New processes to improve customer understanding

New approaches to making BOPP film

New challenges for the packaging industry

FOCUS ON THE CUSTOMER (P.14)

THE FUTURE IS FLEXIBLE (P. 12)

KEEPING UP WITH THE TRENDS (P.4)

Group’s Customer Magazine

TREOFAN PersPectivesIssue 1MAY 2014

Content04

10

3 edItorIAl

4 KeepInG up WIth the trends

How innovative BOPP solutions can help the pack­

aging industry keep pace with changing demands

8 FoCus on the CostuMer How Treofan is adapting processes to deliver

superior customer understanding

10 the Future Is FlexIble

New challenges require new appoaches in

making BOPP films

12 superChArGed World?

bAtterIes requIred

A thin sheet of film can significantly increase

the power and life of lithium ion batteries

12

2 PERSPECTIVES

Publisher: Treofan Germany GmbH & Co KG., Raunheim/Germany, www.treofan.com Email: ulrich.gartner@treofan.com

Editor: Gartner Communications, Frankfurt/Germany, www.gartnercommunications.com Contributing writers: Angela Dunn,

Jan Penny, Heidi Sylvester Layout: erscheinungsform, Eltville/Germany, www.erscheinungsform.de Print: WIRmachenDRUCK,

Backnang/Germany Photo Sources: Andritz(p. 12), Avicenne (p. 9), Innoform (p. 5), Kampf (p. 13), Shutterstock (p. 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10,

11), Treofan, (p. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 11, 14, 15) Circulation: t.b.c. © Treofan - all rights reserved

Content Editorial

Dear reader,

Continuous, intense dialogue with our

customers and partners is a centerpiece

of Treofan’s strategy.

Dialogue leads to understanding and

insights, which in turn lead to relevant

innovations and solutions – often, in

fact, developed in direct cooperation

rather than in a corporate silo.

With this in mind, I am excited to be able

to introduce to you yet another enabler

of dialogue: Treofan Perspectiv es, our

brand new customer magazine.

The focus of this magazine is not our­

selves primarily. It rather should pro­

vide relevant perspectives on topics of

interest to our industry – trends, chal­

lenges, or opportunities. This ambition

is reflected, for example, in the fact

that you will find a number of external

views provided by experts in specific

fields, outside Treofan.

I sincerely hope you will be able to take

away some relevant information and

relate to one or the other, well, new

perspective.

Sincerely yours

Peter Vanacker

CEO

3PERSPECTIVES

4 PERSPECTIVES

Keepingup withthe Trends

Single households, a greener environment, and eating on the go: The packaging industry is challenged to keep

pace with social trends. Innovative BOPP solutions help them meet this challenge.

YvO vAN vLIET:

“WE ASPIRE TO BE

THE BEST INNOvATOR

IN THE INDUSTRY.”

Karsten Schröder, Managing Direc­

tor of market research firm Innoform,

has been observing and analyzing the

pack aging industry for nearly 25 years.

He sees three key trends impacting it

today: sustainability, convenience, and

the evolution in lifestyle.

“Sustainability continues to be the abso­

lute megatrend,” he says, noting that re­

tailers like Marks & Spencer, Walmart

and Edeka are trailblazing with their

sustainability programs and ambitious

goals to reduce their carbon footprints.

Together with policy makers like the

European Union who are legislating

change to lower waste and improve cli­

mate factors, their efforts have had a

ripple effect in the packaging industry.

The second trend is convenience, and

the industry expert notes that the

pack aging industry is responding to the

5PERSPECTIVES

“simplification of our complicated lives”

with solutions for the growing number

of consumers who take their meals on

the go. “Easy­open, easy­close, one­

hand use – people are eating on the

way to work. Just look at the boom in

the beverages market,” he says.

Finally, lifestyle or demographic chan­

ges including the increasing number

of single households are leaving their

mark on the packaging industry. Case

in point: The number of couples who

live as singles in separate apartments,

using twice as much packaging as

they would if they lived together.

