A novel method for producing cost-effective barrier-coated flexible paper packaging solutions is presented by Heidelberg and Solenis.
Flexible paper packaging, or “paperization,” as an alternative to plastics, is becoming more and more significant in terms of a functional circular economy. The market for flexible paper packaging is expected to expand by 4.5% a year until the end of the decade. This tendency is supported by an expert survey carried out by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen (Heidelberg) and the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University Heilbronn (DHBW).
According to the study’s principal investigator, Professor Dr Carsten Kortum: “This is not a short-term trend, but a profound change driven by new legal requirements, increased environmental awareness in conjunction with changing consumer behaviour, and technological innovations.”
The big challenge is to find suitable materials that act as a barrier to water, water vapour, hot and cold liquids, oils, and fats, while also fulfilling the sustainability principle of a circular economy. Until now, however, paper packaging, which had to fulfil important barrier functions for food and beverages had reached its technical limits.
Heidelberg, together with Solenis, a leading manufacturer of barrier coatings, has now achieved a breakthrough. The results will be presented at Fachpack 2025 in Nuremberg.
The process developed jointly by Solenis and Heidelberg enables the industrial, partial and therefore cost-effective application of barrier coatings to paper packaging. As a system integrator, Heidelberg has integrated Solenis’ technology into the flexographic web printing process with the Boardmaster. During the ongoing process, the barriers are transferred to the paper web with precise registration only at the necessary points. The aim of the collaboration is to leverage the advantages of the individual Boardmaster assemblies for applying Solenis barrier coatings in order to make the process technology quickly and easily available to packaging producers.
“Economic innovations are crucial if we are to replace plastic packaging with recyclable or compostable paper packaging. By collaborating with Solenis to develop coatings and inks and produce coated paper packaging inline, Heidelberg is reinforcing its claim to be a strong driving force behind paperization,” says Dr David Schmedding, CSO at Heidelberg. “We are thus acting as a full-service provider of end-to-end solutions in the growth market of mass production of fibre-based packaging solutions.”
At this year’s Fachpack (September 23 to 25 in Nuremberg), Heidelberg and Solenis will present the innovative process at their joint booth 4A-342 in Hall 4. Visitors will receive samples to take away so they can test the results of the coating process for themselves. Experts from Heidelberg and Solenis will be on hand at Fachpack to talk to interested parties about the future of sustainable paper packaging production.
