Polyolefin-coated fabrics an alternative to PVC

A project will produce polyolefin-coated fabrics as an alternative to PVC to make bags for transporting fresh water by sea.

The TARPAULIFE Project is looking for more sustainable recyclable materials to replace the PVC-coated polyester tarpaulins commonly used in lorries and coverings.

As a result, a production plant for these fabrics will be set up with a production capacity of 250,000 m2 per year.

Two 2,500 m3 floating water bags will be manufactured with the new material to transport fresh water to the North Sea and the Mediterranean.

Tarpaulins are large sheets of strong, flexible, water-resistant material used for protection from extreme conditions. The most common material used to make them is PVC-coated polyester, which is characterized by its low price and good resistance. However, PVC is more difficult to recycle than other plastics.

The European TARPAULIFE Project aims to demonstrate the possibility of manufacturing large-area polyolefin coated fabrics such as polyethylene and polypropylene that can compete in terms of cost with PVC-coated fabrics while maintaining their properties of strength, flexibility, impermeability and lower environmental impact. This new material will be used to manufacture bags for transporting fresh water by sea, although this innovative, more sustainable and recyclable fabric can also be applied to other products, such as tarpaulins commonly used in lorries and coverings.

Rina Consulting is coordinating this project co-financed by the European LIFE Programme with the participation of the companies Ziplast, Nowa and Giovanardi, and the Plastics Technology Centre (AIMPLAS).

The main result of the project will be a production facility of three-metre-wide polyolefin-coated fabrics with a production capacity of 250,000 m2/year one year after termination of the project, which started in May 2024 and will last for two years. The main application selected is water bags, which represent an innovative way of transporting large amounts of fresh water by sea, as opposed to the usual forms of transport in tankers.

Solving water supply problems in a sustainable way

This technology was developed mainly to transport water from high-production areas that are relatively close to areas with supply problems due to episodes of drought, seasonal increases in demand due to tourism and even to respond to emergency situations. This initiative has already resulted in the REFRESH and XXL-REFRESH Projects financed by the European Commission, in which AIMPLAS, RINA and Ziplast participated, and which successfully tested a floating water bag with a modular design and a zip connection. The aim of the TARPAULIFE Project is to go one step further with the coating material of these polyester bags and replace PVC with polyolefins so they are more sustainable and easier to recycle.

As demonstrators of the project, two 2,500 m3 water bags will therefore be made with the new material for testing in two locations in Europe. Demonstration of the water bag will provide a backup freshwater reservoir in the North Sea off the coast of Iceland and in the Mediterranean.

Thanks to this new production plant for polyolefin-coated fabrics, which will be located at the Ziplast facility in Milan, it is anticipated that more than 100 water bags will be produced three years after project end and more than two million cubic metres of water will be stored at three fresh water storage sites. The proposed solution will help avoid incineration of more than 2,000 tonnes of PVC and prevent more than 13 tonnes of CO2 from being released into the environment.

The project also includes replication of the results in other sectors, namely, the production of eco-friendly truck tarps and glacier tarpaulins, and a demonstration of the sustainability of the new polyolefin fabric coating solution by quantifying the environmental and LCA-LCC benefits compared to the use of PVC-coated fabrics for all intended applications.

The TARPAULIFE Project is co-financed by the European Union through the LIFE Programme with file number 101147948 – LIFE23-ENV-IT-TARPAULIFE.