Toyo-Morton, a manufacturer of laminating adhesives and a member company of Toyo Ink Group, has developed Ecoad EA-B3860/EA-B1290, high-solids solvent-based adhesives 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 so help reduce overall carbon dioxide 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, according to the ompany, for greater operational efficiencies and a cleaner work environment. Moreover, the new Ecoad systems have been formulated with bio-based or renewable content of 10% by weight at the dried adhesive layer. Further, Ecoad the EA-B3860 and EA-B1290 systems have been certified with the ‘Biomass Mar’ by the Japan Organics Recycling Association, which evaluates and certifies products using biomass resources.
Toyo-Morten noted that in recent years, packaging converters in the food, pharma, cosmetics and other consumer and industrial markets, have been 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, has been able to eliminate these trade-offs 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 environmentally friendly. 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.’
