Nova Chemicals
Nova Chemicals, based in Calgary, Alberta, has launched the newest version of its Bonfire Film Development Platform for modeling and simulating multilayer films. According to the company, increasing the amount of recyclable packaging available created more high-quality feedstock for recyclers, and the platform is designed to speed the development of recyclable flexible packaging by helping designers and engineers shortlist formulations and reduce the number of physical trials.
In addition to recyclable packaging, the Bonfire Film Development Platform tool helps with sustainability goals through downgauging, transition from multimaterial laminates to recyclable polyethylene (PE) structures and closing the loop with postconsumer resin (PCR) incorporation, the company says.
The latest version of the platform features several new modules including:
- laminations structure builder
- sealant dashboard
- molecular architecture dashboard
- addition of PCR resins
“The Bonfire Platform has grown to become a robust online tool that many of our customers rely on when they’re developing new film structures,” says Dan Ward, technical service specialist at Nova and the Bonfire platform architect. “Adding the laminations module helps our customers simplify the complex process of designing films for recyclable packaging that brands, retailers and consumers are demanding.”
The tool also adds Nova’s portfolio of PCR to its resin database, which the company says enables users to predict the performance of structures that include recycled content. According to a Nova consumer survey this year, a growing number of consumers cited recyclability as the most important feature of packaging.
“To fully close the loop on the plastics circular economy, structures must be recyclable and include recycled content,” says Greg DeKunder, vice president of marketing and circular economy at Nova. “With the addition of PCR grades, our proprietary Bonfire platform now allows our customers and value chain collaborators to design truly circular structures that meet their applications’ sustainability and performance requirements.”
The Bonfire platform was launched in 2014 as a single module—the multilayer property predictor, which has grown to include nearly a dozen predictors, calculators and resin information modules.