BioFoam®

PLA Foam

Produced with 2nd generation PLA Synterra®

Peter De Loose

Synbra Group

SYNBRA is the leading producer and converter of Expanded Polystyrene (‘EPS’)

• with about 1.500 employees;• with a turnover of about € 300 million;• focus on Sustainable Insulation Systems (SIS) and

Industrial Products & Solutions (IPS);• innovative and vertically integrated through cluster

Technology & Innovation;• Dutch holding co-ordinates 6 Clusters ( incl Synprodo)

and has 26 production locations in 6 countries.

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Markets End products

Technical parts, Electronics

Industrial/Technical

Fish, Meat, Produce

Food

Horticulture

Cavity, exteriorWall insulation

Boards, systemsFloor insulation

Road constructionCivil engineering

Pitched, flatRoof insulation

Sustainable Insulation Systems (SIS)

Seed trays

Markets End products

Industrial Products & Solutions (IPS)

Water filtration

Biostyr®

Broad range of EPS applications

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Synbra’s European coverage–In general, transportation of EPS

> 250 km is not profitable–Majority of the business is local–Synbra Technology supplies

businesses with EPS beads – Local BUs convert the beads into

products–Local BUs invest in product and

application innovations – Synbra Technology supports with

material innovation

26 production locations in 6 countries

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BioFoam® project overview

History BioFoam® project 1

• Formal project started April 2006;• R&D with Wageningen University WUR;• Starting point: use own EPS pre-expansion &

moulding; • Use Polylactic acid (PLA); best results blowing

with CO2;• Shape moulding with biobased coating

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History BioFoam® project 2

• Invest in 5000 t/a own GMO free PLA polymerisation– Dedicated quality for particle foaming– Lactide based supplied by Purac, equipment supplied

by Sulzer– Pure PLLA for use in compounded bioplastic recipes

• Remove the GMO hurdle

– Pure PDLA – Also Stereocomplex possible for high heat PLA

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D-Lactide L-lactide

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PLA structure

sc-PLA (blend)

Stereo-block PLA

PLLA

PLA

A-PLA

180 °C

230 °C

160 °C

Increasing Tm

and crystallinity

200 °C

-

>10% D in PLAAmorphous (no Tm)

Stereocomplex-PLA improves Heat Resistance (HDT)

Now Future with sc-PLA??

By mixing 40 % PDLA with PLA cups are made that can be used till 190°C without distortion.

Coffee 70°C

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BioFoam® processing

Status foaming and molding

• First production facility in Etten-Leur;• Roll-out 2012 to other BU’s;• Industrial runs possible on 3 moulding machines.

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Raw beadproduction

Prefoamingraw beads

Maturing ofprefoamed

beads

Moulding ofprefoamed

beads

Impregnationwith CO2

Coating ofprefoamed

beads

Impregnationof coated

beads

EPS foaming

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PLA foaming

PLA foaming

• Prefoaming is done on a commercial EPS prefoamer;

• Density 30 g/l in one prefoam step (< 30 g/l in two steps).

Compared to EPS:

• Lower temperatures;

• Shorter cycle times.

Difficulties:

• Low density foam for moulding;

• CO2 evaporates easily;

• Heat stability of PLA (under development)

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PLA molding

• A special coating is applied to the prefoamed BioBeads to improve adhesion during moulding;

• Patented technology: WO 2008130226.

Continuous fluid bed coating unit (Glatt fluid bed)

Batch fluid bed coating unit(Wurster coating)

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PLA molding

•Moulding is done on a commercial EPS moulder;

•Similar process as with common EPS grades.

Compared to EPS:

•Lower temperatures;

•Longer cooling times.

•Difficulties:

•CO2 evaporates easily;

•Heat stability of PLA.

