1. BioFoam®
PLA Foam
Produced with 2nd generation PLA Synterra®
Peter De Loose

2. Synbra Group
SYNBRA is the leading producer and converter of
Expanded Polystyrene (‘EPS’)
• with about 1.500 employees;
• with a turnover of about € 300 million;
• focus on Sustainable Insulation Systems (SIS) and
Industrial Products & Solutions (IPS);
• innovative and vertically integrated through cluster
Technology & Innovation;
• Dutch holding co-ordinates 6 Clusters ( incl Synprodo)
and has 26 production locations in 6 countries.
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3. Broad range of EPS applications
Sustainable Insulation Systems (SIS) Industrial Products & Solutions (IPS)
Markets End products Markets End products
Roof Pitched, flat Industrial/ Technical parts,
insulation Technical Electronics
Wall Cavity, exterior Food Fish, Meat,
insulation Produce
Floor Boards, systems Horticulture Seed trays
insulation
Civil Road construction Water Biostyr®
engineering filtration
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4. 26 production locations in 6 countries
Synbra’s European coverage
–In general, transportation of EPS
> 250 km is not profitable
–Majority of the business is local
–Synbra Technology supplies
businesses with EPS beads
– Local BUs convert the beads into
products
–Local BUs invest in product and
application innovations
– Synbra Technology supports with
material innovation
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5. BioFoam® project overview

6. History BioFoam® project 1
• Formal project started April 2006;
• R&D with Wageningen University WUR;
• Starting point: use own EPS pre-expansion &
moulding;
• Use Polylactic acid (PLA); best results blowing
with CO2;
• Shape moulding with biobased coating
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7. History BioFoam® project 2
• Invest in 5000 t/a own GMO free PLA
polymerisation
– Dedicated quality for particle foaming
– Lactide based supplied by Purac, equipment supplied
by Sulzer
– Pure PLLA for use in compounded bioplastic recipes
• Remove the GMO hurdle
– Pure PDLA
– Also Stereocomplex possible for high heat PLA
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8. PLA structure
sc-PLA (blend) 230 °C
Increasing Tm and crystallinity
Stereo-block PLA 200 °C
PLLA 180 °C
PLA 160 °C
A-PLA -
>10% D in PLA
Amorphous (no Tm)
D-Lactide L-lactide
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9. Stereocomplex-PLA improves Heat Resistance
(HDT)
Now Future with
sc-PLA??
Coffee
70°C
By mixing 40 % PDLA with PLA
cups are made that can be used
till 190°C without distortion.
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10. BioFoam® processing

11. Status foaming and molding
• First production facility in Etten-Leur;
• Roll-out 2012 to other BU’s;
• Industrial runs possible on 3 moulding machines.
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12. PLA foaming
EPS
Coating of Impregnation
Impregnation
prefoamed of coated
with CO2
beads beads
Maturing of Moulding of
Raw bead Prefoaming
prefoamed prefoamed
production raw beads
beads beads
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13. PLA foaming
• Prefoaming is done on a commercial EPS prefoamer;
• Density 30 g/l in one prefoam step (< 30 g/l in two steps).
Compared to EPS:
• Lower temperatures;
• Shorter cycle times.
Difficulties:
• Low density foam for moulding;
• CO2 evaporates easily;
• Heat stability of PLA (under
development)
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14. PLA molding
• A special coating is applied to the prefoamed
BioBeads to improve adhesion during moulding;
• Patented technology: WO 2008130226.
Continuous fluid bed
Batch fluid bed coating unit (Glatt
coating unit fluid bed)
(Wurster coating)
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15. PLA molding
•Moulding is done on a commercial EPS moulder;
•Similar process as with common EPS grades.
Compared to EPS:
•Lower temperatures;
•Longer cooling times.
•Difficulties:
•CO2 evaporates easily;
•Heat stability of PLA.
Optimalisation in progress
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16. BioFoam® properties

