Covestro Press

Covestro receives ISCC PLUS certification for its South Deerfield, MA, USA site

Wed, 06 Nov 2024 10:00:00 +0100

Material manufacturer Covestro has secured the ISCC (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification) PLUS certification for its site in South Deerfield, Mass., USA. The site is produces high performance specialty films used in many applications across multiple market segments, such as healthcare and mobility. The company’s polycarbonate compounding facility in Newark, Ohio, as well as its third-largest site worldwide, Baytown, Texas, had already received this important certification. It underscores the company’s commitment to sustainability and enables it to supply customers with thermoplastic films for medical packaging and other applications made from recycled and bio-attributed raw materials.

“Healthcare manufacturers are increasingly adopting sustainable materials to reduce their carbon footprint, and it is our goal to help customers reach their sustainability ambitions,” said Sam Shodi, Head of Specialty Films North America, Covestro.

According to Shodi, the Makrofol^® polycarbonate film provides the transparency, toughness and sterilization suitability needed for many medical applications an example of which is medical implant packaging. “This advancement meets the demands of our healthcare customers, where sustainable materials are crucial for reducing environmental impact while maintaining high quality and safety standards,” he concluded.

With the mass balance approach, bio-based or recycled raw materials are fed in at an early stage of raw material extraction and mathematically allocated to the finished products. This saves fossil raw materials and reduces CO₂ emissions, while the quality of the mass-balanced products remains identical to that of purely fossil-based products. With this drop-in solution, manufacturers can continue to use their proven formulations, equipment and processes.

ISCC is an internationally recognized sustainability certification for biomass and bioenergy. The standard covers all stages of the value chain and is used worldwide. Covestro has major sites across all regions that are ISCC PLUS certified. Among them are world-scale sites like Baytown, Texas; Leverkusen, Dormagen and Krefeld-Uerdingen, Germany; Shanghai, China; Map Ta Phut, Thailand; and Antwerp, Belgium.

Customers can discover more about Covestro’s mass balance films and other premium material solutions, including how they support sustainability goals and drive advancements in medical devices, at the upcoming MEDICA 2024 and COMPAMED 2024 trade fairs, November 11-14 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Covestro pushes development for medical wearables

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0200

At the combined Compamed 2019 and Medica 2019 trade fairs from 18 to 21 November in Düsseldorf, Covestro will be presenting solutions for portable medical devices and an innovative wound care concept in Halls 8b and 13. For several years now, the company has been positioning itself as an important material supplier for this emerging market.

At Booth D46 in Hall 13, material solutions for flexible medical electronic patches based on Platilon^® and Baymedix^® polyurethane materials will be presented, as well as new solutions for on-body drug delivery devices made of Makrolon^® polycarbonate and Bayblend^® blends.

A growth market: electronic patches

Electronic patches are already being used in many areas such as patient monitoring, and with the increasing digitization of healthcare, market demand for such products is growing rapidly.

In the field of flexible materials, applications such as electroencephalograms (EEG), maternity belts, blood pressure measuring tapes and individual electrocardiograms (ECG) are at the heart of the markets that Covestro is targeting. Covestro will therefore show prototypes made of its flexible integrated materials:

Soft, breathable and stretchable Platilon^® films for outstanding patient comfort
Printable substrates for printed electronics
Skin- and application-friendly adhesive systems based on Baymedix^® materials
Weldable foams based on Baymedix^® for safe use of electronics

Plastics for on-body equipment

In addition to flexible materials, Covestro also offers the ideal materials for wearables with hard covers that are required for mobile drug delivery devices or sensitive diagnostic devices, for example. Makrolon^® polycarbonate medical grades meet the requirements for excellent dimensional stability and outstanding mechanical properties and enable the development of safe, patient-friendly devices. Thanks to its high degree of transparency and good surface texture, Makrolon^® also provides a wide range of design options such as the integration of LED light guides. Polycarbonate blends such as Bayblend^® (PC+ABS blends) and Makroblend^® (PC+PBT blends) meet additional customer requirements.

Covestro expert Dr. Ulrike Lützow will give a lecture on "Wearable Housings: Material solutions between medicine and electronics" on November 19, 2019.

