Antimicrobials | additives feature
Keep it clean: antimicrobial additives for plastics
The world has a growing need for antimicrobials, but restrictions on what chemicals can be used are increasing too. Suppliers are responding with new solutions, and some of them are taking a page out of Mother Nature’s book of common cures to help them with the task. The task is made more diffi cult by the rise of
organisms that are resistant to antibiotics. “Embedded antimicrobials that are effective against antibiotic resistant organisms can play a vital role in controlling the growth of these organisms on surfaces and potentially limiting the spread of these resistant organisms,” notes Lise Moloney, director of business development for healthcare at Sciessent. Few antimicrobials that are acceptable for use in
human contact are stable enough to survive the high temperatures used to process many thermoplastics. One of the few exceptions is silver. Several companies offer silver-based antimicrobials, Sciessent being among them. Silver-containing antimi- crobials protect against the unwanted effects of microbes, like bacteria, mould fungi, mildew, yeasts and algae – all of which can cause material destruction, unsightly stains, cross contamination, odour development and biofi lm formation.
www.compoundingworld.com
Peter Mapleston reviews a wide range of new developments in
antimicrobials for polymers, including new additives that take their inspiration from nature
Sciessent’s Agion is a controlled-release antimicro-
bial technology that works through an ion exchange process to control the release of the active ion. An inert zeolite carrier can be charged with silver ions, copper ions and/or zinc ions. Sciessent has several grades with different combinations of the metal ions and some with just a single type of metal ion. The zeolite is very stable and can handle the
temperatures and shear forces seen in compounding and other typical manufacturing processes. It is hygroscopic, “but with simple handling steps moisture adsorption can be avoided and the material can be processed without issues,” Moloney says. Moloney cites as an example a catheter company
that wanted its devices to be antimicrobial on both the internal and external surfaces. It uses Sciessent’s Agion
July 2014 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 21
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