“An aging society intensifies the

trend,” says the Innoform executi­

ve. Widows and widowers who live

longer and are more active than

previous generations – their con­

sumption habits are different too.

Although the population is shrin­

king, the amount of packaging ma­

terial is increasing as smaller, one­

person packaging is introduced.

How is Treofan responding?

Yvo van Vliet, Treofan’s Executive

Vice President of Commercial Opera­

tions and head of the packaging busi­

ness unit, says that all these trends are

“driving the direction of innovation in

film material.” Since he joined Treofan

in early 2013, he has played a crucial

role in driving a strategic transforma­

tion, sparking a turnaround in the com­

pany.

Over the years, Treofan had develo­

ped into a respectable midsize com­

pany with an annual turnover of half

a bil lion Euros, four production plants

and approximately 1,100 employees

worldwide. Its specialty films could be

implemented in diverse markets inclu­

ding food, tobacco and electronics. But

the new Executive Committee put to­

KARSTEN SCHRÖDERManaging Director of market research firm Innoform

gether by CEO Peter Va­

nacker, who joined the

company in autumn

2012, recognized

that Treofan could

only survive –

and grow – by

u n l e a s h i n g

a global in­

n o v a t i o n

s t r a t e g y

a c r o s s

t h e

6 PERSPECTIVES

OLIvER BRUNS: “NO

OTHER PLAYER IN THE

INDUSTRY HAS OUR

BRAND NAME, KNOW-

HOW, PRODUCT PORT-

FOLIO, PRODUCTION

PLANTS AND HISTORY.”

More over, the industry is moving away

from paper to film­based labels produ­

ced from polypropylene. Not only does

the weight of paper add to transport

costs, it has to be separated from the

container in the recycling process, ma­

king it less sustainable and therefore

less attractive. Business unit head for

labels Oliver Bruns says IML is a pro­

duct with high strategic importance for

the company. “The possibilities to deco­

rate packaging are growing faster than

other areas,” says Oliver, adding, “we

are well positioned as the market leader

and business is growing fast.”

Global brand experience

Increasingly brand owners want a glo­

bally identical experience of their brand.

Oliver cites Coca­Cola’s personalized la­

bels with individual names, a campaign

rolled out simultaneously in Germany

company. “We have a clear strategy for

where we want to be in 2017, and how

to grow faster and deeper in the marke­

tplace,” says Yvo.

Operating in all four BOPP (biaxially

oriented polypropylene) film segments

– packaging, labels, electronics, and

tobacco – Treofan turned its atten­

tion to brand owners such as Unilever

and P&G. The company realized that,

while converters are their direct cus­

tomers, it could better understand the

market by approaching it from the end

consumer perspective. Now Treofan

also cooperates closely with brand ow­

ners to develop films that bring speed

and efficiency to the supply chain, ap­

peal to consumers, and are sustainable.

The in­mould label (IML), for example,

is soft to the touch and easy to print

– just what the brand owners want.

and the United States. “The suppliers

had to support this action with the

same films, have a good relationship

with the converter industry, and have

the production capacity to support the

global reach.” To understand customer

requirements for their global brand

experience, Treofan has introduced

global business units headed by seaso­

ned industry professionals as another

step towards im­ ple­

menting the

customer

o r i e n ­

t a t i o n

strate­

gy.

In addition,

during “Inno­

vation Day”

workshops,

the teams

7PERSPECTIVES

meet with customers to discuss strate­

gic plans, projects, and pain points. Ac­

cording to Yvo, the best innovations are

developed together with customers.

Some of the company’s most successful

products have resulted from intensive

collaboration with major players in the

printing industry. “We invite conver­

ters and brand owners to innovate with

us,” says the Netherlands native who

spent 25 years of his career in the con­

verting industry.

