Technological watch

Borealis and Borouge announce the expansion of the dedicated Borealis Bormed™ brand portfolio of polyethylene and polypropylene (PP) products. The introduction of the first controlled plastomers solution for the global healthcare market, Bormed™ PL8830-PH, took place at the recent CPhI in Madrid. As a controlled plastomers grade, Bormed PL8830-PH pushes the envelope when it comes to polyolefins performance characteristics for healthcare applications. 

The enlargement of the Bormed portfolio to include Bormed PL8830-PH means that Borealis now has one of the largest product offerings for the global healthcare market. It is currently the only raw material supplier to offer a material that can bridge the gap between thermoplastics and elastomers. Importantly, the Bormed Concept ensures that customers can rely on security of supply of raw materials, in both the short and long term, which are compliant with European, US Pharmacopeia, and ISO standards.

Enlarged Borealis Bormed portfolio pushes performance in healthcare applicationsBormed PL8830-PH is an ethylene-based, octene-1 plastomer. Because it is a reactor polymer, it boasts the very highest and most consistent quality. Overall, it exhibits excellent purity and cleanliness. As the company stresses, it offers enhanced compatibility with PP, easy processing, clarity, and flexibility on an elastomers level. Bormed PL8830-PH has been specifically developed to be used as a versatile blend partner along with other polyolefins in film, extrusion, and moulding applications. The advantages from manufacturer to end user are:

• High-performance: When blended with the other controlled resins of the Bormed portfolio, Bormed PL8830-PH offers tailored performance attributes to meet the most stringent and demanding healthcare application requirements.
• High pack integrity: Borealis Bormed PL8830-PH makes it possible to achieve very high packaging integrity, even at low temperatures; for example, this helps avoid damage to a pouch if accidently dropped, and ensures a tight seal to avoid contamination of contents.
• Simplified processes: Borealis Bormed PL8830-PH contains very low levels of antioxidants but no other additives, thus simplifying the effort required to evaluate potential interaction between the application or packaging material itself, and its contents
• Potential cost savings: Using Borealis Bormed PL8830-PH helps reduce manufacturing costs because it allows for the significant reduction in the number of non-polyolefin impact modifiers used to achieve performance properties like impact strength.
• Enhanced sustainability: Using Borealis Bormed PL8830-PH instead of non-polyolefinic blend components yields a mono-material solution which is more easily recyclable. This is an especially attractive proposition for the healthcare value chain in the EU and other regions where implementation of circular economy principles is becoming a priority.

The principle application of Bormed PL8830-PH is as a modifier in pharmaceutical film, for example for medical fluid bags. In pharmaceutical packaging it is especially suited for use in pouch systems because it allows for reduced use of non-polyolefin impact modifiers, as well as other compounds and elastomers. Possible applications include:

• Pharmaceutical primary packaging: IV bags, Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD), pouch systems, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) bags
• Pharmaceutical secondary packaging
• Film for medical device packaging
• Bioreactors