JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #118 - January/February 2018 - 24

BUSINESS biocomposites
Tab. 1: Major producers and suppliers of wood and natural fibre-filled and
reinforced plastic granulates with their production quantities in Europe in 2017

Granulate producer
Amorim

Beologic

Tecnaro

Advanced Compounding

24

Country Polymers
PT

PP,
TPE/TPS

Fibres

Production 2017

Cork

20,000-50,000

BE/AT

ABS, PC,
PE, PHA,
Wood and
PHB, PLA,
natural
PMMA,
fibres and
PP, PS,
others
PVC, SAN,
TPE

DE

Lignin,
PE, PP, Wood and
PLA, PP,
natural
PBS,
fibres
PBAT

DE

PA, PE,
PP

Wide
range of
natural
fibres

Fibres
PP, biofrom
polymers sunflower
shells
Wood and
PP, Bionatural
polymers fibres and
others

10,000-20,000

Mondi Paper

AT

PP

Cellulose
fibres

< 500

PolyOne

USA/EU

PP

MDF wood
fibre

< 500

< 500

Transmare

NL

Wood,
bamboo
PP, PLA
and natural
fibres

Rhenoflex

DE

PE, PLA,
PP, TPU

Total

EU

5,000-10,000

1,000-5,000

1,000-5,000

Golden Compound

DE

Jelu Werke

DE

Pinuform

DE

PE

Wood

1,000-5,000

Plasticwood

IT

PP

Wood

1,000-5,000

Biowert

DE

PE, PP,
PLA

Grass
fibres,
flax

500-1,000

Hexpol

SE

TPE

Cork

500-1,000

UPM

FI

PP

Cellulose
fibres

500-1,000

Werzalit

DE

PP

Wood

500-1,000

< 500

1,000-5,000

Addiplast

FR

PP

Wood and
natural
fibres,
cellulose
fibres

Aqvacomp

FI

PP

Cellulose
fibres

< 500 NEW

500-1,000

FKuR

DE

Bio-PE,
bio-PET, Bamboo,
PHA, PLA, wood
PP

GreenGran

NL

PP, biopolymers

Natural
fibres

< 500

HempFlax

NL

PP, PLA

Natural
fibres

< 500 NEW

Linotech

DE

PP, PLA

Wood and
natural
fibres

< 500

Sappi

SA/DE

PP

Cellulose

< 500 NEW

Number of applications
and total production
continue to rise
Overall, it is clear that the
number of applications and
total production are increasing, but growth rates are lower
than expected and total volumes are only slowly moving
into larger dimensions.
The Nova-Institute's current
estimate is around 80,000
tonnes of natural fibre granulates produced in Europe in
2017, which would mean a
doubling increase compared
to 2012. However, it may
take a few more years before
quantities of several hundred
thousand tonnes are reached.
The following examples illustrate the ongoing growth of
the market as well as a large
number of new, attractive
applications.
IKEA (Sweden) has reintroduced the PS 2012 WPC chair,
but now with a significantly
improved WPC (wood-plastic
composite) granulate. The
company also offers other
products made of wood-plastic composites, including
picture frames and another
chair, ODGER, made of a
wood-plastic composite. The
special feature of this chair
is that no tools are required
to assemble it as the seat and
base are easily assembled by
a simple mechanism below
the seat. The chair's matrix
material is a recycled plastic
material.

jec composites magazine / N°118 January - February 2018

Corn cob,
wood, rice
husks, straw

500-1,000
80,000

There is also a new application
in the consumer electronics
sector, in a product group
where acoustic properties are
key to success. With LG Electronics using the Aqvacomp
cellulose-based granulate, for
the first time one of the market
leaders utilizes a biocomposite
material for the production of
speaker cabinets. The material
will also be used in the automotive industry in the future.
The cellulose-based granulates
from the South African company Sappi are also targeting
this market.
Advanced
Compounding
(Germany) produces naturally
antibacterial granulates made
of PLA and pine wood, which
are used for door handles
and toys. Other innovations
include the use of pine chips
in industrial bread baskets
and antibacterial packaging
for shampoo bottles. Mock
recently brought to the market
its new Mockmill 100 grain
mill with a casing made of
Tecnaro's PP-wood granulate.
Until now, Mock had not used
any plastics for its casings, but
only wood.
Finally, the Belgian compounder Beologic demonstrated the use of recycled
materials at Fakuma, in the
form of flower pots made of
recycled denim fibres and also
as wine coolers and crates for
harvesting grapes made of
grapevine granulates.
More information:
www.bio-based.eu
http://www.bio-based.eu
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #118 - January/February 2018
