UPM launches ‘renewable functional fillers’ for rubber, plastics

Helsinki – Finnish forest industry company UPM has launched renewable functional fillers for the rubber and plastics industry, which it says can ‘significantly reduce’ the CO2 footprint of the sector.

Developed over 10 years and in collaboration with industry partners, the fillers are sourced from hardwood and are billed as ‘a truly sustainable alternative’ to fossil-based carbon black and precipitated silica.

UPM expects to manufacture the RFF portfolio at its currently under-construction biorefinery in Leuna, Germany, said Juuso Konttinen, VP UPM Biochemicals in a 14 Oct statement. 

The company broke ground on the €550-million, 200 kilotonne-per-annum biorefinery in October last year and is set to start production at the plant by the end of 2022. UPM expects to ramp up mass production of RFF in Leuna during 2023.

“With the building of the biorefinery in Leuna progressing, we now start taking visible steps in commercialising our portfolio of innovative renewable chemicals,” said Konttinen.

According to UPM, the fillers can enable a “radical step forward” in the sustainability performance of rubber and plastic products in a variety of end-uses, notably by significantly reducing their CO? footprint and weight. 

The fillers are suitable for use in a broad range of elastomers, thermoplastic compounds, and thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) in industries such as automotive, flooring or footwear. 

The fillers are currently produced at a pilot-scale for material testing and development in elastomer applications with various OE partners.

In ERJ’s Elastomers for Sustainability (E4S) programme, the UPM development is ranked among the top 10 projects with most potential to raise the environmental profile of the global elastomers/rubber industry.