Polypropylene
Films
Economical Packaging Solution
P.B.Raman
VP-Polymers
PRBD Group
Reliance Industries Ltd.,
Mumbai
The
outlook for PP films in the Indian marketplace is indeed promising
as the Indian economy is showing vital signs of rapid development
to uplift a large segment of aspiring class of consumers.
Introduction
Tubular
quenched, bi-axially oriented, cast polypropylene films and their
coextruded variants are competing with each other to provide attractive
yet, functional protection for food, textiles and other goods retailed
across the vast and complex market-place in India. The history of
plastic film development dates back to 1927, when Dupont developed
cellophane, which is basically refined paper from wood pulp.
It
immensely suited the concept of selfservice counters that became very
popular in the US followed by Europe. It offered see-through transparency
to preweighed and priced unit packs and helped branding of goods.
The post – war period saw the introduction of many types of plastic
films made from LDPE, HDPE, PVC, PS, PET and ACRYLICS.
Each
film type offered unique combination of properties-thereby expanding
the scope of applications of plastic films in packaging.
However,
the preference for high clarity films continued to dominate as people
wanted to see what they were buying. The next 30 years saw significant
growth in cellulose film production across the globe. With no competitor
other than paper, each production company enjoyed burgeoning market
but things, however, were about to change soon.
In
1961, ICI developed bi-axially oriented polypropylene, which because
of its clarity, gloss, sparkle, crispness and grease resistance, resembled
cellulose film rather than polyethylene, to which it is chemically
related. This development, together with innovative process to extrude
PP tubular film downwards (to overcome the problem of poor melt strength
of PP) followed by quenching in chilled water made PP film the most
economical contender in the market for high clarity films.
Global
Scene
About
1/6th of PP consumption currently (which is approximately 35 million
tonnes) is for films and the fastest growing product line is BOPP
film. From a current level of 3 million tonnes, BOPP use is projected
to reach 6 million tonnes by 2010. Cast and tubular quenched films
will grow at slower rates to account for 4 million tonnes, bringing
PP consumption to 10 million tonnes. Initially considered as an economic
replacement of cellulose, PP film has found its own niche markets
especially as co-extruded film to substitute paper, rigid PVC and
other materials due to ease of recycling and ecological support in
saving trees.
Indian
Marketplace
Major
impetus to local production of PP films came after IPCL established
local production of PP raw material in 1978. As expected, TQ film
gained immense popularity, thanks to development of local processing
machinery. Low investment in small capacity plants suited investment
spread throughout India, as markets were available in fragmented quantities
from textile and footwear retailers, sweetmeat shops, bakeries and
snack-food packers in the unorganised sector.
BOPP
film production commenced in 1980 to cater to the requirement of organised
end-users such as cigarette companies, branded biscuit manufacturers,
organised snack-food/processed food manufacturers, adhesive tape producers
and major converters and printers.
....contd.
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