Case study
Innovative, sustainable drug delivery with Covestro polycarbonate
Covestro’s new line of healthcare-grade products — including Medical low friction Makrolon®, Medical glass filled Makrolon®, high flow Makrolon®, and Bayblend® — bring new levels of performance and sustainability to the medical device market with an all-polycarbonate device.
To demonstrate the advantages of its portfolio of healthcare-grade polycarbonates, Covestro has developed a concept drug delivery device that uses polycarbonate solutions, each purpose-built for medical applications. Solving multiple problems at once, the demonstration unit has parts that are low-friction, durable and dimensionally stable . Thanks to the custom in-mold design of the parts, the unit can be built without fasteners, making for simple disassembly at the end of life and making it easy to separate out bio-contaminated components.
Covestro’s healthcare-grade polycarbonate solutions address multiple challenges in building sustainable healthcare products, including reducing weight, allowing smooth, controllable action, and maintaining toughness, rigidity, and dimensional stability under spring load and after radiation sterilization. Until now, drug delivery devices would require tedious sorting with a variety of materials used in various components. Now, with an all-polycarbonate device, minimal sorting would be required. At the end of life, the unit can be quickly and easily disassembled, then sorted into contaminated and non-contaminated components for easier disposal or recycling. This also helps reduce medical waste.
The drug-delivery demonstration device uses four different medical-grade polycarbonate solutions. High flow medical Makrolon® and Bayblend® materials allow for thin-walled designs that reduce weight while maintaining toughness and are available in both opaque and transparent styles. Molded-in features and no added fasteners makes for simple end-of-life disassembly, with easy separation of bio-contaminated parts. Components can also be made with Medical Makrolon® RE, which maintains Covestro’s traditional quality while incorporating attributed renewable content resulting in a low carbon footprint.
We believe the medical industry is overdue for a sustainability revolution. This unit shows ways to innovate on multiple fronts to maintain or improve effectiveness while simplifying use and enhancing safety and sustainability.
Key Benefits
- Sustainable Parts are easily sorted for recycling at end of life.
- Low friction Smoother action, reduced noise, and longer life for components.
- Cosmetic flexibility Available in clear, opaque, and colorable options.
- Sterilizable via radiation Can be used many times without degradation.
- Improved strength Glass-filled Makrolon® provides additional stiffness and strength.
