Polymers in Packaging

The cosmetics industry uses some liquid crystal polymers in packaging, and efforts to obtain FDA approval for food and beverage packaging are underway. The metallic look of LCP containers and the processing ease of the material are two features which the cosmetics industry finds attractive. 

Although infrared spectroscopy is a useful technique for identifying polymers in packaging materials it is important to emphasize that as a result of the development of packaging technology, it is now... 

In the USA Exxon Chemical and Dow Plastics were the leaders in the metallocene technology. While Exxon explored both mono- and bis-cyclopentadienyl metallocenes, Dow focused on constrained geometry catalysts based on Ti-monocyclopentadienyl metallocenes. Exxon first produced metallocene-based polymers with its Exxpol catalysts in 1991. Dow uses its INSITE technology to make ethylene-octene copolymers, introduced in 1993. Copolymers with up to 20 wt% octene are sold as AFFINITY plastomers, competing with specialty polymers in packaging, medical devices, and other applications. Dow, producing its own catalyst, considers that it leads to the uniform introduction of comonomers and long-chain branches that improve processability of otherwise linear polymers. 

The adoption of biobased polymers in packaging is subject to an increase R D effort to find viable alternatives for which the cradle to cradle approach of using these biopolymers is more sustainable than the use of non renewable resources. Moreover, composting could become one of the prevailing methods for disposal of this biobased packaging waste provided that industry, governments, and consumers encourage and embrace this alternative. 

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