Speaker interview: Miriam Jiménez Serrallé, AIMPLAS
We would like to introduce our next speaker in the interview series, Miriam Jiménez Serrallé who is Food Contact and Packaging Laboratory Leader at AIMPLAS. She will be speaking at the Polymer Testing World Expo.
AIMPLAS is a technology centre with more than 30 years of experience in the plastics industry. They provide solutions to companies throughout the value chain, from raw material manufacturers to plastic processors and end users. They also contribute adding value to companies so that they can create wealth and provide employment.
What do you think sets your company apart from your competitors?
We work to solve the challenges facing the use of plastic in today’s society in order to improve people’s quality of life and ensure environmental sustainability. We have cutting-edge machinery for developing projects, provide customized assistance to solve processing problems and legislation requirements, and also we offer specialized training on many sectors (agriculture, recycling, food contact, characterisation, construction…).
Are there any new technology developments that your company is working on at the moment?
Our facilities have over 12000 m2 with more than 35 pilot plants, and our laboratories have the highest number of accreditations for plastics according to the UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17025 standard. We promote the use of advanced technologies such as Dispersion and rheology of mixtures; Processing of thermoplastic materials with continuous fibres; Development of advanced curing systems in composites; Reactive extrusion; Foaming of thermoplastic and thermosetting materials and Multifunctional structures and hybrid materials.
What are the biggest challenges facing the industry today, and how can this be overcome?
We are currently working to provide plastics recycling solutions, providing technical support to companies on the achievement of the Blue Angel ecolabel for example, and we have an expert accredited to perform the audits to obtain the EuCertPlast or RecyClass Certification. In addition, we are helping customers in terms of Circular Economy of plastics by eco-design services, life cycle assessment, and the Designed to Be Reusable Certification.
How do you see the sector developing in the next five to ten years?
In my opinion the plastic sector will be focusing on the same research lines we are performing nowadays like the development of sustainable materials such as bioplastics, recycled material and plastic waste recovery to obtain value-added monomers and purifying them, nanotechnology to improve materials and biotechnology to develop new plastics.
What are you most looking forward to at this year’s show?
Miriam Jiménez Serrallé will be sharing her insights at the Polymer Testing World Expo.