bioplasticsMAGAZINE_1205

News
Environmental
Communications
Workshop
False or misleading communication
of environmental product properties is a
widespread problem in the marketplace.
An almost fully
biobased tailgate
The German Fourmotors racing team, famous for its biodiesel
driven Bioconcept Car (see for example bM 01/2007, 01/2010 and
01/2012), and now closely cooperating with IfBB (Institute for
Bioplastics and Biocomposites, Hanover University, Germany) have
proudly announced the next step in their joint development. In
early September, the first biobased vehicle tailgate was presented
to representatives of the press on the German racetrack - the
Hockenheim-Ring. The project is co-funded by FNR (the agency for
renewable resources, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of
Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV))
The tailgate, which was already made from natural fibre reinforced
petroleum-based resins, is now being produced from linen (flax
fibres) and an epoxy resin made from renewable resources. “The
amount of biobased components in the resin is currently at 45%, i.e.
together with the natural fibers 75% in the composite, and we are
constantly researching ways to increase this ratio with regard to the
material performance,” says Professor Hans-Josef Endres of IfBB.
For example the flax fibres are woven in a special twill-weave that
allows the textile to be draped into the desired 3D-shapes. Currently
still hand-laminated, as there are only a few parts needed for the
racing car, IfBB is certainly also evaluating series production methods
such as RTM and injection moulding of thermoplastic natural fiber
reinforced biocomposites for the mass production of such parts.
Motorsports have always been a playground and cutting-edge for
innovative developments that finally found their way into automotive
series production. The testing conditions for automotive components
are definitely much tougher than normal traffic conditions. “Ten
rounds on the famous ’Nordschleife‘ at the Nürburgring can be
compared to about 10,000 kilometres in everyday traffic,“ says Tom
von Löwis, head of Fourmotors.
In line with its initiative for good
environmental communication (see p. 43),
European Bioplastics; the association for the
European bioplastics industry; announce its 1 st
Workshop on Environmental Communication
for bioplastics.
The workshop will take place on 5 th
November 2012 at the Maritim proArte Hotel
in Berlin, Germany (one day prior to the
annual European Bioplastics Conference).
Who should attend and what to
expect
Generally the workshop is open to everybody
interested in the topic of environmental
communication for bioplastics. However, the
primary target group of this workshop are
communications and marketing experts,
brand managers and product designers of or
interested in the bioplastics industry.
The half-day workshop, 9.30 am
(registration from 9:00) to 2 pm, will cover
a number of examples after an introduction
regarding environmental communication
rules in general and specific for bioplastics
benchmark. In the second phase of the
workshop, the participants will focus in
smaller groups on assigned environmental
communication cases. The workshop will end
with the presentation and discussion of the
developed solutions.
40 places are available, more details and
registration via the website
www.european-bioplastics.org/ecg.
Thus the biobased tailgate is just one of a multitude of automotive
plastic applications that can be converted into biobased versions.
The team around IfBB and Fourmotors will continue their work.
bioplastics MAGAZINE will report on the project in more detail in issue
01/2013. MT
www.fourmotors.com
www.ifbb-hannover.de
bioplastics MAGAZINE [05/12] Vol. 7 9