Faster Processing, Improved Product Safety In Environmentally Advanced Technologies - All Coming From Rohm And Haas Adhesives
Philadelphia, PA - Specialty Materials Company Rohm and Haas, announced recently that the company will present advanced, solvent-free laminating adhesives at Drupa 2008. These adhesives products are said to enhance environmental benefits and productivity for food packaging.
Through water-based acrylic technology, Robond adhesives offer properties that are particularly important to Drupa's European converter attendees, who are challenged by increasing regulation and informed, highly aware consumers. Rohm and Haas's second-generation Robond technology answers their concerns with its environmentally advanced formulations, excellent food safety and faster processing during packaging. Rohm and Haas's water-based acrylic and solventless polyurethane laminating adhesives offer competitive advantages to a dynamic industry that is starting to replace solvent-based materials.
"For converters, our water-based adhesives improve worker safety and eliminate solvent emissions as well as the energy and equipment required to handle them during the lamination," states Pierangelo Brambilla, Rohm and Haas's European champion for water-based technology, who notes that water replaces the solvent usually needed in these bonding agents. "Additionally," says Brambilla, "these adhesives tackle solvent-retention concerns that can affect food quality and also eliminate primary aromatic amine (PAA) formation," a food contact concern related to aromatic solvent-based bonding options that has drawn intense legislative and public scrutiny.
Robond adhesives provide high shear strength that allows faster slitting to streamline the laminating process, thereby allowing converters to lower inventory and reduce delivery time to customers – key productivity advantages in the very competitive flexible packaging market, which is currently experiencing high customer cost pressures. More versatile, new second-generation products now offer enhanced capabilities that handle general and medium performance applications, as well as selected, higher-performance applications such as triplex structures containing aluminum foil used in the packaging of aggressive foodstuffs.
For Drupa 2008 attendees operating solvent-free polyurethane systems, the company's solventless Mor-Free ELM series will also be featured as another key environmentally advanced technology. "The amount of free isocyanate monomer in Mor-Free ELM products is below 0.1 percent, which drastically lowers the risk of PAA formation and therefore reduces the waiting time needed prior to shipment," explains Agnes Roger, Rohm and Haas's European commercial manager for Packaging and Converting, who adds that Mor-Free ELM bonding agents are well suited for general to medium performance food packaging applications.
The company recently signaled its firm commitment to this technology by investing two million Euros in its Mozzate, Italy facility to support its ELM series production. Building global leadership in environmentally advanced adhesive innovations is a core product emphasis of Rohm and Haas. The company has introduced a number of advances in this technology arena, most recently including the first solventless adhesive for foil retort packaging and the first "no barrier" solventless adhesive for fresh-cut packaging.
As the print and media industry's most anticipated trade show, Drupa 2008, in Düsseldorf from May 29 through June 11, promises a world stage for game-changing flexible packaging technologies. Rohm and Haas will be there to meet these expectations.
SOURCE: Rohm and Haas Company