Issue 01/2016

Events
The world’s largest
conference on
biocomposites
By:
Asta Partanen and Michael Carus
nova-Institute
Hürth, Germany
From 16 – 17 December 2015, the world’s largest conference
on Wood-Plastic Composites (WPC) and Natural
Fibre Composites (NFC) with more than 220 participants
took place for the sixth time in Cologne, Germany. The
conference was sponsored by Beologic, Corbion-Purac and
Plasthill. Coperion sponsored the Wood and Natural Fibre
Composite Award 2015.
The range of topics that addressed the whole variety of
bio-composites was presented by top speakers from the
industry and research. Construction and automotive are the
biggest markets for WPC and NFC today, these materials
offer huge replacement potential in plastics and composites
if one looks at application fields beyond decking and
automotive interior applications. Biobased raw materials
lead to local added value through innovative production
processes and products, but require a great amount of
know-how for raw materials, processes, properties, recipes
and application fields. The conference provided an up-todate
picture of different technologies and most promising
applications.
Dr. Asta Partanen, project leader of the conference, gave
the outline of “Status and Future Markets for Biobased
Composites in Europe until 2020”. The presentation gave
insight into the new market and trend report, which was
published in June 2015: “Wood-Plastic Composites (WPC)
and Natural Fibre Composites (NFC): European and
Global Markets 2012 and Future Trends in Automotive and
Construction”. According to the study the share of WPC
and NFC in the total composite market – including glass,
carbon, wood and Natural Fibre Composites – is already
an impressive 15 %. The production volume of WPC was
260,000 t in the EU in 2012, for NFC 92,000 t. The full study
can be downloaded at http://bio-based.eu/markets/.
Ten years ago the WPC & NFC Conference started as
First German WPC-Conference. Good reason for Dr. Hans
Korte from Dr. Hans Korte Innovationberatung Holz &
Fasern, Wismar, to summarize what happened in the
technical development starting at the end of 1990s in the
field of WPC. The German WPC market is continuously
growing, as was reported by Dr. Peter Sauerwein from the
“Association of the German Wood-Based Panel Industry
(VHI)”. An analyses of commercially available European
decking samples was presented by Dr. Andreas Haider
from Wood K plus, Austria. Some products in the market
show an overall better performance compared to 2008 – in
particular regarding water absorbance and colour fading
but also the mechanical properties. Dr. Wayne Song, WPCC
(Wood-Plastic Composite Council of China) presented the
latest market news and trends, especially in interior walls
in the Chinese markets, that does not grow as much as
was predicted by Chinese representatives in previous
conferences.
As every year, the Wood and Natural Fibre Composite
Award was a highlight of the conference. The participants
chose by far the natural fibre-reinforced, 100 % biobased
coffin as their winner (Onora, s-Hertogenbosch, The
Netherlands.
Second highlight was the trend in WPC and NFC
granulates. So far, also mainly small producers and traders
were offering WPC and NFC granulates with a limited
technical support and often missing data for simulations.
But also this is changing since big global players are
offering their new developed materials, such as PolyOne
(see article on p. 12).
Developments in the use of biobased polymers in the
automotive industry were shown by a number of companies
(see detailed report on p. 16f).
Michael Carus, managing director of nova-Institute,
summed up: “It was impressive to see the dynamic in the
WPC and NFC sector: Improved bio-composite properties,
a broad range of professional players and the penetration
of new markets such as consumer goods. The participants
enjoyed the high quality of the presentations and exhibition
and meeting the who-is-who of the whole sector. Many
reported excellent business opportunities.”
The award winning coffin in the left corner of the picture.
See a more detailed report on this product in
bioplastics MAGAZINE issue 06/2015, p 36.
Information:
All presentations are now available at http://bio-based.eu/proceedings.
In order to keep track of the the growing trends in the market and high
demand the next conference will be held by nova-Institute in Cologne in
Autumn 2017.
8 bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/16] Vol. 11