Kickstart: Awarding breakthroughs in auto lightweighting

Bio-based composites, recycled materials, and new technology in auto parts and production came together for winners of the 2024 Atair Enlighten Awards, announced Aug. 6.

Now in its 12th year, the awards — sponsored by engineering firm Altair and the Center for Automotive Research — honor "the greatest sustainability and lightweighting advancements that successfully reduce carbon footprint, mitigate water and energy consumption, and leverage material reuse and recycling efforts."

The top award in the Sustainable Processes category went to a project from BMW, Bcomp Ltd., Gradel Lightwent Sarl and Lasso engineering for the BMW M Visionary Materials Seat, which uses recycled polester, flax fiber biocomposites and leather alternatives for a seat with a composite structure that can be made from plant-based plastics, carbon, basalt, glass fiber or natural fibers.

The winner of the Module Lightweighting division went to a thermoplastic battery module for electric vehicles from Syensqo — formerly part of Solvay — and General Motors Co. that offers a 37 percent weight reduction and 25 percent cost savings over traditional aluminum material.

The runner-up in the lightweighting category was a composite seat structure for the second row of Toyota Tacoma trucks. The project was led by Toyota, U.S. Farathane and BASF Corp. The structure has 20 percent less mass and has just four molded parts vs. 55 parts in the standard part.

A natural fiber composite from CompositeEdge GmbH took the top award in enabling technology, while the winner of the Future of Lightweighting competition went to Weav3D, Braskem and the Clemson Composites Center for a composite lattice-reinforced polypropylene sheet that could be used in body structures.

The potential sell-off of Berry Global Group Inc. businesses may be getting bigger.

Plastics News' Jim Johnson writes that at the Evansville, Ind.-based packaging company's Aug. 2 quarterly earnings call, CEO Kevin Kwilinski said earlier estimates of the value of its divestitures may go higher than expected.

"We're in various stages of discussions with a handful of businesses that kind of add up to actually, if all were executed, would be more than the billion dollars," he said.

Berry already has a deal to spin off its Health, Hygiene and Specialties division and join it to Glatfelter Corp.'s specialties nonwovens and films business to create the new company Magnera.

Tropical Storm Debby, which made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in Florida on Aug. 5, looks like most of its impact will be in the form of heavy rains and severe flooding along the Atlantic Coast between northern Florida and South Carolina.

Up to 20 inches of rain could fall near Savannah, Ga., home to an international port that handles about 35 container ships per year. But even if Debby doesn't cause much damage, the National Hurricane Center is tracking other storms in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific that are continuing to point toward a busy storm season.

The Hurricane Center is currently watching tropical storms Carlotta, Daniel, Emilia and Fabio. Most of them are off the coast of Mexico and not expected to approach the U.S. In July, Hurricane Beryl prompted shutdowns of chemical plants on the U.S. Gulf Coast.