Optimalisation in progress

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BioFoam® properties

PLA cell structure

Structure looks very similar to EPS

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Mechanical & thermal properties

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BioFoam® EPSThermal conductivity(MW/m·K) 35 g/l 34 33 30 g/l

Bending strength(kPa) 35 g/l 300 300 30 g/l

Compressive stress @ 10% deformation(kPa)

40 g/l 200 200 30 g/l

Compressive modulus(MPa) 40 g/l 4.0 3.0 30 g/l

Shear strength(kPa) 35 g/l 140 250 30 g/l

Shear modulus(kPa) 35 g/l 2.7 3.1 30 g/l

C-value(-) 35 g/l 2.6 2.7 30 g/l

Drop test results

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1st drop (height/thickness = 10)

0,000

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

80,000

0,00 5,00 10,00 15,00 20,00 25,00 30,00Static stress (kPa)

G (-

)

EPS (20 g/l) PLA (60 g/l)) PLA (35 g/l)

100% Bio-Based = Renewable

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• It takes max. 1 year to reproduce your raw material .

(some crops can be harvested each half year)

• To reproduce petrol based raw materials it takes several 10.000 years for the process &several milion years to have the right conditions.

• End-of-Life is additional (incineration, composting, anaerobe digestion, chemical recycling)

Industrial Composting results

5 x 5 x 5 cm3 BioFoam® blocks (various densities) disintegrate completely at 70°C within 4 wks

No composting at RT (30°C)

Synbra LCA Tool v. 1.0For Holistic Environmental Evaluation of

BioFoam and EPS Foam

Based on Life Cycle Assessment Compliant WithISO 14 040 + 14 044 Standards

Prepared by Tobias BorénAkzoNobel Sustainable Development, Sweden

Peer reviewed by Martin Patel, Utrecht UniversityOctober 8th 2010

GWP of various polymers in end use

Per Kg moulded BioBead 49% CO2 compared to average of all oil based polymers

NON optimised sugar mill, with optimised ugar mill values are much lower

Other polymers LCA source Plastics Europe

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C02 emission per ton processed polymer

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000

Biaxial PP film

PET film

Thermoform HIPS

PUR rigid foam

EPS foam

PE film

BioFoam moulded

Comparison cradle-to-gate

Table: Functional traits of the different insulation materials defining the Functional Unit (F.U.)Material Lambda [mM/m*K] Density [kg/m3] Mass [kg/F.U.] Thickness [cm]BioFoam 33 20 1,65 8,25EPS 32 18 1,44 8

Mineral Wool 42 120 12,6 10,5

Crude oil eq. consumption for 1 m2 Rc 2,5 insulation

• No additional green energy purchased

Carbon footprint for 1 m2 Rc 2,5 insulation

Conclusions:EPS very good energy efficient insulant

BioFoam overall even better

Validation and supporting information

• Fire test Bean Bags Efectis & Moulded NRW-MPA– meets BS 5852 ( sigaret/match) crib 5 – meets DIN4102 B1 and B2 – Meest Euroclass E fire classification– No halogens present

• Droptesting at Clemson University (South-Carolina);• LCA verified by, AkzoNobel

– Technology & Engineering Sust. Dev.Group; Sweden – Peer reviewed by Prof. Martin Patel-Utrecht Uni.

• Compostability certification EN13432• Passed EN117/118 Termite/pest and fungus tests• C2C certified by EPEA;

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C2C Validation

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BioFoam® AwardsWinner of the Frost & Sullivan Technology Innovation Of The Year Award 2008 PLA polymerisation process

Winner 2009 gold sustainability medal awarded by the Dutch Rubber and Plastics Federation

#1 of the 2010 MKB top 100 : Earmarked most innovative company in the Netherlands

Third Price in Dutch 2010 packaging “De gouden Noot”

Winner ‘Nederlandse Bouwprijs 2011’ at construction exhibition in Utrecht (NL).

Winner of the Frost & Sullivan Technology Innovation Of The Year Award 2011 for BioFoam

Thank you for your attention

Questions?