Tea time

Treofan’s customers are not only res­

ponding to trends like sustainability,

convenience and demographic shifts,

they are also diversifying their product

ranges as they strive to keep pace with

consumer taste and behavior. Yvo van

Vliet gives an example: “Look at all the

teas. The lot sizes get smaller for the

industry. They need materials that are

capable of supporting these smaller

runs. This is something we are capable

of handling – how a customer uses ma­

chines, and how quick they are in res­

ponding to promotional actions.”

Innoform’s Karsten Schröder agrees

that Treofan’s management approach –

getting closer to the consumer through

the brand owner – is absolutely right

for the business. “Today, the packaging

industry is doing more to push the mar­

ket towards innovation,” he says from

his office in Oldenburg, Germany.

He argues that retailers are just begin­

ning to realize the untapped oppor­

tunity in private labels, for example.

“Private labels are trying to establish

themselves as brands and not as copy

products, and the packaging is often

the differentiator in the war for shelf

space.”

Summarizing the company’s innova­

tion strategy and path to success, Yvo

says, “Treofan is in an excellent place

to help the whole value chain move

forward. Brand owners have recogni­

zed our turnaround and challenged us

to join them on their journey.” What­

ever the next steps may be, it’s certain

that Treofan is on top of emerging mar­

ket and industry trends before making

business decisions.

8 PERSPECTIVES

Focus on the Customer

absorbs ink, the team collects the in­

formation needed to optimize technical

service or film properties.

Oliver Bruns, head of the labels busi­

ness unit, says: “Our products have to

function in every step of the produc­

tion process and we have to understand

those steps and all the trends.” Oliver’s

enthusiasm for his job transmits loud

and clear. He is convinced that a global

approach with a tight cross­functional

team is the secret to their success. “We

have amazing people,” he says, “people

who are in a position to understand not

just the brand owners’ wishes, but their

customers’ wishes too.”

One of those people is Konrad Noniewi-

cz, Technical Support Manager for

Central and Eastern Europe. He sum­

marizes the changes he has witnessed

over the course of his long career in the

industry in one short sentence: “From

price competitiveness to global process

effectiveness.” He explains that if a cus­

Robin Schenke is on the road again.

Five cities in five days – Brussels,

Prague, Madrid, Frankfurt and Paris.

As one of Treofan’s Key Account Ma­

nagers, he is meeting with brand ow­

ners, business development colleagues

and local sales teams. Robin is part of

a cross­functional commercial opera­

tions team that was established to meet

customer needs by getting a 360­degree

view of the industry ecosystem.

To deliver forward­looking films to a

future­oriented industry, the Treofan

team strives to understand every step

of the value chain. Frequently an en­

tire cross­functional team consisting of

research and development staff as well

as supply chain colleagues will visit

customers. Their mission: To grasp how

the film is treated from the moment it

is delivered, to how it responds in the

machines. By observing and under­

standing how the material is processed,

how the machines operate, how the

film reacts to the printing process and

FOCUS ON CUSTOMERS,

STRONG RELATIONSHIPS

WITH BRAND OWNERS AND

CONvERTERS, AND

A CLEAR STRATEGY OF

CUSTOMER ORIENTATION

AND INNOvATION HELP

TREOFAN’S COMMERCIAL

TEAMS EXECUTE ON THE

COMPANY’S BRAND

PROMISE AS AN INDUSTRY

INNOvATOR.

Robin Schenke“Converters must balance

consumer interest and sustainability, brand owners need innovative packaging.

Our role is to support them in their challenges.”

Anja Bergholz“Data analyzis helps our teams understand our costumers better, and act accordingly.”

9PERSPECTIVES

tomer requests a new film, the Treofan

team asks instead what the customer

wants to achieve with the product. By

understanding the film type, packaging

speed and shelf life, Konrad and his

team can offer sometimes surprising

solutions. “My job is to show the best

packaging solution in terms of pro­

cess optimization and cost reduction,

highlighting faster speed, logistics and

lower weight.”

