Toyo-Morton, Japan’s leading manufacturer of laminating adhesives and a member of the Toyo Ink Group, has developed the ECOAD EA-B3860/EA-B1290, a high-solids solvent-based adhesive for use in the dry lamination of multilayered films in flexible packaging structures.
Containing over 40% coating solids by weight, the new formulations contain less solvent and thus brings down overall CO2 emissions during lamination by roughly 25% when compared to the company’s general-purpose laminating adhesives. The high-solids design also leads to less waste recovery and disposal for greater operational efficiencies and a cleaner work environment. Moreover, the new ECOAD systems were formulated with bio-based or renewable content of 10% by weight at the dried adhesive layer, making them a more eco-friendly alternative in packaging materials.
In recent years, packaging converters in the food, pharma, cosmetics and other consumer and industrial markets are readily adopting sustainable materials as they seek to stay in step with the continuous push for greener end-products by industry, regulatory bodies and consumers alike. To address this growing trend, Toyo-Morton engineers in Japan successfully raised the solids content of its laminating adhesive compositions to 40% in the coating process, while converting a portion of raw materials with those derived from natural sources.
Typically, increasing the solids content causes the viscosity of the coating adhesive to increase, which can impair coating performance and degrade various physical properties. Toyo-Morton, by applying its proprietary polymer design technology, was able to eliminate these tradeoffs and achieve both high solids content and a bio-based content, without compromising on performance.
Satoshi Maeda, general manager of Toyo-Morton’s technical department said, “The Toyo Ink Group is a pioneer in the development of bio-based inks, coatings and adhesives, in particular for the packaging sector. As such, we are well aware of the regulatory and social demands that converters face to provide packaging that is more sustainable and environmental friendly.”
Maeda added, “With the new ECOAD laminating adhesive systems, we were able to respond to our customers’ requirements for reduced use of hazardous chemicals at the raw materials sourcing stage and for improved processing efficiency, while actively applying renewable raw materials to the extent possible. At Toyo-Morton, we are committed to developing products that reduce the environmental footprint of customers and to lowering CO2 emissions of our products throughout their entire life cycle in accordance with ongoing life cycle assessment analysis.”
Ecoad EA-B3860/EA-B1290 systems have been certified with the Biomass Mark by the Japan Organics Recycling Association, which evaluates and certifies products using biomass resources.