PAPERmaking! FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF PAPER TECHNOLOGY Volume 6, Number 2, 2019
on technological solutions with packaging properties that enable the protection of commonly sold food products. The manufacturing processes associated with these cellulosic fiber-based materials is described and the environmental impact assessment of 4 selected case studies presented: stand-up pouches, flexible flow wraps, frozen or chilled food trays, and molded pulp lids. A simplified eco-design Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was then performed to compare each solution with its fossil-based counterpart. Differences and similarities between the various cellulosic solutions have been identified. Furthermore, the assessment confirms that cellulosic fiber-based materials have reduced environmental impacts as compared to fossil-based counterparts, if a similar packaging weight is obtained. Indeed, all impacts of plastics are between 3 and 5 kg CO2eq/kg, while all impacts of cellulosic fiber-based materials are below 1.5 kg CO2eq/kg. Improving agricultural waste pulps via self-blending concept with potential use in moulded pulp packaging, Phattharasaya Rattanawongkun, Noppadon Kerddonfag, Nattaya Tawichai, Uraiwan Intatha & Nattakan Soykeabkaew, Chemical Engineering , 8(5), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2020.104320. Agricultural wastes have been considered as an alternative sustainable resource for pulp production. In this work, banana stem (B), pineapple leaf (P) and rice straw (R) were used as raw materials for pulp extraction. The obtained pulps were moulded into sheets and their mechanical properties were evaluated. The sheets prepared from P and R pulps showed promising performance for moulded pulp packaging use. Having high cellulose content, slenderness ratio, and flexibility, these pulps were superior with a high degree of fibre bonds. Conversely, sheets prepared from B pulp had sub-standard properties. To improve the properties of B pulp, it was blended with either P or R pulp. Both tensile strength and Young’s modulu s of the blended B/P and B/R sheets were improved significantly, around 63 – 167 % and 55 – 117 %, respectively. SEM images revealed that the long and flexible P and R fibres were well- entangled with the B fibres, confirming a strong network of the blended pulp sheets. A positive deviation from the linear additivity of the blended sheet’s strength was also observed. Mixing 30 % of P or R pulp with B upgraded both blended sheets to the acceptable range, showing a tensile index of approximately 44 – 45 Nm/g. These results indicated that pulp blending was highly efficient for enhancing properties of sub-standard pulp. Furthermore, this could possibly enable the use of all agricultural wastes as alternative raw materials for pulp and paper industries. Mold design and fabrication for production of thermoformed paper-based packaging products, Prateek Saxena, Giuliano Bissacco, Kenneth Ælkær Meinert & Filip Jakub Bedka, Journal of Manufacturing Processes , 58, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmapro.2020.07.029 . Paper-based packaging products are a cheap and sustainable alternative to their plastic counterparts. The manufacturing process of paper molding is a relatively newer concept, and the tooling aspect remains somewhat unknown. The work done in this paper establishes a tool design approach for the molding of paper products. These products are also sometime referred to as the molded paper products (MPP). Functional requirements are identified and translated to process chains. The concept of non-deterministic and deterministic tooling is introduced. Tooling process chains based on micro-metal additive manufacturing are defined and implemented. The process chain is utilized to manufacture micro features of size 30 0 μm in a high aspect ratio. A comparative study on validation of tooling process chains is also discussed, and the suitability of rapid tooling over sintered tools is highlighted in this work.
Technical Abstracts
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