From Partnership to Production: How traceless® and CompriseTec Advance Natural Polymers in Injection Moulding
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
For several years now, we have been working closely together with CompriseTec to evaluate and refine the industrial processability of traceless® materials in injection moulding. What began as early stage trials has developed into a long-term collaboration centered around one key question:
Can natural polymer-based materials meet the real demands of industrial injection moulding?
As an experienced injection moulding specialist, CompriseTec brings deep expertise in what defines industrial readiness - from processing stability and cycle times to reproducibility and scalability.
For traceless®, this partnership is essential. As a natural polymer-based thermoplastic, our material represents a new material class. However, scaling new materials requires more than innovation - it requires industrial validation.
With injection moulding being a key processing technology for traceless®, feasibility must be proven in practice, on machines and existing production lines.
Together with CompriseTec, we continuously test, evaluate and optimize traceless® materials under real production conditions, steadily bridging the gap between innovation and industrial implementation.
In the following conversation, Dr. Simon Kaysser, Head of Engineering & Operations at CompriseTec, and Philipp Mechelk, Injection Moulding Application Engineer at traceless®, share insights from this long-standing collaboration and discuss what industrial readiness truly means from
both the converter’s and the material developer’s perspective.
Interview
With Dr. Simon Kaysser, Head of Engineering & Operations at CompriseTec, and Philipp Mechelk, Injection Moulding Application Engineer at traceless®
To Simon (CompriseTec): How did the collaboration between CompriseTec and traceless® begin - and what motivated you to work with a natural polymer-based material?
''traceless® and CompriseTec share a strong background from their beginnings at the TU Hamburg. CompriseTec, also founded as a start-up 20 years ago based on a product idea from the Polymer institute, always stayed deeply connected in the framework of institutes and start-ups here in Hamburg.
Since around 10 years, CompriseTec is focusing more and more on generating impact through sustainable innovation in the polymer and composite industry. We worked with a wide range of different bio based thermoplastics and thermosets. But there was always a missing link between bio based materials, the life-cycle impact and real biodegradability. Having a polymer background from TU Hamburg myself, it was a natural move to connect with Anne (traceless®' CEO & Co-Founder) in an early stage of traceless® to see, how we can combine our skills to achieve exactly that.''
To Simon: From your perspective, what makes natural polymer-based materials interesting for injection moulding?
''The answer is easy. If we look at polymer products ending up in the environment, injection moulded parts play a significant role. Of course, there are many alternative materials for single-use plastic products – but they are always a compromise regarding stability, comfort, mouthfeel and sometimes also safety. Let’s just think about paper straws and rough wooden spoons.
Of course, reusable solutions are also a great idea, but depending on the application limited regarding polymer degradation, possible microplastic pollution and the difficulty of making return systems work. Especially, for single-use applications, natural polymer-based materials are the best solution. However, the processability in industrial grade injection moulding processes is a fixed requirement.''
To Philipp (traceless®): Why was it important for traceless® to work closely with an experienced injection moulding partner from early on?
''Injection moulding is one of the key processing technologies for traceless®, but as a natural polymer-based thermoplastic, our material behaves slightly differently from conventional fossil-based polymers. That means we cannot rely solely on theoretical data or lab-scale trials. We need feedback directly from industrial production environments.
Working with CompriseTec allows us to evaluate the material under realistic processing conditions - including mould geometry, cycle time requirements and process parameters.
This collaboration ensures that our development is always aligned with industrial reality, not just material science.''
To Simon: When evaluating a new material, what are the most critical criteria for you as a converter?
''The market for injection moulded products, especially for large scale production, is strongly dictated by price. Having an environmentally friendly material with great product properties and aesthetics is a good starting point. But if scalability is the goal, then the material has to perform in industrial grade injection moulding processes. What does that mean?
That means the process stability has to be comparable to conventional polymers. Only a stable process can be fast as well as resource and cost-effective – running on multi-cavity tools with short cycle-times.