Innovative concept for wound prevention

Covestro will be presenting innovations in the field of wound management at Booth H30 in Hall 8b. The company has developed a design study for wound prevention that deals with the three most important factors for bedsore (decubitus): Pressure, friction and shear. A highly breathable prototype is being manufactured exclusively from polyurethane materials from Covestro.

The main features of this prototype wound prevention dressing made of Baymedix^® and Platilon^® materials are:

Optimized friction, shear and pressure management
Excellent moisture management to support a healthy microclimate
Application- and skin-friendly polyurethane adhesive
Efficient and sustainable manufacturing technology

Components based on these products help increase both cost and manufacturing efficiency by allowing roll-to-roll processing and inline production of all layers. During processing, thermoplastic welding of the edges is possible. Moreover, the process is energy-saving and environmentally compatible because production steps are reduced.

In the course of the Compamed Suppliers Forum Covestro expert Dr. Marc-Stephan Weiser will present the design study for focused wound prevention on November 20, 2019, at 3.30 pm in Hall 8b.

About Covestro:

With 2018 sales of EUR 14.6 billion, Covestro is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, construction, wood processing and furniture, and electrical and electronics industries. Other sectors include sports and leisure, cosmetics, health and the chemical industry itself. Covestro has 30 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 16,800 people (calculated as full-time equivalents) at the end of 2018.

For more information please see www.covestro.com.
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Forward-looking statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Covestro AG. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Covestro’s public reports which are available at www.covestro.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

Competent partner for medical technology

Thu, 21 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0200

At Compamed 2017 in Düsseldorf, Germany, Covestro will be presenting itself as a key supplier of raw materials and partner to the medical technology sector. One focus of booth H30 in Hall 8b will be on Baymedix^® polyurethane raw materials for state-of-the-art wound care. These materials are breathable and enable optimal moisture management in wound dressings in addition to offering design options. Customers can create added value through innovation and differentiation, thus increasing their competitiveness.

These raw materials are used, for example, in absorbent foams manufactured from Baymedix^® FP, adhesives with skin contact made of Baymedix^® A and films based on the waterborne products Baymedix^® FD and CD. Directly coating the film with adhesive or foam decreases the number of laminating steps, and optimized drying times ensure efficiency in production. The processes are also sustainable because waste is reduced and solvents are not used.

Polycarbonates for a wide range of requirements
The polycarbonate Makrolon^® has long proven itself in the medical technology field. Its balanced properties – such as exceptional transparency and impact resistance – make it a safe and durable material for housing components.

Several variants of this material have also passed biocompatibility tests, as required for such applications, and thus meet the criteria of ISO 10993-1. Together with the polycarbonate Apec^®, which is stable at high temperatures, Makrolon^® medical technology products are suitable for various forms of sterilization.

Wearables with intelligence and comfort
Digitalization is now common in many areas of medical technology. For example, one important trend is the use of wearables – small electronic devices that are affixed to the skin like a patch, providing support for consumers participating in sports and leisure activities or treating medical conditions. In view of their enormous market potential, Compamed is presenting these devices separately at booth A23 in Hall 15.

There, Covestro will showcase integrated and sustainable materials solutions that increase the comfort of electronic patches and provide additional areas of application. In addition to standard functions, such as measuring heart rate, in the future they will also help with medical diagnoses and treatments and deliver medications in accurate dosages. This would require them to remain on the skin for extended periods and be comfortable to wear. With the help of an intelligent combination of materials, Covestro is able to produce wearables that cling gently to the skin, and are also breathable and hypoallergenic.

Versatile TPU films
Platilon^® TPU blown film is sought after in medical applications, due to its comfort, e.g. breathability, stretch, soft haptics, hypoallergenics, design (e.g. printable, colors) and customisation to fit the converter’s production process, e.g. thickness range, tailored carriers and release force. Additional functionality includes low melting (95-105 deg C) or water vapor barrier.

About Covestro:
With 2016 sales of EUR 11.9 billion, Covestro is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, construction, wood processing and furniture, and electrical and electronics industries. Other sectors include sports and leisure, cosmetics, health and the chemical industry itself. Covestro has 30 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 15,600 people (calculated as full-time equivalents) at the end of 2016.

Find more information at www.covestro.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Covestro AG. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Covestro's public reports, which are available on the Covestro website at www.covestro.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.