This kind of data is also shared to sa­

les teams in preparation for customer

meetings. As a Business Analyst, Anja

Bergholz analyzes and presents com­

plex data sets to both management and

the field. Originally a price controller,

Anja moved into her “dream job” as a

business analyst only recently, after

12 years with the company. Anja has

seen a “clear change” in the company

since the team rallied around a single

common goal: “Now we look at the bu­

siness from the perspective of the end­

user, not just the single converter.”

Marco Holst agrees. “We are in the

middle of a transition process,” he says,

from “production­oriented” to “mar­

ket and customer­driven”. As a Busi­

ness Development Manager, he works

close ly with regional sales, key accou­

nts, technical service as well as the

research and development team, who

share insight into the company’s core

technologies. Marco, who holds a PhD

in chemistry, believes that the cross­

functional team is a source of strength.

“Everyone brings their passion and

knowledge to the table and sometimes

the discussion is controversial, but the

best solution always comes out.”

Frank Herrmann has been with Treo­

fan for 18 years in a number of roles in­

Oliver Bruns“Whether it’s portfolio

management, innovation pipeline or organizational setup

– everything we do is focused around market requirements

and customer needs.”

Marco Holst“There’s virtually no discussion

that does not include the customer perspective.”

Konrad Noniewicz“Our processes, technology and innovation help our customers

reduce cost of their final packaging.”

Frank Herrmann“Quality and reliability are core assets for our customers’success.”

cluding logistics and customer service,

all of which gave him expertise into op­

timizing transport, acting on customer

requirements, and understanding price

competition from Asian markets. Now

a Market Manager for electronics films,

used for example in capacitors for hy­

brid and pure electronical vehicles, he

believes that the Treofan name “stands

for reliability, quality, and speed”.

Whether looking for technical so­

lutions for their customers or inter­

preting customer data for reports,

this is a team of early adopters of the

Treofan strategy. As Marco Holst says,

“the strategy is a living thing and has to

be improved continuously.” He is quick

to add that it helps to have a party after

a successful launch.

10 PERSPECTIVES

Changing customer demands

call for new approaches in making

BOPP films

The future is flexiblevery, enabling customers to minimize

inventory and storage costs, is also a

critical differentiator when it comes to

choosing suppliers.

The speed at which manufacturers can

meet customer requirements is impac­

ted by several factors, including proxi­

mity and access to raw materials and

the ability to switch production from

one type of film to another. And, of

course, cost and environmental pres­

sures are a factor for both customer

and supplier, with sustainability a key

element.

Shorter lead times, new applications,

supply chain optimization, and cost

pressures are all factors that anyone in

the film industry needs to deal with.

With new applications for BOPP film

emerging constantly, and the need

to respond to changes in the market

some times very quickly, customers of

BOPP films increasingly value the abi­

lity of manufacturers to turn things

around on demand. Just in time deli­

With a 30 million euro investment in a

bespoke new biax sequential stretching

line for BOPP films, Treofan is actively

responding to some of those challenges.

One billion square meters of film

per year

The new line, located at Treofan’s ma­

nufacturing and innovation site in

Neun kirchen in the German state of

Saarland, is due to start rolling in 2015

and is aiming for an annual production

of around a billion square meters of

packaging and label films.

11PERSPECTIVES

Dieter Flasche, project leader at Treo­

fan, says the new custom­made line

will help the company aggressively

pursue its goals of innovation, quality

and efficiency. “It will allow us to manu­

facture an extremely wide spectrum of

film thicknesses and densities of 5­layer

packaging and label films, in combina­

tion with highly developed functional

skin layers. The line also makes it pos­

sible to structure films with exact pre­

cision.”

So are highly customized lines the way

forward for film manufacturers? Accor­

ding to both Treofan and the supplier of

the production line, Andritz, it depends

on what market one is going after.

“There will always be a large portion of

producers who are looking for standard

lines, which are highly efficient with

low energy consumption and low labor

costs to produce standard products at a

very low cost”, says Dieter Flasche. “Our

approach is a little different, we produ­

ce film grades which are customized for

special applications. A large part of the

reason for locating the line in Neunkir­

chen is our innovation center which

is able to come up with new products

with which to load our lines.”

