This news article was originally written in Spanish. It has been automatically translated for your convenience. Reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate translation, however, no automated translation is perfect nor is it intended to replace a human translator. The original article in Spanish can be viewed at Una nueva botella de PP Stretchene para la marca Ariel Professional

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It shapes through the process of inyección-estirado - blown

A new bottle of PP Stretchene for the Ariel Professional brand

Drafting PU26/09/2008

September 26, 2008

Procter & Gamble (P & G) company specializing in products for home, beauty and personal care, and the consultant PTI Europe, consulting firm specializing in packaging made by inyección-estirado - blowing, have jointly developed a wide range of bottles made by inyección-estirado - blown, with a performance superior to traditional materials. The new bottles are destined to the range of Ariel Professional cleaning products.

Developments that LyondellBasell Industries has been carried out in the performance of its polypropylene, along with the innovative design of Procter & Gamble and PTI, have made possible its marketing.

"After two years of research and development, combining design and innovation, the new grades of PP for high performance and the process of inyección-estirado - blown, culminated in the development of a new milestone in packaging for household products", said Patrick Etessea member of the research team at P & G, Global Packaging & Device Development R & D in Brussels.

Lower density than PET

Bottles of 0.5 litres, 1 and 2 litres were produced using the new resins of PP Stretchene from LyondellBasell, a new family of products that improves the standard PP and traditional plastics in terms of rigidity, transparency, resistance to impact and performance in the production.

"Stretchene resins provide an excellent ratio price/performance and they are an excellent alternative to many traditional materials such as PET and HDPE for applications of inyección-estirado - blown", noted Etesse.

Stretchene resins allow the production of light colored bottles and transparent, with excellent resistance to impact, chemical resistance, good looks, good barrier to the water vapor and 34 per cent less density than the PET. Compared to the competing extrusion-blown-molded HDPE bottles, new polypropylene allows a reduction in weight between 15 and 20 per cent. In addition, the bottles incorporate a full surround label which improves their appearance, for which it was required a PP which would not be affected by the heat of the tunnel for the retraction of the film of the label. "Not only Stretchene resins help P & G produce bottles that reach your high requirements of functionality, they also cover their needs in regards to appearance and a pleasant touch, which are key trends in the packaging of products for the home", added Etesse. "2 Litre bottle is probably the largest bottle of PP with a handle, never produdida through the process of inyección-estirado - blown". The new resin Stretchene allowed P & G to produce a bottle with an attractive way and an easy grip handle.

According to Etesse, "resins benefit from the high flexibility of the process of inyección-estirado - blown, allowing a shorter compared to the moulding by extrusion-blowing mold change".

"The close cooperation between P & G and LyondellBasell was a critical aspect that allowed the success of this development," said Bernard Levefre, responsible for purchases in the EMEA area.

Greater freedom of design

Stretchene resins also allow a greater degree of freedom in the design as can use texturing of high definition. This polymer also allows an optimized filling technique, in a way that the high production capacities of the process of inyección-estirado - blowing can benefit as a whole.

PTI Europe attended the common and specific neck finish and developed preforms for all sizes. "We made prototypes of bottles with two stations-blowing equipment to test and qualify the bottles." "Bottles also have been evaluated successfully following the strict protocols of trials and specifications of P & g", said Vincent le Guen, CEO of PTI Europe.

The bottles are molded by Alpla, in Italy. "It was a project that was a great challenge because we had to stick to very tight deadlines, but now we produce in our factory in Italy." "Was chosen the Stretchene resin because it can be reused for formulations containing bleach and is as transparent as the PET," said Nicolas Alpla Lehner.