17. PLA cell structure
Structure looks very similar to EPS
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18. Mechanical & thermal properties
BioFoam® EPS
Thermal conductivity
35 g/l 34 33 30 g/l
(MW/m·K)
Bending strength
35 g/l 300 300 30 g/l
(kPa)
Compressive stress
@ 10% deformation 40 g/l 200 200 30 g/l
(kPa)
Compressive modulus
40 g/l 4.0 3.0 30 g/l
(MPa)
Shear strength
35 g/l 140 250 30 g/l
(kPa)
Shear modulus
35 g/l 2.7 3.1 30 g/l
(kPa)
C-value
35 g/l 2.6 2.7 30 g/l
(-)
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19. Drop test results
1st drop (height/thickness = 10)
80,000
70,000
60,000
50,000
G (-)
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0,000
0,00 5,00 10,00 15,00 20,00 25,00 30,00
Static stress (kPa)
EPS (20 g/l) PLA (60 g/l)) PLA (35 g/l)
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20. 100% Bio-Based = Renewable
• It takes max. 1 year to reproduce your raw material .
(some crops can be harvested each half year)
• To reproduce petrol based raw materials it takes
several 10.000 years for the process &
several milion years to have the right conditions.
• End-of-Life is additional (incineration, composting,
anaerobe digestion, chemical recycling)
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21. Industrial Composting results
5 x 5 x 5 cm3 BioFoam® blocks
(various densities) disintegrate
completely at 70°C within 4 wks
No composting at RT (30°C)

22. Synbra LCA Tool v. 1.0
For Holistic Environmental Evaluation of
BioFoam and EPS Foam
Based on Life Cycle Assessment Compliant With
ISO 14 040 + 14 044 Standards
Prepared by Tobias Borén
AkzoNobel Sustainable Development, Sweden
Peer reviewed by Martin Patel, Utrecht University
October 8th 2010

23. GWP of various polymers in end use
C02 emission per ton processed polymer
BioFoam moulded
PE film
EPS foam
PUR rigid foam
Thermoform HIPS
PET film
Biaxial PP film
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
Per Kg moulded BioBead 49% CO2 compared to average of all oil based polymers
NON optimised sugar mill, with optimised ugar mill values are much lower
Other polymers LCA source Plastics Europe
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24. Comparison cradle-to-gate
Table: Functional traits of the different insulation materials defining the Functional Unit (F.U.)
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Material Lambda [mM/m*K] Density [kg/m ] Mass [kg/F.U.] Thickness [cm]
BioFoam 33 20 1,65 8,25
EPS 32 18 1,44 8
Mineral Wool 42 120 12,6 10,5

25. Crude oil eq. consumption for 1 m2 Rc 2,5 insulation
• No additional green energy purchased

26. Carbon footprint for 1 m2 Rc 2,5 insulation
Conclusions:
EPS very good energy efficient insulant
BioFoam overall even better

27. Validation and supporting information
• Fire test Bean Bags Efectis & Moulded NRW-MPA
– meets BS 5852 ( sigaret/match) crib 5
– meets DIN4102 B1 and B2
– Meest Euroclass E fire classification
– No halogens present
• Droptesting at Clemson University (South-Carolina);
• LCA verified by, AkzoNobel
– Technology & Engineering Sust. Dev.Group; Sweden
– Peer reviewed by Prof. Martin Patel-Utrecht Uni.
• Compostability certification EN13432
• Passed EN117/118 Termite/pest and fungus tests
• C2C certified by EPEA;

28. 28
C2C Validation
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29. BioFoam® Awards
Winner of the Frost & Sullivan Technology Innovation Of
The Year Award 2008 PLA polymerisation process
Winner 2009 gold sustainability medal awarded by the
Dutch Rubber and Plastics Federation
#1 of the 2010 MKB top 100 : Earmarked most
innovative company in the Netherlands
Third Price in Dutch 2010 packaging
“De gouden Noot”
Winner ‘Nederlandse Bouwprijs 2011’ at construction
exhibition in Utrecht (NL).
Winner of the Frost & Sullivan Technology Innovation Of
The Year Award 2011 for BioFoam

30. Thank you for your attention
Questions?