BOPE Is Emerging

Processing challenges.

While BOPE's visibility has been enhanced by the sustainability commitment of brand owners and the better recyclability of single-material packaging, the reality is that the equipment in the supply chain is mainly around PP's traditional pull machine production line. Therefore, the development of process technologies suitable for HDPE is a major challenge. The technology requires a suitable orientation window so that the material can be processed on the existing pull machine.

Nova partnered with the Bruckner Group, a leading pullmachine manufacturer, to optimize HDPE resin technology for BOPE and accelerate the commercialization of HD-BOPE films. The focus in the technology optimization process is on extrusion of production and reliable production without breaking the membrane. Continued productivity gains are expected by combining new PE resin structures with equipment optimization, such as Brueckner's new BOPP/BOPE hybrid puller design.

In order to produce defect-free films, highly specialized resins are needed to provide tailor-made viscosity curves, very low gels and batch consistency for the pullmachine process, according to Nova experts.

Better than BOPET and BOPP.

The number and complexity of various applications using BOPP, BOPET, and/or BOPA (two-way stretch nylon) are considerable, and it is not practical to replace them completely with BOPE. However, from a performance and/or circular economy point of view, it is advantageous to choose BOPE in many packaging applications. The biggest advantage of BOPE over the substitute material is its higher recyclability. Some regions, including most of North America, lack recycling streams, making PP more difficult to recycle, and many structures and applications containing BOPP are multi-material. In contrast, HD-BOPE's single-material solutions offer significant advantages and facilitate the widespread adoption of recyclable packaging.

Many traditional flexible packaging uses a mixed material layer such as PET/PE for the desired performance, such as stiffness, heat resistance and sealing. Because of the wide density range of PE products, PE can meet a variety of performance requirements. Lower density materials, such as LLDPE, have excellent sealing properties, while higher density PE materials have stiffness and heat resistance. HD-BOPE makes the film harder, which helps to thin, gives the film a low tear ingress, making the packaging easy to open, and the optical properties of the packaging are enhanced to make it more rack-attractive than standard HDPE packaging. Today, Nova has multiple LLD-BOPE grades that work with processors to design HD-BOPE/LLD-BOPE laminated films with them.