AMSTERDAM (September 11, 2018) – Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE), a global specialty materials company, today announced it has signed an agreement with Protective Film Solutions (Europe) Ltd.® to become an exclusive partner for retrofitting existing freezer doors with Celanese’s Clarifoil® cellulose diacetate anti-fog film in grocery stores and supermarkets in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
“Protective Film Solutions has selected Celanese’s sustainably sourced Clarifoil anti-fog film to help deliver a more convenient and enjoyable customer experience by keeping grocery store freezer doors free from fogging, as well as eliminating the need to repeatedly open and shut doors, which helps save energy for retail store operators and reduce electricity spend,” said Stephen Ball, Managing Director, Protective Film Solutions. “According to broad industry research, retail grocery stores can reduce their energy spend by as much as 1.5-2.0 kilowatt hours (KWH) per day per freezer door if they use this anti-fog film. Presuming a 75 door retail store, this translates into a cost savings of between £5000-£10,000 per store, per annum and a reduction of the equivalent of approximately 31 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. We are looking forward to not only the energy reduction opportunities for our retail grocery store customers, but also the improved customer experience the Clarifoil film will deliver.”
Clarifoil is a leading product line of sustainably sourced and biodegradable cellulose diacetate films, which has also recently been accredited with the Plastic Free™ trust mark. Primary grades include films suitable for applications such as anti-fog, bio-packaging, carton windows, print lamination, labels, tapes, thermoforming, optical, casino chips, etc., in industries which serve luxury consumer goods, product packaging, pharmaceutical/medical, electronics, construction, advertising, entertainment and anti-counterfeit.
“We regularly develop new grades of Clarifoil film, each based on cellulose diacetate, to meet stringent customer demands, including tamper-evident labels and seals, to thermoformed food containers, to high-end packaging and optical applications,” said Kevin Parker, Director of Celanese’s Clarifoil business.
In addition to Clarifoil, Celanese has a history of supporting and developing end-uses for acetate flake and acetate tow outside of primary filtration applications. Currently, in close cooperation with two partners, Celanese is in the process of developing and commercializing several applications such as coatings, medical wound dressing and face masks.
“Building upon our 100 years of history in this business, Celanese continues to invest to find new ways for using sustainable acetate flake and acetate tow materials beyond textiles, filtration, luxury packaging, plastics and insulation. We are pleased with the recent successes in Clarifoil and the growth of our project pipeline to achieve that goal,” said Harald Bruggeman, Vice President of Sales, Celanese cellulose derivatives business.