A heterogenic, competitive market

The manufacturer of the production

line concurs. “The market for BOPP

films is quite heterogenic”, says project

lead Andreas Lukas of Andritz. “Ma­

chine producers have different types of

customers with different expectations

regarding new machines. Some are

mainly focused on low price machines

for producing commodity films dedi­

cated to more or less basic packaging

issues. Their target is to remain compe­

titive in a vast low price environment

and they are thus focused on extremely

low production costs.”

“Other customers, however, are steadily

developing their film portfolio towards

high­grade films for specialized appli­

cations with higher margins and want

flexible facilities to produce a wide

range of different film types. With the

new line concept we can provide cus­

tomers with an extremely wide pro­

duct portfolio for high­quality films at

competitive costs – so both aspects can

be covered at the same time,” Andreas

Lukas explains.

Maik Krüger, Head of Product Ma­

nagement at Kampf Schneid­ und

Wickeltec hnik GmbH & Co. KG, the

supplier of the film slitting machine,

agrees and emphasizes the need for a

seamless production line that is easy

to operate and flexible, and minimizes

down time.

“Today’s markets are highly competi­

tive. It is imperative to respond with

greater flexibility to customer demands

and even develop customized products

that clearly stand out from the crowd.

In order to do this you have to optimize

every step in the production process.”

Flexibility is key

When asked for the central benefit

to customers from the opportunities

afforded by this new production line,

Dieter Flasche responds without hesi­

tation: “It all comes down to flexibility.”

The concept developed with Andritz,

Flasche says, is a holistic, end­to­end

approach from raw material supply

right through to joint development of

new products with the customer.

“They can expect innovative new pro­

ducts, with a fast turnaround time and

quick delivery thanks to our central

location at the heart of Europe. Not

only are our products cost competitive

themselves, but the highly efficient and

speedy delivery means customers can

also start to save on storage and inven­

tory costs.”

The new line has also been structured

so that it can easily be extended and

enhanced in the future should the need

arise, so one could say that flexibility is

in­built.

There is still a lot of work to be done

until the new line starts operation but

there are already high expectations of

what it will deliver Treofan and its cus­

tomers. Watch this space for an update

once the line starts rolling.

12 PERSPECTIVES

Supercharged World? Batteries Required

ket today, by 2016 that share should

drop to 52% with the rest of the mar­

ket shifting to two sectors: automotive

and industrial, meaning grid­connec­

ted electricity storage. The Fraunhofer

Institute for Systems and Innovation

Research even believes that up to 70

percent of lithium­ion batteries will be

used in electric mobility applications in

the next 10 years

Christophe Pillot of consulting firm

Avicenne agrees: “We estimate the

threshold of one million full electric

vehicles to be reached by 2020 – a mar­

ket for batteries matching the size of

the complete market today.”

Electric mobility on the rise

Lithium­ion batteries already power

many of the electric and hybrid­elec­

tric cars on the road today, whether

in Norway, Japan or France. In ma­

ture economies, especially those sup­

ported by a strong automotive sector,

invest ments in electronic mobility are

propelled both by a desire to maintain

Lithium­ion batteries power just about

every smart phone, laptop and electric

car made today. The ubiquity of bat­

teries in modern life is disrupting the

ecosystems of the automotive, consu­

mer electronics and power generation

industries, among others. Google, the

world’s most popular search engine,

has ‘entered’ the car market, as has

tech nology giant Apple. Patent applica­

tions suggest that the Samsung Group,

eponymous with smart phones and

memory chips, is showing increasing

interest in the e­car market too.

The growing demand for smart phones,

laptops and other consumer devices has

led to demand for lithium­ion batteries

increasing exponentially over the past

few years. Their use in the burgeoning

e­car market makes that trend even

more pronounced. According to Frost

& Sullivan, a research firm, global sales

should jump six­fold to $12.8 billion in

2019, up from $2.13 billion in 2012.

