Journal of Austrian Chemistry

Journal for the Chemical Industry in Austria

Archives for February 2019

“Energy & Chemistry” at the 3rd European Chemistry Partnering

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On 26 February 2019 the 3rd European Chemistry Partnering will take place in Frankfurt. Under the heading “Energy and Chemistry”, four Start-ups from the field of energy will present themselves in Pitches. The presentations will take place in cooperation with the theme sponsor InnoEnergy – the innovation engine for sustainable energy innovation.

The stable and inexpensive supply of energy has today become one of society’s central issues in industrialized, emerging and developing countries. It concerns the generation, storage and transport of energy in equal measure. Chemical innovations in particular are critical for the development of efficient and productive processes. Therefore, in order to encourage interdisciplinary exchange and to bring energy Start-ups together with industry representatives at the 3rd ECP, the topic “Energy & Chemistry” was initiated.

Within this framework, four Start-ups supported by InnoEnergy will present themselves:

  • Gensoric GmbH, Germany, uses innovative and patented electrode technology developed in-house to manufacture installations that produce methanol from air, water and energy.
  • GraphMaTec AB, Sweden, produces novel graphene nanocomposite materials (Aros Graphene®) using a self-developed and patented technology. Aros Graphene can be used in various industrial areas and applications.
  • Mebius d.o.o., Slovenia, offers highly innovative proton exchange membranes, gas diffusion electrodes and membrane electrode assemblies (MEA). These enable the efficiency of hydrogen fuel cells to be significantly increased.
  • Volterion GmbH, Germany, manufactures new types of stacks for water-vanadium based redox flow batteries and redox flow battery systems for industrial applications which require many charging and discharging cycles at high power levels.

Fabian Sacharowitz, Business Creation Officer responsible for Start-up investment at InnoEnergy, says: “The chemical industry is very much in our focus because it is both a major consumer of energy as well as a potential provider of solutions for energy system transformation, for example in the area of synthetic fuels or gas storage. InnoEnergy is therefore keen to further develop its strong network of over 400 partners from all over Europe in the chemical sector. The ECP offers a very attractive marketplace for this purpose.”

Holger Bengs, initiator of the European Chemistry Partnering, says: “I am very pleased that with our strong partner InnoEnergy we are able to address the interdisciplinary topic ‘Energy and Chemistry’ for the first time at the European Chemistry Partnering. We will only be able to secure our long term industrial production and thus our prosperity, and in particular our heating supply and mobility, in an innovative way. I am therefore very pleased that Start-up companies are setting completely new impulses with their ideas.”

Clariant: Bulk Pharmaceuticals Focus at Pharmapack 2019

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Clariant and its Healthcare Packaging business line are exhibiting at Pharmapack 2019 and featuring products that protect the quality and appearance of bulk pharmaceuticals (powders, tablets, capsules, etc.), as well as active ingredients (API) during processing and shipment.

Clariant experts will be on hand to introduce visitors to three distinct solutions that protect against damage caused by high and low humidity levels, and oxidation. All three are produced in new ISO 15378 GMP certified facilities in Belen, New Mexico, USA, Romorantin, France, and Donguan, China.

“It is common practice to include desiccants and other controlled atmosphere products in end-market packaging,” explains Dr. Elisa Le Floch, Business Development & Marketing Manager, Clariant Healthcare Packaging, “but it is just as important to control moisture and oxygen in bulk packaging, to extend shelf-life and prevent degradation and future processing or assembly problems.”

The simplest solutions use desiccant. Sorb-It PHARMA bags, are filled with silica-gel desiccant, while Tri-Sorb® PHARMA bags employ a molecular sieve. Placed inside packages of bulk or finished drugs or work-in-process APIs, these bags adsorb any moisture in the product, or the air surrounding it, to provide a low-humidity environment. Without such protection, moisture can cause a loss of drug potency, caking and clumping that affects material flow, among other problems. The desiccant bags comply with U.S. Pharmaceopeia USP<670> testing requirements for Auxiliary Packaging Components. They are available in a range of standard and custom sizes to suit specific application requirements.

For certain pharmaceutical products, a simple desiccant may not provide the protection required. For these applications, moisture must be controlled to certain specific levels. Powders, for instance, can cake or clump when exposed to too much moisture, while too little can cause undesirable static electricity. Oral forms, such as tablets or gelatin capsules, need a certain amout of moisture to maintain plasticity and prevent brittleness. Even plastic parts used in medical devices, when stored in bulk packaging, can pick up electrostatic charges if the environment is too dry.

For these types of bulk applications, Clariant recommends EQius bags. EQius products are made using specially engineered sorbents that can act as humectants (desorbers) and desiccants (adsorbers) simultaneously, maintaining a particular equilibrium relative humidity (ERH) inside product packaging. This line of standard equilibrium-stabilizer products can maintain specific ERH levels between 10 and 60% to help bulk ingredients in boxes or bags maintain their physical integrity.

“In other bulk applications, pharmaceuticals need to be protected not only against moisture but also against the harmful effects of oxidation. Oxygen can cause several kinds of degradation, a change in color or smell, a change in pH or other molecular properties, or physical changes. In these cases, PharmaKeep Oxygen Absorbing Desiccant Bags (branded & produced by Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company and distributed by Clariant Healthcare Packaging) is the recommended solution. PharmaKeep can adsorb both oxygen and moisture to prevent both oxidation and hydrolysis. This makes it an ideal alternative to conventional oxygen absorbers, which may actually require moisture for effective oxygen absorption, or complex and expensive processes such as nitrogen protection, vacuum or negative-temperature regulation. In addition, PharmaKeep oxygen absorber bags may be a good solution for large pharmacies that handle bulk quantities of tablets and use automatic dispensing machine,” Stephane Rault, Product Manager at Clariant, explains.

