With many everyday uses, double-sided Pressure Sensitive Adhesive (PSA) tapes are hidden components inside many common products. They join different parts or materials with strength, durability, and versatility. While they often directly perform a sustainable function by replacing heavier and more impactful elements, they can also be manufactured with increasingly sustainable materials.
Ahlstrom further broadens its range of release papers by introducing new products that support the design of more sustainable double-sided PSA tapes.
An extension of Ahlstrom’s Acti-V® Industrial dedicated range of high-performance release liners, the new products offer novel options to support environmentally conscious tape producers, thanks to the use of post-consumer recycled fibre, and unbleached cellulose fibres:
Acti-V® Industrial RF Brown is a supercalendered release paper including 30% post-consumer recycled fiber, and featuring the typical brown colour used in double-sided adhesive tape liners.
Acti-V® Industrial RF Natural is a supercalendered release paper featuring a natural kraft colour, based on a combination of post-consumer recycled cellulose fibre (at least 15%) and unbleached cellulose fibres.
Both products offer improved circularity by replacing a portion of virgin fibres with post-consumer recycled fibres. The new Acti-V® Industrial RF Natural additionally eliminates the use of any dye, and is based on a raw materials mix that, according to Ahlstrom’s initial estimates, could allow an overall reduction of 17% to 20% in carbon footprint compared to that of standard Acti-V® Industrial liners. It can thus play a key role in reducing the carbon footprint of the final PSA tape. (This is a product carbon footprint estimate, with the % of reduction in fossil carbon in a cradle-to-gate study using secondary data from Ecoinvent v3.8 and GaBi professional database 2022. Primary data used for recycled fibres. The study will undergo a third-party verification in the coming months).
The new products are designed for double side silicone coating and maintain the outstanding performance delivered by Ahlstrom’s proprietary Acti-V® technology, which allows a highly efficient silicone coating and converting process, showing potential reductions in consumption of energy, catalysts and silicone.
AHLSTROM
https://www.ahlstrom.com
