monomer residue limit to 5 ppm. However, testing various global ABS suppliers revealed that few could consistently achieve quality below even 20 ppm. Ultimately, CHIMEI emerged as the only supplier able to deliver results under 5 ppm, but maintaining this quality in mass production seemed challenging.

To address this, CHIMEI embarked on extensive R&D to develop a new approach for producing ABS on a larger scale. The company created an innovative system that cleans the individual input materials—acrylonitrile, polybutadiene, and styrene—prior to combining them into the final ABS. This process allows for consistent control of monomer residue levels while preserving the physical properties of the ABS.

With CHIMEI's reliable supply of clean ABS, the chocolate-maker can now confidently comply with EU regulations. In addition, the insights gained from this innovation enable CHIMEI to assist other companies in meeting or exceeding EU's stringent standards, which are increasingly being adopted worldwide.

A European chocolate-maker turned to CHIMEI for safe toys included with its products. 

Advance packaging with high-barrier solutions

In the pharmaceutical packaging sector, HySum Flexibles has been approved by the National Medical Products Administration and has established stable partnerships with globally renowned pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Bayer.

HySum Flexibles provides PVC/Aclar sheets to companies such as AstraZeneca and Sandoz. PVC/Aclar blisters are an effective packaging solution for the storage and transportation of pharmaceuticals. These blisters are composed of a combination of PVC and Aclar, a high-barrier film made from PCTFE. This unique combination results in packaging that offers superior resistance to moisture, oxygen, and other gases, making it an ideal choice for pharmaceutical products that require a high level of protection.

The company's retortable high-barrier ALOx PET film offers exceptional resistance to both oxygen and moisture, making it suitable for a wide range of food packaging applications, including corn, prepared meals, dried meat snacks, confections, microwavable foods, and pet food. It is also versatile enough for use in other sectors such as facial masks, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and industrial packaging.

This film exhibits excellent fragrance retention and is both printable and capable of being laminated. It features high transparency, is colorless, and is environmentally friendly. The film is microwave-safe and can be inspected using metal detectors. Notably, it boasts an oxygen transmission rate (OTR) and a water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) of both below 0.3, ensuring superior protection for its contents.

HySum Flexibles provides PVC/Aclar sheets to renowned pharmaceutical companies. 

Recycled materials specialist secures global investment

Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group—the largest IKEA retailer—announced a growth capital investment in Shanghai Re-mall Environmental Protection New Material. This company, based in China, specializes in recycling post-consumer packaging waste and marks Ingka Investments' first Chinese investment in its Circular Investment portfolio.

This investment underscores Ingka's commitment to facilitating the transition toward a circular economy by supporting companies that develop technology or enhance capacity to prevent waste and provide recycled materials.

Ingka Group's circular investment portfolio targets materials with a high carbon footprint, where recycling infrastructure is insufficient. The goal is to foster profitable businesses that can prevent millions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions and boost the availability of recycled materials in the market.

Re-mall specializes in recycling post-consumer packaging waste and employs a proprietary technology to produce transparent recycled polypropylene (rPP) for new products. Within China, the company is recognized for its premium-grade post-consumer rPP, driven by technological innovation, and actively seeks to build high-quality closed-loop solutions with its value chain partners.

Headquartered in Shanghai, Re-mall operates a production facility in Jiangxi province, strategically positioned to access plastic waste from major cities like Guangzhou and Shanghai. The investment will enable Re-mall to enhance its recycling capacity and develop new products.

Re-mall is headquartered in Shanghai, China. 

PEEK materials available for international export  

Jiangsu Junhua specializes in the development, production, and sale of high-performance engineering plastics, including PEEK, PI, and PPSU. The company's AKSOPEEK series of medical-grade implant materials is the result of 18 years of dedicated expertise in PEEK medical applications. These materials have received ASTM F2026 approval and have been successfully exported to countries such as Turkey, Mexico, the United States, and Brazil.

Jiangsu Junhua produces PEEK bars with diameters ranging from 1 to 260 mm, typically available in lengths of 1,000 mm or 3,000 mm, with options for custom cuts to meet customer specifications. The thickness of PEEK sheets and plates ranges from 1 to 200 mm. Notably, the company utilizes an advanced 1,250 mm-wide extrusion line for PEEK sheets, which enhances material utilization during the typesetting and cutting processes.

Leveraging modern processing equipment, Jiangsu Junhua's raw material polymerization aims to develop stronger and more durable PEEK materials for a variety of industries. The company's production facility in Jining New Material Industrial Park, which is one of China's top 20 professional chemical parks, is capable of an annual output of 2,500 tons for industrial-grade PEEK and 100 tons for medical implant-grade PEEK.