Since injection moulding is a complex process, the number of variables is high. When using new and natural based materials even higher. Evaluating the process stability of new materials therefore requires real world process setup, tools and trials.''
To Simon: How does traceless® perform on standard injection moulding equipment during your trials?
''Of course, as for any new material class, there are some points to be considered using traceless® in injection moulding. Any material behaves differently and especially new materials without decades of process models and simulation data available require material insight as well as mould design and processing experience.
That being said, we only use standard injection moulding machines and equipment to process traceless® material. In the framework of our cooperation, we produced small to medium quantities of parts using traceless® with no major changes necessary to the moulds and machines. Currently, we focus on upscaling trials to evaluate the long term processing properties of the material in a semi-continuous production using hot-runner multi cavity moulds.''
To Philipp: From a material development perspective, what does “industrial readiness” mean for traceless®?
''For us, industrial readiness means that the material performs where it matters most: on existing production lines.
That includes:
Processability on standard injection moulding machines (hydraulic/electric)
Compatibility with cold- and hot-runner systems
Processing with similar process parameters compared to conventional polymers
Lower processing temperatures compared to many conventional plastics (110-130 °C)
Suitability for multi-cavity moulds
Scalability beyond pilot stage
At the same time, traceless® remains biobased and plastic-free, based on natural polymers from agricultural residues, and certified home-compostable. Balancing industrial performance and biological circularity is what defines our development approach.''
To Philipp: How do you approach optimising traceless® materials for injection moulding applications?
''Our development process combines laboratory research with continuous feedback from industrial partners. In our lab, we work on developing and refining material formulations based on natural polymers. Promising formulations are then transformed into granulate that can be processed on industrial injection moulding machines.
These materials are tested together with converters and industrial partners, such as CompriseTec, under real processing conditions. Their feedback is extremely valuable for us, and fed directly back into our development process and helps us further optimize the material. In that sense, industrial processing requirements strongly guide our research, because ultimately the material needs to perform reliably in real production environments.''
To Simon: How important is it that a material runs on existing lines without major changes?
''Very. In order to achieve a fast transition from conventional thermoplasts to new sustainable alternatives, existing production lines and facilities - from an economical and ecological standpoint - have to be used. Injection moulding machines are cost-intensive long running assets, which for a lot of companies, especially smaller and medium sized companies, cannot be replaced that fast. Of course, new materials and new products require new moulds. But the existing production lines have to be used to achieve a market driven transformation at scale.''
To Philipp: What does scalability mean for a new natural polymer-based material like traceless®?
''Scalability means consistency. It means that material properties remain stable as production volumes increase. It means batch-to-batch reliability. And it means defined processing windows that allow converters to plan confidently.
Scaling a new material class requires not only technical development, but also strong industrial partnerships. Only through continuous testing under real production conditions can we ensure that traceless® moves from promising trials to reliable industrial implementation.''
To Simon: Where do you see the biggest potential for traceless® in injection moulding applications?
''traceless® has a truly unique combination between being natural polymer-based, processability, conformity to regulations like the EU SUPD as well as biodegradability. Therefore, traceless® is a great solution for products, that are already produced using injection moulding. Especially for products with shorter product lifetimes, products that are difficult to recycle, or for products that have a high risk of environmental leakage.''
To Simon: What advice would you give other converters evaluating new sustainable material classes?
''Since new materials often lack reliable simulation data, real world trials are mandatory to avoid inefficient product and mould design and allow for precise production planning. If you have the means to run - production tests inhouse and evaluate the processing as well as product properties, plan ahead and do that. Of course, it always helps and accelerates the process, talking to an engineering supplier and converter like us, who already has years of experience and insight on the specific material.''
A big thank you to our partner CompriseTec.
Industrial transformation does not happen through innovation alone.
It happens through partnerships that combine material expertise with processing experience.
The collaboration between traceless® and CompriseTec shows how new material classes can move step by step from development to industrial validation, and ultimately into scalable production. So they can make the impact they are innovated for, at scale.
Would you like to know more about our material grades for injection moulding? Reach out to our team on sales@traceless.eu