While consumer applications account

for 64% of the lithium­ion battery mar­

technological leadership, but also to

meet the EU’s increasingly stringent

emissions restrictions.

In many other places in the world,

however, making e­cars the standard

13PERSPECTIVES

has a different sort of urgency. With

air pollution reaching dangerously high

levels in the big cities of many fast­

growing countries such as China and

India, e­cars have become a national

priority to reduce CO2 emissions and

make air breathable again. The Chinese

central government revealed a target in

2012 to place five million new electric

vehicles and hybrids on the road by

2020.

This may, for example, have spurred

Samsung SDI’s recent signing of a pre­

liminary agreement to build an electric

car battery factory in China by next

year. But in India too, the government

has ambitious plans. Under India’s

National Electric Mobility Mission

Plan, the government has set a target

of around 5 to 7 million full electric

Christophe Pillot: “As we see it, makers

of small batteries will remain in Asia.

But you have to understand that a bat­

tery always consists of a cell, and the

pack. So when it comes to larger batte­

ries for cars or industrial applications,

we expect that more and more battery

makers might produce the cells in Asia

while making the packs in proximity to

their customers.”

“For example, LG Chemicals have just

opened a plant in the US to supply Ge­

neral Motors, with exactly that model –

cells made in Asia, packs made on site.”

TP: Where, in the markets you descri­

bed, do you see a specific role for BOPP

separator film?

Christophe Pillot: “I think that BOPP

has good prospects whenever battery

lifetime or safety – or both ­ play a ma­

jor role. That is the case in electrical cars

or e­bikes, all the way to very large bat­

teries for energy storage systems, and

other industrial applications. It’s proba­

bly going to be less relevant in small de­

vices like smart phones or tablets, where

cheaper solutions are available.”

TP: Last question – what do you see as

the major challenges for TreoPore?

Christophe Pillot: “The primary cha­

llenge in the battery industry, for any

type of new materials, is the long time

to market. You need to invest time and

money, and you have to be patient. If

you look, for example, at the supposedly

“new” cathodes that are getting on the

market today – they were invented in

the lab maybe ten or twelve years ago!”

“The second major challenge – again not

only for TreoPore, but for any supplied

material – is the need for absolute con­

sistency. You have to deliver exactly to

specification all the time, every time;

there’s no room for deviation.”

TP: What sectors and industries are

the major growth drivers for the Li­ion

battery market, and consequently for

makers of separators?

Christophe Pillot: “There are three ma­

jor sectors: portable electronics, auto­

motive, and large­scale industrial appli­

cations.”

“We believe that the mobile device

market will have modest growth of

around 10% over the next years – but of

course starting from a very large base,

so absolute numbers will be significant.”

“The most dynamic growth is expec­

ted in electromobility. We estimate the

threshold of one million full electric

vehicles will be reached by 2020. Since

those batteries are much larger, one mi­

llion vehicles will reflect a market size

for separators that equals the complete,

existing Li­ion battery market today.“

“Lastly, we increasingly see replace­

ment of lead­acid batteries by Li­ion

batteries in industrial applications like

e.g. telecoms networks, and many other

areas.”

TP: Sounds like exciting perspectives.

Are there any risks that growth may

not actually come?

Christophe Pillot: “Not really. As for

mobile devices, price pressure will of

course increase – but the market will

continue to grow. Same for electric ve­

hicles. Who knows if, in the very long

term, Li­ion batteries will be replaced

by some other technology – but that is

nothing we could foresee today.”

TP: Most battery makers are based in

Asia, providing a bit of a hurdle to Eu­

rope­based suppliers such as Treofan.

Do you see other regions catching up

over time?

CONSISTENCY IS KEY Interview with battery market

expert Christophe Pillot

Christophe Pillot is Associate

Consultant at Avicenne, a French-

based consulting firm specializing

in high growth technology mar-

kets. His personal focus is on the

battery market.

14 PERSPECTIVES

vehicles and hybrids by 2020 in India.

To achieve this goal, it has introduced

various tax exemptions for lithium­ion

batteries used in e­cars.

