Cork, a material that comes from the outer bark of the cork oak tree, has a lot going for it. The 100 percent natural material, which consists of more than 50 percent air, is renewable, recyclable, and has remarkable aesthetic, thermal and acoustic insulation properties. And now its leading proponent is combining waste cork with various types of polymers to create a range of cork biocomposites that offer “the moldability of plastics and the lightness and sustainability of cork.” Current target markets include home, office, leisure goods, energy and interior automotive components.
Amorim Cork Composites SA (ACC) is part of Corticeira Amorim, a publicly listed, fourth-generation, family company that was founded in 1870. The 4,400-employee firm, based near Oporto in the north of Portugal, is the biggest cork processor in the world and exports to more than 100 countries. In 2022, the company recorded €1.0214 billion in consolidated sales.
The parent firm formed ACC in 1963 to take advantage of 70 percent of the waste produced by the cork industry. Five years ago, ACC opened what it calls its iCork Factory –– an innovation pilot plant dedicated to researching and developing products that value cork.
Amorim is investing millions of dollars into this R&D effort, which is showing some very tangible results. The company produces a whopping 5.5 billion cork stoppers a year and generates a lot of waste from that process. For the past decade or so, ACC has been experimenting with blending the leftovers from cork stopper production or the forest with various materials, including high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA) and thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs).
Amorim’s Cork Polymer Compounds (CPCs) are now finding use in everything from sporting goods, footwear, flooring, household utensils and packaging to floating solar farms and automotive parts.
In many of these applications, the versatile, lightweight material’s unique properties are valued –– such as thermal insulation capacity, impact absorption, grip, anti-slip, lightweight or visual appearance. ACC has found ways to blend recycled waste polymers in some of its compounds, yielding what it calls its Circular Economy line of products. This only further boosts the product’s robust environmental credentials.
Amorim Cork Composites produces its Cork Polymer Compounds through an extrusion process that mixes cork and thermoplastics to deliver the best of both worlds. “The introduction of cork to produce CPCs,” the company explains, “can result in a reduction of up to 60 percent in the volume of plastic consumption, due to cork’s low density, delivering a more sustainable solution compared to 100 percent plastic-based materials.” The goal is to become carbon neutral.
Cork, as a natural filler, can replace a significant proportion of the resin, while retaining the desired properties of the final product. On the other hand, ACC notes, “CPCs allow the cork to be more shapable, processed using different technologies –– such as injection molding, extrusion and blow molding.”
ACC recently launched a range of new solutions for the automotive industry called MICs, for Mobility Interior Compounds. The company is pitching these MICs as “new materials that can replace conventional plastic with a sustainable alternative while keeping the performance and aesthetics desired for the application. The result is a reduced carbon footprint, increased lightness, improved thermal and acoustic properties or grip performance and a disruptive visual.”
It says, the biocomposites are suited for applications in various markets seeking a high-performance, bio-based alternative to traditional polymers.
The company also is now promoting CPCs for the home, office and leisure goods sector –– from placemats, coasters and serving trays to ping pong paddles and ski pole handles. These materials also can be customized to meet specific application requirements, according to ACC.
Meanwhile, EDP Group, a Lisbon, Portugal-based global energy company, is using an Amorim compound consisting of 30 percent cork and 70 percent recycled HDPE for a key component in a hybrid renewable energy project in its home country. The biocomposite compound is replacing virgin HDPE in the blow-molded floats used to support the walkways on a massive floating solar farm on the huge Alqueva reservoir in southeastern Portugal.
The project, which combines solar energy, hydroelectricity and battery storage, features a solar platform comprising nearly 12,000 photovoltaic (PV) panels, covering nearly 10 acres.
The Brussels-based European Commission recently recognized the project with a 2023 Innovation Award for its contribution to the expansion of renewable energies and to the energy transition.
Amorim Cork Composites continues to develop new applications in diverse sectors in its quest to minimize cork waste while also reducing the amount of virgin plastic used.
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