Swedish packaging company PulPac has been granted three new patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for its dry moulded fibre technology.
The technology and its process uses air, heat, and pressure to form almost any three-dimensional shaped object, and according to PulPac, dry moulded fibre is ideally suited for replacing the plastic used for single-use packaging applications. With these new patents, PulPac says it now holds five granted patents on the US market.
Two of the new patents concern the divisional applications from PulPac’s original applications filed in 2016/2017, one of which is related to the basic process of dry moulded fibre, and the second is related specifically to bottle forming. The third patent concerns the layering of the cellulose web in the dry moulded fibre process.
“The patent related to bottle forming is especially interesting,” said PulPac’s CIO Ove Larsson. “We have a few viable solutions for this. One involves turning the cellulose web into a cylindric shape and then forming the bottle. Another important aspect is to form the bottles in a “seamless” continuous process. And we have filed an application for that. We seek to harness the possibilities of using rolls and a ‘forming shoulder’ to fold the web, turning it into a cylinder.”
Working with cellulosic fibre has many challenges that need to be considered. Ove elaborates: “While developing the dry moulded fibre technology, we’ve learned so much about the complexities presented by this weblike yet rigid material. And when trying to figure out how to turn it into a bottle, we’ve realized that the web’s feeding angles, thickness, types of layers, and how to join them all interfere with obtaining an optimal result. And the solution presented in our patent application features a forming bladder connected to a pressure lance.
PulPac claims it holds 250 granted patents in several jurisdictions, with more underway. During 2023 it has filed 11 new patent applications. This means that the company holds a total of 45 patent families.
PKN is tracking the developments at PulPac with interest, especially since there are companies in the Australian market interested in this technology.
In recent news the company has teamed up with PA Consulting as part of the Bottle Collective to develop a fibre-based bottle.
Earlier this year at Interpack, PKN's Lindy Hughson spoke to PulPac's founder and CEO Linus Larsson Green:
