Interviews
NatureWorks opens Ingeo bioresin applications lab
05 May '09
2 min read
NatureWorks invested $1 million and 18 months of staff time to transform its former pilot plant in Savage, Minn., into an Ingeo bioresin applications lab capable of commercial grade compounding, sheet extrusion, thermoforming, injection molding and fiber spinning.
“Some of the tasks of the new NatureWorks application lab include developing and testing compounds on commercial machines, moving Ingeo natural plastic into new product areas, demonstrating Ingeo processing characteristics to converters and working side by side with brand owners to test their product concepts,” said Marc Verbruggen, president and CEO. “The lab is designed to enable NatureWorks converters and brand owners to bring quality products made from renewable resources to market quickly and effectively.”
In addition to a sheet extrusion line, commercial size thermoformer, fiber spinning line and injection molder, the lab has the capability to melt compound Ingeo based formulations and blends at rates up to 300 pounds (136 kilograms) per hour for use in the lab or to ship to customers for their own application evaluations. The NatureWorks lab also performs physical testing, chemical composition and molecular weight determination and rheology and thermo analysis.
The NatureWorks application lab has formed cooperative research relationships with the University of Minnesota, Hennepin Technical College and Interpoll Laboratory. The lab has a small fulltime staff and offices for visiting customers and NatureWorks scientists, engineers and application sales personnel.
“Some of the tasks of the new NatureWorks application lab include developing and testing compounds on commercial machines, moving Ingeo natural plastic into new product areas, demonstrating Ingeo processing characteristics to converters and working side by side with brand owners to test their product concepts,” said Marc Verbruggen, president and CEO. “The lab is designed to enable NatureWorks converters and brand owners to bring quality products made from renewable resources to market quickly and effectively.”
In addition to a sheet extrusion line, commercial size thermoformer, fiber spinning line and injection molder, the lab has the capability to melt compound Ingeo based formulations and blends at rates up to 300 pounds (136 kilograms) per hour for use in the lab or to ship to customers for their own application evaluations. The NatureWorks lab also performs physical testing, chemical composition and molecular weight determination and rheology and thermo analysis.
The NatureWorks application lab has formed cooperative research relationships with the University of Minnesota, Hennepin Technical College and Interpoll Laboratory. The lab has a small fulltime staff and offices for visiting customers and NatureWorks scientists, engineers and application sales personnel.
NatureWorks
Popular News
Leave your Comments
Editor’s Pick
Esteemed Clients
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (TSllC Ltd)")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF)")
