Borealis said its Bormod RJ900MO resin can be used to produce food containers for products such as dairy, confectionery and convenience food products.
The food industry is increasingly demanding lighter weight packaging due to the high cost of petroleum, which is the basis of most plastic packaging on the market.
Companies are also attempting to become more efficient due to the rising costs of other inputs, such as wheat and dairy ingredients.
Borealis said the grade was developed using its second generation (2G) technology, which enables the new resin to offer better clarity, improved stiffness, excellent processability at high speeds and shorter cycle times.
A spokesperson for Borealis said that up to 25 per cent cycle time reduction can be achieved with the Bormod RJ900MO:
“There are several aspects which lead to a shorter cycle time. One of them is less cooling time in the injection moulding unit, which increases production speed,” she claims.
Extremely pure PP grades with low amounts of catalyst residue can be produced under safe and reliable operating conditions using the technology, added the spokesperson.
She told FoodProductionDaily.com that the company sees a huge demand for thin-walled packaging and has significantly increased production volumes at its plant in Burghausen, Germany as a result.
The spokesperson said that light packaging materials lead to lower transport costs and the thin-wall aspect enables the brand owner ‘freedom to design’, resulting in pack differentiation at the retail shelf level.
She added that the demand for thin-walled packaging is also informed by market requirements for strong aesthetical properties such as transparency.
The new resin is mainly targeted at the European market but the spokesperson said that production of the resin will commence in the near future in Abu Dhabi, at its joint venture company Borouge, with output from that facility targeted at markets in the Middle East and Asia.