PPG upgrades non-BPA aluminum coating for more robust beverage cans
02 Aug 2022 --- PPG is launching PPG Innovel Pro, an enhanced internal spray coating that uses no bisphenol-A (BPA) or “bisphenol starting substances” and provides more robust application properties for the infinitely recyclable aluminum beverage can.
The product is a next-generation, high-performance acrylic coating that the company says draws on its ten years as the market’s “most widely used” non-BPA internal beverage spray coating. The company estimates that its Innovel coatings have been used on more than 220 billion cans in more than 40 countries.
PPG Innovel Pro coating complies with global food contact standards for consumer safety and its improved application properties provide operational benefits for can plants worldwide.
“The growing and dynamic beverage can industry requires solutions that satisfy all global regulations to remove bisphenols from food contact coatings while ensuring maximum can line production speeds and minimal spoilage,” says Amy Ericson, senior VP for packaging coatings at PPG.
“PPG Innovel Pro coating is a future-forward solution that doesn’t rely on BPA or any other bisphenol starting substances while protecting both can and beverage integrity.”
PPG Innovel Pro coating is said to support the range of filling goods that beverage brands want to can. Supply chain improvements
Validated with the PPG Safeassure protocol for safe food-contact coating development, PPG Innovel Pro coating supports the widening range of filling goods that beverage brands want to can.
It features a lower migration profile than standard epoxy and epoxy-mimic coatings. Additionally, all PPG Innovel internal spray coatings have achieved Platinum Cradle-to-Cradle material health certification from the Cradle-to-Cradle Products Innovation Institute.
“The innovation goes beyond the product itself,” highlights Ericson. “PPG offers customers a resilient supply chain with manufacturing sites across the globe. The new coating also comes with the support of industry-leading technical and regulatory support teams, which provide on-site expertise to keep customer operations running smoothly.”
“PPG Innovel Pro coating is a big step forward for the industry, enabling major beverage brands to efficiently offer safer and more sustainable metal-packaged drinks that today’s consumers can feel good about.”
Other coating news
In a similar development, BASF, Bobst, Evertis and Sulayr’s strategic partnership on a closed-loop recycling model for plastic packaging is sparking new discussions on what role PET-based multilayer can play in tomorrow’s packaging industry. PackagingInsights spoke to Kresimir Cule, commercial marketing industrial adhesives at BASF, about the new coating machinery.
Meanwhile, Sappi joined forces with metallic and pearlescent pigments producer Eckart and finishing specialist GT Trendhouse 42 to create an environmentally sustainable alternative for metallic effects to existing finishing processes that require films.
For the project – branded as the Metall Ink project – Sappi contributed its premium Algro Design Nature paperboard along with its expertise in coating substrates, in-depth knowledge of finishing capabilities and specific requirements in surface quality, printability, formability and processability.
Edited
By Natalie Schwertheim
