Issue 01/2016

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Events The world’s largest conference on biocomposites By: Asta Partanen and Michael Carus nova-Institute Hürth, Germany From 16 – 17 December 2015, the world’s largest conference on Wood-Plastic Composites (WPC) and Natural Fibre Composites (NFC) with more than 220 participants took place for the sixth time in Cologne, Germany. The conference was sponsored by Beologic, Corbion-Purac and Plasthill. Coperion sponsored the Wood and Natural Fibre Composite Award 2015. The range of topics that addressed the whole variety of bio-composites was presented by top speakers from the industry and research. Construction and automotive are the biggest markets for WPC and NFC today, these materials offer huge replacement potential in plastics and composites if one looks at application fields beyond decking and automotive interior applications. Biobased raw materials lead to local added value through innovative production processes and products, but require a great amount of know-how for raw materials, processes, properties, recipes and application fields. The conference provided an up-todate picture of different technologies and most promising applications. Dr. Asta Partanen, project leader of the conference, gave the outline of “Status and Future Markets for Biobased Composites in Europe until 2020”. The presentation gave insight into the new market and trend report, which was published in June 2015: “Wood-Plastic Composites (WPC) and Natural Fibre Composites (NFC): European and Global Markets 2012 and Future Trends in Automotive and Construction”. According to the study the share of WPC and NFC in the total composite market – including glass, carbon, wood and Natural Fibre Composites – is already an impressive 15 %. The production volume of WPC was 260,000 t in the EU in 2012, for NFC 92,000 t. The full study can be downloaded at http://bio-based.eu/markets/. Ten years ago the WPC & NFC Conference started as First German WPC-Conference. Good reason for Dr. Hans Korte from Dr. Hans Korte Innovationberatung Holz & Fasern, Wismar, to summarize what happened in the technical development starting at the end of 1990s in the field of WPC. The German WPC market is continuously growing, as was reported by Dr. Peter Sauerwein from the “Association of the German Wood-Based Panel Industry (VHI)”. An analyses of commercially available European decking samples was presented by Dr. Andreas Haider from Wood K plus, Austria. Some products in the market show an overall better performance compared to 2008 – in particular regarding water absorbance and colour fading but also the mechanical properties. Dr. Wayne Song, WPCC (Wood-Plastic Composite Council of China) presented the latest market news and trends, especially in interior walls in the Chinese markets, that does not grow as much as was predicted by Chinese representatives in previous conferences. As every year, the Wood and Natural Fibre Composite Award was a highlight of the conference. The participants chose by far the natural fibre-reinforced, 100 % biobased coffin as their winner (Onora, s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands. Second highlight was the trend in WPC and NFC granulates. So far, also mainly small producers and traders were offering WPC and NFC granulates with a limited technical support and often missing data for simulations. But also this is changing since big global players are offering their new developed materials, such as PolyOne (see article on p. 12). Developments in the use of biobased polymers in the automotive industry were shown by a number of companies (see detailed report on p. 16f). Michael Carus, managing director of nova-Institute, summed up: “It was impressive to see the dynamic in the WPC and NFC sector: Improved bio-composite properties, a broad range of professional players and the penetration of new markets such as consumer goods. The participants enjoyed the high quality of the presentations and exhibition and meeting the who-is-who of the whole sector. Many reported excellent business opportunities.” The award winning coffin in the left corner of the picture. See a more detailed report on this product in bioplastics MAGAZINE issue 06/2015, p 36. Information: All presentations are now available at http://bio-based.eu/proceedings. In order to keep track of the the growing trends in the market and high demand the next conference will be held by nova-Institute in Cologne in Autumn 2017. 8 bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/16] Vol. 11
GET THE APP NOW download free of charge* Via the new App you read bioplastics MAGAZINE sooner on your mobile device Not only on a tablet, but also on your smartphone you can easily read bioplastics MAGAZINE Be informed quicker: read bioplastics MAGAZINE a week before the print edition is mailed More features: find links to additional material like PDFs, videoclips, photos etc. Easy navigation: digital version, optimized for tablets and smartphones Includes a Twitter Feed about our daily online news * Contents may become restricted to subscribers or subject to additonal fees at a later stage.
Page 1: ISSN 1862-5258 Jan/Feb 01 | 2016 Ba
Page 4 and 5: Content Imprint 01|2016 Jan / Feb A
Page 6 and 7: News daily upated news at www.biopl
Page 10 and 11: Events 4 th PLA World Congress 24 -
Page 12 and 13: Automotive Lightweighting is key Re
Page 14 and 15: Automotive Drop-in solution for you
Page 16 and 17: Automotive Biocomposites in the au
Page 18 and 19: Materials The gluten solution New T
Page 20 and 21: Materials Making Levulinic Acid hap
Page 22 and 23: Material news New amorphous PHA gra
Page 24 and 25: Materials Breakthrough platform tec
Page 26 and 27: Opinion Bioplastics industry strugg
Page 28 and 29: Application News New biobased susta
Page 30 and 31: Foam PLA foam expanding into new a
Page 32 and 33: Polyamides are made by polycondensa
Page 34 and 35: Basics “The biobased office” fo
Page 36 and 37: Basics The Blauer Engel is highly a
Page 38 and 39: Opinion Biopolymers will weather th
Page 40 and 41: Basics Mandatory Federal purchasing
Page 42 and 43: Basics Glossary 4.1 last update iss
Page 44 and 45: Basics Gelatine | Translucent britt
Page 46 and 47: Suppliers Guide 1. Raw Materials AG
Page 48 and 49: Suppliers Guide 9. Services (contin
Page 50 and 51: Companies in this issue Company Edi
Page 52: www.novamont.com BIODEGRADABLE AND

Issue 01/2016

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?