Advancing UL Certifications in Asia

Milliken collaborates across the plastic value chain to help raise awareness of the energy consumption reductions that can be achieved by using third-party UL certified products. Now, more than 45 companies in Asia have signed UL certifications across the value chain, from polypropylene producers to brand owners to converters—all working together to establish a market benchmark for the overall industry.

The energy-saving benefits of Milliken's Millad® NX™ 8000 clarifier for polypropylene (PP) have long been known and documented. But now downstream customers, particularly in Asia, are realizing the upside of this, and are beginning to leverage this to their manufacturing advantage and the resulting UL Environmental Claim Validation (ECV) label to their marketing advantage.

Milliken Chemical has collaborated with the China Plastic Housewares Association to help broaden awareness of the energy consumption reductions that can be achieved by using Millad NX 8000 in a transparent PP product. The independent organization UL Environment, a business unit of UL (Underwriters Laboratories), has documented that use of Millad NX 8000 clarifier can result in energy savings of between 8-12% in injection molded, transparent PP products.

“The association is dedicated to helping the entire plastic housewares industry in China become more efficient and eco-friendlier, and thus the UL label means a lot in terms of demonstrating a commitment to energy saving,” says Kurt Xu, China Business Leader, Milliken. “While this effort is still in its early stages, five of the association’s leading member companies have now agreed that they will get the UL label authorization for those plastic parts they produce using Millad NX 8000 as clarifier.”

Vincent Wang, Sales Manager for South Asia

“So far, a dozen or so upstream makers of clarified PP resin have adopted the UL label,” Vincent Wang, Sales Manager for South Asia, Milliken, adds, “and a few leading houseware brands in China, Taiwan and Thailand – including Picnic Plast Industrial Co. Ltd. in Thailand and Citylong Group in China – have been authorized to use it. We are seeing more and more international brands showing interests, as well.”

Millad NX 8000 has been proven to deliver positive environmental- and performance-related benefits to polypropylene. Its step-change to the performance and haze of PP supports the development of high-clarity, high-quality plastic houseware products. Importantly, use of the additive also allows conversion temperatures to be lowered in injection molding. This reduces processors’ energy use and any accompanying CO₂ emissions. Numerous industrial trials indicate that use of Millad NX 8000 can lower required processing temperatures from 235°C to 190°C (455° F to 374° F), resulting in the above-noted energy savings of between 8 and 12%, while also lowering associated CO₂ emissions. At a time when energy saving and sustainability are high on the agenda for all in the industry, these are huge advances.

Millad® NX® 8000 clarifier for polypropylene was the first Milliken product to gain energy savings-related certification from UL. Within its nucleation portfolio, Hyperform HPN products are the first products to gain such a distinction. HPN, performance additive for polypropylene, to optimize polypropylene increases the resin’s crystallization temperature and rate of crystallization, thereby aiding processing and boosting productivity by reducing cooling and cycle times; It also helps injection molders to save energy and increase their productivity by reducing both cooling and cycle times during processing. These energy savings have been independently verified by UL Environmental Claim Validation label, which enables brand owners to proudly display the UL label on the resulting thin-wall molded products.

Milliken Chemical has long said that its Hyperform® HPN™ performance additive for polypropylene offers significant energy savings to injection molders during processing—a claim that has now been independently verified by UL LLC.

UL Environment & Sustainability, a unit of the global UL group, confirmed recently that it has reviewed and certified that four grades of Milliken Chemical’s Hyperform HPN enabled an average of 5-8 percent energy savings for firms that injection mold thin-wall container lids or similar PP products. This certification applies to the Asia region, but can be extended to a global recognition.

Milliken does not plan to stop there. “We do have plans to pursue UL certification for additional nucleators in various applications,” including for other processes such as thermoforming, according to Bhavesh Gandhi, Milliken Global Product Line Manager – Hyperform for Milliken’s Chemical Business. This is just the latest step in Milliken’s ongoing mission to help its customers reduce their impact on the environment.