Moulded Pulp Manufacturing: Overview and Prospects for the Process Technology

Abstract

Eco-friendly packaging such as moulded pulp products have gained commercial importance in the recent years. However, it remains a greatly under-researched area, and there is an arising need to consolidate the best practices from research and industry in order to increase its implementation. The goal of this paper is to give an overview of the main aspects involved in the manufacture of moulded pulp products. This includes a classification of moulded pulp products, historical and current applications, production processes, materials, mechanical properties and environmental sustainability. Moreover, based on the latest research in the field, an innovative drying technique that utilizes concepts derived from impulse drying is presented, and the implementation of this process technology is discussed. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. INTRODUCTIONMoulded pulp products, also referred to as moulded pulp or moulded fibre products, are primarily used for the packaging of manufactured products and for food-related carriers, such as food containers and serving trays. Because of form (geometry) and aesthetic limitations, moulded pulp products have mostly been limited to the egg tray market for many years. However, demand is now increasing because of their sustainable qualities.1 Environmental, social and economic concerns result in a growing search for more sustainable products and industrial processes. As it consists simply of water and wood fibres (i.e. primarily cellulose), moulded pulp is a renewable material and a biodegradable solution. The manufacturing process includes the recovery of discarded materials from manufactured and recycled products made of wood fibres, such as cardboard, newspapers and magazines. These qualities have enabled growing adoption within the packaging industry. Companies are eager to embrace alternatives to oil-based forms of packaging, because of government regulations and customer demands. Increasing R&D effort for standardizing design and testing practices is essential in order to meet the growing demand for eco-packaging with high-quality features.Reviews of the historical development in industrial applications of moulded pulp packaging, recent manufacturing innovations in the field and an overview of an industrial scenario in the UK are 5 While these articles give great insight into historical developments, they are outdated, and they report few of the recent innovations within the field. Consequently, not enough attention has been given to the different manufacturing processes, and there is a gap related to environmental considerations. By means of a comprehensive review, this paper fills the identified research gap by describing wide-ranging aspects of the manufacturing process of moulded pulp. The research method adopted in collecting and reviewing the publications focused the literature survey exclusively to moulded pulp. It excluded similar products used in the packaging industry, such as cardboard or honeycomb panels.The content has been organized to present the main aspects ...

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“…These have been categorized based on the manufacturing process: type 1) thick wall; type 2) transfer; type 3) thermoformed (thin-wall); and type 4) processed (IMFA 2017). The characteristics of the four types are shown in Table 4 (Didone et al 2017;IMFA 2017). Molded pulp products have developed quickly in recent years due to favorable environmental, social, and economic incentives (Curling et al 2017;Didone et al 2017;Gouw et al 2017).…”

“…The characteristics of the four types are shown in Table 4 (Didone et al 2017;IMFA 2017). Molded pulp products have developed quickly in recent years due to favorable environmental, social, and economic incentives (Curling et al 2017;Didone et al 2017;Gouw et al 2017). More active research and development activities are still ongoing, for instance, the use of additives for value-added products (Didone et al 2017), as well as the use of agricultural wastes and/or recycled fibers replacing virgin wood fibers.…”

“…Molded pulp products have developed quickly in recent years due to favorable environmental, social, and economic incentives (Curling et al 2017;Didone et al 2017;Gouw et al 2017). More active research and development activities are still ongoing, for instance, the use of additives for value-added products (Didone et al 2017), as well as the use of agricultural wastes and/or recycled fibers replacing virgin wood fibers. Curling et al (2017) examined the feasibility of replacing virgin wood fibers with waste cereal straw fibers to fabricate thin flat pulp molded materials.…”

“…Carlsberg has developed the Green Fiber Bottle products that can be used for beer (Didone et al 2017). The paper bottles are made by molding, free of inner liners, and completely biodegradable.…”

“…The fibers can be used as self-standing thin films, as filler in composites, and as coating to provide high barrier properties . In addition, the fibers can be used to fabricate cushioning packaging materials, and they can serve as reinforcements in biodegradable foam (Bénézet et al 2012;Kaisangsri et al 2012;Ago et al 2016) and as molded pulp products (Didone et al 2017).…”