The theme of the Open House “Sustainable Technologies & Biodegradable Materials” raised a great deal of interest, as demonstrated by the attendance to the event which recorded 170 visitors from 21 countries world-wide over the 3 days of demonstrations carried out on a RS 4003MP HS gravure press and a CL 850 laminator.

The use of biodegradable materials in the flexible packaging industry is indeed a topical subject. Although their use in the industry is still limited, the need to move in the direction of more eco-friendly packaging is strongly acknowledged by both the consumers and the industry and new developments are fast paced.

Producers of films, inks, adhesives and resins are actively involved in research on new materials from renewable sources that are compostable, hence whose disposal can limit their environmental impact. However, the physical properties of raw materials derived from various vegetable resources are different from those of conventional films. This has a bearing on their machinability, which is of primary importance to a converter’s operations.

This has prompted Rotomec to test and show the capability of its printing and laminating machines to print and convert profitably such new materials, whilst also continuing to improve the efficiency of the equipment in terms of more eco-friendly sustainable operation.

The latter is achieved for instance by Rotomec by optimizing the use and recovery of electrical and thermal power, two main areas where efficient technical solutions enable a significant reduction in the level of consumption. This was made evident by the data displayed on screen for both the gravure press and the laminator which highlighted the reduced exhaust air volume keeping an excellent solvent concentration level, as well as reduced thermal and electrical power consumption.

The RS 4003MP HS gravure press in demonstration printed a typical job structure on a 20 micron biodegradable cellulose-based NatureFlexTM NK transparent film by Innovia with certified inks produced by Flint Group.

As minimum levels of waste are essential to ensure sustainable operations whilst at the same time making cost saving for profitability – and this is even more so when producing compostable packaging – the RS 4003MP HS showed off some of the developments that are very efficient in reducing the consumption of consumables: from the TAPS system to the printing trolley design and inking system solution to the high efficiency dryers.

After the operator completed the job preparation on the printing unit, the TAPS (Total-Automatic-Pre-register-Setting) sequence was started from the main console by a single push of a dedicated push-button. This was performed very quickly as it takes only 4 to 5 minutes to complete the pre-register procedure on all printing units, wasting less than 100m in each demonstration notwithstanding the presence of extended dryers.

The max production speed of the RS 4003MP HS is 500 m/min: the speed achieved during the demonstration was 300 m/min which, in view the special properties of the biodegradable substrate, makes for a very interesting result. The demonstration continued with an automatic splice at maximum press speed and was concluded with the screen display of the machine consumption data during the run.

To complement the demo as regards production flows efficiencies, Rotomec also demonstrated its Smart Shaft patented system which considerably simplifies and speeds up cylinder shafting operations.

The laminating demonstration of two Innovia NaturFlexTM compostable films – a lacquered transparent film and a lacquered metallized film – using Dow Adcotetm compostable solvent-based adhesive with Flexapurtm technology, was run on a CL 850 D duplex laminator equipped with Rotomec flexo coating system trolley.

The lamination with the biodegradable adhesive being a new application, Rotomec had carried out several tests prior to the Open House using different coating technologies in order to find the solution that better meets two main requirements: coating the lowest quantity of adhesive and obtaining the best optical results for the laminated structure.

Applying a lower quantity of adhesive also provides an important cost advantage in terms of reduced consumption. The efficiency of the drying system is very important: The CL 850 drying system provides for an optimized temperature distribution across the full web width, thus minimizing both residual solvent and risk of curling. The CL 850 achieved a speed of 300 m/min during the demonstration. This is below the machine speed of 450 m/min when handing conventional substrates, but a good result with organic substrates. The demonstration ended with an automatic splice on the rewinder.

Visitors to the Open House also attended the presentation of a SL 1000 solventless laminator, a high performance machine with production speed up to 600 m/min. The SL 1000 provides for a wide range of configurations and the machine on show, which will be installed in Germany, was in a configuration specially suited for producing high barrier laminates.

The latest Rotomec Open House provided a useful windows and hands-on experience on some of the challenges and solutions coming from these new on-going developments that the manufacturing and converting industries are facing on the way towards more eco-friendly materials, technologies, processes and products that will enable to satisfy consumers’ demands, whilst fulfilling their corporate goals towards both sustainability issues and industrial competitiveness.