Pulpex x BASF x Scitech Adhesives - Coatings Collaboration - 2024 Innovation Through Partnership Prize winner

Pulpex x BASF x Scitech Adhesives - Coatings Collaboration

Winner: 2024 Innovation Through Partnership Prize

For the creation of a partnership that has delivered a new sustainable fibre packaging solution as an alternative to plastic and glass, which delivers brand equity, product functionality and end of life circularity.

Celebrate Pulpex x BASF x Scitech Adhesives - Coatings Collaboration

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Knowing the incredible global reach of the RSC as an organisation, it was a huge honour to be selected for this award. It is testament to the collective knowledge and experience of the partnership, which has, in turn, driven Pulpex's success in scaling up its operations more readily. The recognition will help to further unlock the science and scale deployment of this innovative packaging technology for the benefit of the environment.

The Pulpex partnership with BASF and Scitech Adhesives is a unique blend of distinct competencies and capabilities that enables and facilitates commercial success.

When Pulpex developed its renewable fibre bottle technology from sustainably sourced wood pulp, BASF stepped in to accelerate the options for coating chemistries to form an array of commercial products.

Cellulose fibres, when formed into a bottle shape, will not hold liquid, so a recyclable barrier chemistry solution was needed. It quickly became clear that different products required different barrier properties to protect them from the environment and prevent liquid from escaping from the bottle. SciTech Adhesive Systems, a known formulation leader, completed the partnership. The partnership has resulted in a fibre bottle that offers brand owners a sustainable, environmentally-friendly alternative to plastic and glass bottles.

The team

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Victoria Callaghan, Packaging Project Manager, BASF

Amelie Duraud, Senior Coating Chemist, Pulpex

Malcolm Harrison, Account Manager, BASF

Trevor Jones, R&D Director, Scitech

Stewart Selbie, Managing Director, Scitech

Scott Winston, CEO, Pulpex

Laura Yates, Chief Scientist, Pulpex

Q&A

What was your role within the team?

PULPEX was both the initial driving force as well as the focal point for the team end result with its role being to deliver its material science goal of being ‘the future of sustainable packaging’. It will - through partnership - make the UK a global leader in a new-to-world technology for fully recyclable and renewable feedstock-based paper bottles.

BASF helped Pulpex define the scope of the project and to identify chemistries which could fulfil the relevant needs of the product. We also partnered with a suitable formulator (Scitech) and worked together with other key stakeholders to coordinate and project manage the testing regimes and results.

SCITECH worked with BASF's functional polymers and additives to develop coatings for Pulpex’s pulp-moulded bottles. These coatings offer a dual function: protecting the pulp fibre of the bottle from the contents and shielding the contents from external factors like moisture or air. This barrier function is crucial for maintaining the integrity of both the packaging and the products it contains.

What were the biggest challenges in this project?

The team: There were many challenges in this project, but COVID was certainly one of the biggest! The first scoping meeting was held at the end of 2019; however, the whole team did not physically meet up again until 2021. The first two years of the project were, therefore, all conducted online.

But the project itself also presented a clear chemistry challenge: identifying barrier technology that was resistant to challenging liquids was a major technical hurdle, and the process of scaling up from flat sheet samples to coating a moulded bottle was equally difficult. Both the method and order of applying the coatings proved to be a critical step in obtaining the barrier performance required.

What is the importance of collaboration in the chemical sciences?

The team: Having complete transparency in a project like this is critical. Everyone has a part to play and as such, communication and collaboration are key. Only when there is full involvement of all participating companies can we be truly successful.

Furthermore, collaboration is essential to harnessing all the knowledge, expertise and resources which are rarely found in a single organisation. This collaborative approach fosters innovation, accelerates problem-solving and enhances the likelihood of achieving favourable outcomes.

What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in chemistry?

The team: The world revolves around science – it's our past, present and future!

Chemical sciences play a critical role in developing technologies and processes that address issues such as climate change, pollution, energy production and storage, food and water security, healthcare and materials development.

These technologies have evolved incredibly fast to give our society some of the most amazing inventions.
We now have an obligation to use our scientific know-how to protect our planet for future generations.

If you would like an immensely rewarding and fulfilling career where the world is truly your oyster, then please consider any science. There is so much to explore and you really can make an incredible difference.