The power of a thin film

Yet batteries are often viewed as the

Achilles’ heel of electric vehicles. Cost,

range and recharging issues deter

buyers. Battery makers are clambe­

ring over themselves to address these

concerns and vast improvements, es­

pecially to range, have been accom­

plishe d. Increasing the power and life

of lithium­ion batteries is indispensible.

Most batteries have four essential

components: an anode, a cathode, a

separator, and a medium called an

electrolyte that allows positively char­

ged ions to move between the electro­

des. The electrolyte balances the flow

of negatively charged electrons that

form the battery’s useful current. In a

lithium­ion battery the separator forms

a barrier between the anode and the

cathode while enabling the exchange of

lithium ions from one side of the bat­

tery to the other.

That thin sheet of film can significantly

increase the power and life of lithium­

ion batteries and make them much sa­

fer too. TreoPore for example, an inno­

vative BOPP separator film developed

by Treofan, combines a high, uniform

porosity with good mechanical stabili­

ty over a wide temperature range. And

that’s important because new sepa­

rators are needed to create the sort of

batteries that could push e­cars into the

mainstream.

Where’s the juice coming from?

Today, lithium­ion batteries are not

just powering mobile devices and plug­

in cars, they are also part of grid­scale

stationary power applications. Storing

renewable energy is a crucial part

of the world’s future energy plans.

While lithium­ion batteries have a role

to play in this context, a complemen­

tary technology could revolutionize

energy storage: double layer capacitors

or “supercaps” as they are sometimes

known.

In contrast to lithium­ion batteries,

supercaps charge and discharge large

amounts of energy very quickly. While

they store much less energy than a bat­

tery, they do not lose their storage ca­

pacity over time nor do they overheat.

That makes their use in wind turbines,

15PERSPECTIVES

especially offshore ones, particularly

relevant. Normal batteries in this envi­

ronment are expensive to maintain as

the chemicals lose potency over time

and have to be replaced as the capaci­

ty fades after many charge/discharge

cycles. That is not so easy, or cheap,

when a wind farm is miles away from

the shore.

The electric grid requires the constant

balance of load and generation. Match­

ing supply and demand in real time has

become more difficult with increased

use of intermittent resources. Advan­

cements to supercap technology, like

those enabled by separators from the

Treofan Group, significantly increase

the service life of these energy storage

devices, and bring us one step clo­

ser to widespread renewable

energy use.

“Supercaps will be im­

portant components

in the electric vehi­

cles and energy so­

lutions of tomorrow,”

says Peter Vanacker,

CEO of the Treofan

Group.

“Our films contribute to making those

solutions sustainable and safe.”

Image: Treofan

In lithium ion batteries, TreoPore separator �lm boosts both power and service life

Principle: In an electrolyte solution, lithium ions migrate between the positive and negative electrodes, which are divided by a separator.

Permeable:TreoPore �lm is extremely porous, and its pores form a regular pattern.

Separator �lm

Separator �lm

Cathode

DischargingAnode

Lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries supply power to devices that consume a lot of energy – like electric vehicles.

The lower the separator’s resistance during charging and discharging, the higherthe battery’s power.

Strong:The �lm provides excellent chemical and mechanical stability.

Variable:The manufacturing process makes it possible to “adjust” porosity to individual requirements.

Safe:At a temperature of 135 °C (275 °F) the pores close, interrupting the ion exchange.

Less resistance, more power:For example, TreoPore can extend the range of an electric car by up to 10 percent.

Film for increased mobility

1234

10 %

°C

Charging

Treofan Group

Treofan Germany GmbH & Co KGAm Prime Parc 1765479 RaunheimGermany

Phone.: +49 (0)6142 200 ­ 32 18Fax: +49 (0)6142 200 ­ 32 99 E-mail: info@treofan.com

Managing Directors: Peter Vanacker, Dr. Walter Bickel, Dr. Hady Seyeda

www.treofan.com

TREOFAN