Innovative Lower Saxony

Smurfit Kappa Hoya´s board machine is a model for production of eco-friendly barrier coated board: White Lined Chipboard (WLC) from Lower Saxony is converted with a water dispersion barrier without any plastic lamination

A folding box with a difference is being manufactured in Hoya, which is based in Lower Saxony. The White Lined Chipboard from Smurfit Kappa Hoya Papier & Karton GmbH is coated in such a way that prevents even greasy fast food from seeping through. The technical highlight is that the environmentally friendly coating is free from harmful chemicals and plastics which are commonly used. The carton is simultaneously coated with a unique coating station directly in the board machine.

Producing packaging faster and more cost-effectively

Pat food, frozen food and bakery products such as greasy doughnuts are packed in the cartons manufactured in Hoya. To date WLC has been produced in a boardmill, loaded on a truck and finished in a converting mill in accordance with the barrier required. Fulvio Cadonau modified the coating station technology used by the coating plants at Smurfit Kappa Hoya Papier & Karton GmbH in such a way that the barrier properties could be reached in the board machine. This eliminated the complex converting step and the high transport costs.

Innovative barrier solutions

The Lower Saxony company has also been working on the coating itself with partners. The folding boxboard is traditionally laminated with various plastics. These laminated packaging solutions, however, are difficult to separate from one another, thereby making them extremely expensive to recycle. In addition, some of the barrier coatings also contain a chemical substance that is harmful to health. Hoya is now using an innovative barrier solution which consists pigments, starches and binding agents. "The principle is similar to covering a roof. Like a roof tile, the pigments also have a unique geometry. When the barrier is applied to the carton the pigments align themselves in such a way that they form an barrier layer. Starch and binding agents then fix this coating in place", explains Fulvio Cadonau. The folding boxboard which is coated using this procedure exhibits similar properties to a board with a plastic lamination, however, it is environmentally friendly, biodegradable and harmless to health.

85,000 tons of recycled boxboard is produced every year via the board machine at Smurfit Kappa Hoya Papier & Karton GmbH. Today more than 10 percent of the produced WLC (White Lined Chipboard) is converted with the innovative barrier solutions.