Issue 06/2018

Applications
PLA in the fridge
Electrolux builds the world’s first bioplastic concept refrigerator
By: Michael Thielen
E
arlier this year Electrolux, headquartered in Stockholm,
Sweden, introduced a refrigerator prototype in
which all the visible plastic parts were made of Ingeo
PLA compounds. On the sidelines of the Innovation Takes
Root conference in San Diego, bioplastics MAGAZINE talked
to Marco Garilli, Innovation Expert-Polymers at Electrolux’
Global Connectivity & Technology Center (Porcia, Italy)
Sustainability is a top priority at Electrolux and the
company is recognized as sustainability leader within their
industry of household appliances (Industry Leader in Dow
Jones Sustainability Index for 12 years in a row). Through
their brands, including Electrolux, AEG, Anova, Frigidaire,
Westinghouse and Zanussi, the company sells more than 60
million household and professional products in more than 150
markets every year.
“Sustainability is part of the Electrolux business strategy
and we are dedicated to innovate for more sustainable
products and to reduce our carbon footprint. This (refrigerator)
prototype is unique and helps us deliver on our purpose to
shape living for the better,” said Henrik Sundström, Vice
President Sustainability at Electrolux, in a press release
announcing the product.
According to Marco Garilli, Electrolux has adopted a 360°
approach toward making its full range of appliances more
sustainable. “This includes, for example, the energy and
water consumption of our products,” he explained. “We have
professional dishwashers consuming only 0.4 liters of water
per rack. But it also includes the choice and use of materials,
which are equally valuable resources.”
A fundamental part of Electrolux effort to fulfill its
sustainability ambitions is to offer more sustainable products,
creating better experiences for the consumers as well as
contributing to a better society.
Back in the 1990s, Electrolux had already implemented lifecycle
analysis as a means to assess the environmental impacts
associated with all the stages of a product’s life and this has
become more and more a key step in the development of new
products. This evaluation is not only about the environmental
impact, but also includes how a particular development would
affect the manufacturing processes and the cost structure.
As part of this approach, the company started to explore
which materials could be replaced by other, or new materials:
fossil-based materials, recyclable materials and biobased
materials.
“This also meant that we needed to pick the right partners
and the right moment to enter into specific developments”,
Marco said, “And NatureWorks was such a partner.”
As Electrolux manufactures their own parts in house, they
know the production processes involved. They first needed to
establish whether their manufacturing systems could cope
with any new materials.
For the refrigerators in this case study, Electrolux wanted
to replace the material used to produce the thermoformed
liners (hitherto made from either high-impact polystyrene
HIPS or ABS) and the transparent PS door shelves.
Together with NatureWorks (Minnetonka, Minneapolis, USA)
Ingeo PLA compounds were developed for these applications.
The PLA could be processed without any modifications to
Electrolux’ manufacturing lines. “We found out that the
higher melt strength of PLA compared to HIPS offers further
advantages, such as an improved homogeneity of the wall
thickness of the thermoformed component.” Marco pointed
out. “In addition, the inherent stiffness of PLA provides
additional structural integrity.”
In addition to its biobased origin, PLA offered several
performance advantages over polystyrene (transparent PS
as well as HIPS). The first, said Marco, is the significantly
higher gloss which leads to a more aesthetical appearance.
Furthermore, the chemical resistance, for example, against
food oils and fats, was found to be very good. In terms of
mechanical properties, the PLA also showed a number of
advantages, for example in the enhanced impact properties for
the transparent shelves in the refrigerator doors. Marco: ”We
were surprised that the PLA, which is said to be rather brittle,
performed slightly better than the transparent PS.” Another
advantage of PLA over ABS to be investigated is the resistance
to yellowing (UV resistance). In addition, NatureWorks’ Ingeo
PLA systems do not contain any chemicals of concern.
Electrolux has already committed to materials efficiency
through the use of post-consumer recycled plastics, such
as Carborec ® , a plastic compound based on recycled
polypropylene, extending the lifetime of plastic coming from
non-renewable resources. The bioplastic refrigerator is still in
development and there is currently no timeframe set for when
the product will be officially launched on the market.
However, in the aforementioned press release, Jan
Brockmann, Chief Operations Officer at Electrolux , said: “We
are very excited and proud to have developed the world’s first
bioplastic concept fridge, which is truly groundbreaking. Our
ambition is to develop even more innovative, sustainable home
appliances that we might see on the market in the future”.
www.electroluxgroup.com
(©liz linder photography)
34 bioplastics MAGAZINE [06/18] Vol. 13