Redacción Alabrent
Algro® Vitess, Algro Sol® and MOB Barrier grades are all being added to Sappi’s rapidly expanding, commercially available speciality portfolio supported by the recent €60m upgrade of Paper Machine 2 (PM2) which came online at Sappi’s Alfeld Mill in October 2013. “The production and capacity capabilities of PM2 are enabling us to review, expand and upgrade our portfolio in a highly responsive way,” comments Kerstin Dietze, Marketing Manager for Speciality Papers at Sappi Fine Paper Europe. “We are excited to be showing packaging converters, brand owners, designers and print finishers how Sappi’s speciality papers have been enhanced even further to better meet the demands of today’s packaging value chain.”High brightness and dimensional stability
Algro Vitess for flexible packaging is coated on one side and offers high whiteness, brightness and dimensional stability. Designed for both flexographic and gravure printing, it is available in weights of 50 g/m² to 120 g/m². Thanks to the newly installed head box on Alfeld Mill’s PM2, Algro Vitess offers high web stability and very low shrinkage. These properties aid further processing by converters for printing, lamination and extrusion and contribute to an optimised packaging process for branded goods manufacturers. Its more stable running characteristics during further processing and packaging allow faster processing speeds and higher quality results to be achieved. The reverse side of Algro Vitess was designed to offer very good anchoring properties for both adhesive and extrusion laminations. It is suitable for a wide range of packaging applications, including dry food products, confectionery, tea, coffee and pharmaceutical products.
Silicone base papers portfolio expanded
Sappi is targeting new markets with an expanded weight range in its Algro Sol portfolio. In addition to the well established Algro Sol DN grammages of 120 g/m² and 135 g/m² lower weights of 70 , 80 , 85 , 90 and 98 g/m² are launched. All weights offer a very positive price/performance ratio. The expanded Algro Sol DN grades are suited to office material, tape and industrial applications. One of the primary benefits of the grades are their dimensional stability and performance reliability enhanced by the new MG cylinder installed on PM2.
Sappi’s silicone base papers portfolio is also being further expanded with the addition of Algro Sol CN, offering lighter weight grades of 50 g/m² to 60 g/m². These papers are most suited for office applications.
Eliminating Contaminant Migration
The contaminant migration problem resulting from the use of recycled content in packaging materials is solved by Mineral Oil Barrier (MOB) coated papers. These include MOB Kraft and MOB Gravure developed by Sappi, BASF and Eurofins. In the past, contaminant migration issues for food have arisen as a result of cardboard packaging materials containing recycled fibres for which one of the primary raw materials is newspapers. Newspaper printing inks, as well as many commercial printing inks, contain mineral oil as solvents. Because the printing ink components are not completely removed during paper and cardboard recycling, mineral oil components can remain in the fibres. If these substrates are used for packaging of food or transport boxes of the food packages, the mineral oil components can migrate into the foodstuff contents, even when the contents are protected by an inner bag. Printing inks used for printing packaging materials can also be a source of mineral oil contamination.
With the new MOB papers there is no risk of food contamination. Brand owners will be able to use their current recycling fibre based folding boxes, shelf ready packs and transport boxes. The food inside will be protected by inner bags, pouches and sachets made from MOB papers.
MOB Kraft for inner bags combines Machine Glazed Bleached Kraft (MGBK) paper with the MOB barrier on the reverse side. It is available in 80 g/m² to 120 g/m². MOB Gravure has been designed for gravure printed primary packaging such as pouches, sachets, bags and wrappers, and is available in 95 g/m² to 140 g/m². This grade incorporates a blade coating on the top side for gravure printability with the MOB barrier on the reverse side to protect the packaged food.
Brilliant, Sustainable Substrates: A Sappi Hallmark
Also featured at the show will be Sappi’s award-winning bright white carton board Algro Design®; the premium white topliner Fusion® for lamination to carton and corrugated cardboard; and Algro® Nature, a certified home compostable flexible packaging substrate that is based on renewable raw materials, as is the case with all Sappi papers.
Dress to Impress
As an additional treat, Sappi will be presenting unique fashion made from speciality papers and board in the form of a magnificent paper gown. Weighing 15 kg, it was created by Belgian agency Equation and artist Isabelle de Borchgrave using 280 packages and 320 tea bags. Among the grades used were Algro Design 330 and 380 g/m², and Algro Design Duo 270 g/m² and 300 g/m² for the boxes, Fusion 180 g/m² for the sleeves and to fill out the dress, Leine® Kraft 120 g/m² as part of the bustier, Algro® Baress 110 g/m² for the shoes and cuffs and Algro® Teepack 80 g/m² to construct the tea bags used to finish the bustier. “The paper dress was the star of the show at Fachpack 2013, and we are delighted to bring it to interpack for the viewing pleasure of our stand visitors,” Marie-Ange Gérard, Marketing Communications Specialist Sappi Fine Paper Europe says.
“We are specialists in addressing challenging packaging and conversion requirements,” Kerstin Dietze adds, “and our newly expanded portfolio reflects this expertise. Our substrates print well, can withstand complex finishing processes and assure product protection, are regulatory compliance and are offering increased shelf appeal.”