The show takes place in Paris 6 & 7 February 2019 and Clariant is exhibiting on Stand D20.

About CLARIANT

Clariant Healthcare Packaging offers full line of controlled-atmosphere packaging solutions including pharmaceutical desiccants, equilibrium sorbents, adsorbent polymers, oxygen scavengers and pharmaceutical closures and containers. Using both active and passive packaging technologies, Clariant offers an array of standard components and complete systems, as well as full innovation and development capabilities. By understanding customer needs and expectations, Clariant is able to offer comprehensive and viable solutions that increase efficiency, reduce costs and improve the environmental compatibility of products.

Improving sustainability in commercial laundry

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Syrris provides award-winning chemistry products to a range of research and development chemists and engineers, including Xeros Technology Group, a company specializing in novel and sustainable polymer solutions to advance the commercial laundry industry. Robert Bird, R&D Project Manager at Xeros, explained:

Robert Bird, R&D Project Manager at Xeros | Credit: Xeros

“One of our missions at Xeros is to improve the sustainability of industrial laundry washing by providing technologies that dramatically reduce water consumption. I work within the polymer development team, where we have produced novel XOrb beads. These spheroidal balls can be added to a wash load to create a gentle mechanical action, helping to remove dirt and stains using less detergent and at lower temperatures, which saves water and reduces cost.”

“We have been using Syrris’ Orb Pilot – a modular jacketed reactor – to aid development of our XOrb beads since early 2018, and it has increased our production capabilities immensely. This system allows us to produce XOrb beads in the volumes required for use in large industrial washing machines, rather than having to manufacture many smaller batches to yield the necessary quantities, as we did previously. In the space of a week, we can now produce more XOrb beads than we could have done in two years without the Orb Pilot system! Syrris also helped with the design of a customized stirrer, as well as adaptations to the gearbox and motor of the Orb Pilot, which gave us confidence that the setup would be suitable for our requirements. We are extremely happy with our current setup from Syrris and the improved scalability it offers for our XOrb bead production.”

OPTIMA at Tissue World Milan 2019

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Optima Nonwovens offers cutting-edge technologies for packaging paper hygiene products. The OPTIMA OSR, which is just one of the machines that visitors can find out more about in Milan, is specifically designed to process kitchen and toilet rolls. The machine can be used to produce single-layer and multi-layer packaging. The OPTIMA OSR covers the entire spectrum, from small to large pack sizes (min. 100 mm x 150 mm x 95 mm up to max. 650 mm x 650 mm x 300 mm). The product is packed in prefabricated plastic bags, including those with user-friendly carrying handles and perforations for easier opening. The performance of the two-lane version can reach up to 150 packs a minute.

At Tissue World, Optima Nonwovens will also be presenting leading packaging solutions for other paper hygiene products such as paper towels, napkins, wet wipes, and cotton pads. Thanks to their modular design, Optima machines can be easily adapted to meet specific customer requirements. They are also characterized by their format flexibility and quick and easy format changes.

In order to achieve fully automated lines, control stations and secondary packaging machines can be integrated into the systems. The issue of “sustainability” is also one of the focal points of the fair – Optima is particularly interested in what paper hygiene product manufacturers want in this regard. Feedback from visitors will be collected at the Optima booth.

Visit Optima at Tissue World Milan (Italy):
March 25 to 27, 2019, Hall 3, booth no. E10 

Evonik: Polyamide 12 complex fully on schedule

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Evonik has completed the conceptual and basic engineering phase for building its new polyamide 12 (PA12) production complex on schedule by the end of the past year and has now entered the project implementation phase. The facility complex is scheduled to become operational in the first six months of 2021.

The some €400 million project, Evonik’s largest investment in Germany so far, is expected to increase the Group’s overall capacity for PA12 by more than 50 percent. Additional facilities for producing the polymer and its precursors will be constructed at the Marl Chemical Park in North Rhine-Westphalia and will supplement the existing PA12 production plant.

“This project is a special challenge,” explains Dr. Ralf Düssel, the Head of the High Performance Polymers Business Line at Evonik, which, among other products, manufactures VESTAMID and VESTOSINT, the Group’s PA12 granules and powders. “In Evonik’s engineering unit, some 80 engineers are working on the project. We have also contracted a well-known, globally active technical service provider for the detail engineering of individual sub-projects. The construction project is located in the direct vicinity of ongoing production, with special safety standards, and we have to keep areas for construction containers, material storage, and pre-assembly open in addition to the actual construction sites. The Marl Chemical Park offers us optimal conditions for this extraordinary feat. Once we start up the new facility, the existing structures that have been in place for over 50 years will be used for product distribution.”

Polyamide 12 is in demand in attractive growth markets such as the automotive industry, oil and gas pipelines, and 3D printing. “This investment supports Evonik’s consistent concentration on specialty chemicals. As a high-performance polymer for special applications, polyamide 12 is an important aspect of the Smart Materials Growth Engine,” adds Dr. Claus Rettig, the Head of the Resource Efficiency Segment.

“What’s more, products made from PA12 are usually energy-efficient: They are durable and require less maintenance than steel components, for example in gas pipelines, and contribute to lightweight construction, e.g. in automotive design.”