Ticona Offers Detectable Plastics for The Food Industry
Consumer safety
Kelsterbach/Germany, Florence/Kentucky, September 21, 2009 - Three new plastic grades have been added to Ticona's product range. Hostaform® C 9021 MD, Vectra® E550i MD and GUR® 4150 MD for use in the food industry all have one thing in common: these "metal detectable" (MD) plastics can be specifically modified for recognition by conventional contamination inspection systems.
To protect consumers, food must be completely free of all types of contamination. Accordingly, the food industry places high demands on all materials that come in direct contact with food. In the food industry, in order to avoid delivering food that contains foreign particles, detectors are installed in operations that transport or prepare foodstuffs. These systems detect particles that may originate from the production environment, for example from mixers, stirrers, cutters, kneaders or conveyor systems. Upon detection, the relevant articles are rejected.
As a result of the cost-reduction potential and greater energy efficiency of molded plastic parts, their use is also becoming increasingly prevalent in the food industry. Therefore, food handling operations also need to detect and reject potential plastic residues with ever greater reliability using existing metal detector security systems. To this end, Ticona now offers three new, metal detectable grades of Hostaform POM, Vectra LCP and GUR UHMW-PE, which are specially tailored for this application area.
Benefits of metal detectable molded plastic parts in the food industry
Until recently, metal components were indispensable in many food industry applications. But new, metal detectable plastics from Ticona now make innovative plastic solutions possible, which enable the production of less expensive and lighter components. Downstream production operations can then realize additional cost savings through reduced energy consumption. And polymer components cause far lower noise emissions than their metal/stainless steel equivalents. Among other food-related applications, plastics from Ticona are used to make slide rails (GUR) and conveyor chains (POM) in conveyor belts as well as baking pans, baking sheets and soufflé dishes (LCP).
Broad range with different strengths
The highly diverse range of Ticona plastics covers applications from flash freezing right through to use at temperatures of up to 300°C. They are approved for use in contact with foodstuffs according to the regulations of the responsible American and European authorities, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). Moreover, all products exhibit good chemical resistance. Ultrahigh-molecular-weight GUR also features exceptionally high abrasion resistance and (notched) impact strength along with excellent heat resistance over a broad range of temperatures. Vectra liquid crystalline polymer, by contrast, provides outstanding tensile stress at break and very high elastic modulus, while Hostaform polyacetal copolymer offers excellent slip/friction properties, also in combination with metals.
With Ticona's metal-detectable plastics, processors can use standard foreign particle detection methods like electromagnetic induction to inspect food for plastic contamination.
About Ticona and Celanese
Ticona, the technical polymers business of the Celanese Corporation, produces and markets a broad range of engineering polymers and generated sales of $1.06 billion in fiscal year 2008. The company has approximately 2,000 employees worldwide and operates production, compounding and research facilities in the USA, Germany, Brazil and China. For further information please visit www.ticona.com.
Celanese Corporation (NYSE: CE) - As a global leader in the chemicals industry, Celanese Corporation makes products essential to everyday living. Our products, found in consumer and industrial applications, are manufactured in North America, Europe and Asia. Net sales totaled $6.8 billion in 2008, with about 65% generated outside of North America. Known for operational excellence and execution of its business strategies, Celanese delivers value to customers around the globe with innovations and best-in-class technologies. Based in Dallas, Texas, the company employs approximately 8,350 employees worldwide. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.celanese.com.
