PROCESS AIDS AND LUBRICANTS | PROCESSING
Processing aid and lubricant additives enhance efficiency during compounding and converting. Jennifer Markarian finds out more
Aiding efficient production
Optimising both output rate and product quality during the compounding process requires careful consideration of both compound formulation and processing conditions. Processing aids and lubricants provide a means to improve flow in order to achieve this balance during both com- pounding and the subsequent extrusion and moulding production processes. Fluoropolymer polymer processing aids (PPAs) have long been used in plastics compounds where they have been optimised for many applications, including prevention of melt fracture in film extrusion and reduction of die build-up. Producers argue that such fluoropolymers are very different from the per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) currently making headlines due to concerns over persistence and their potentially hazardous nature. However, all fluorine-containing materials are currently being grouped together by regulators as part of the larger category of PFAS and some regulatory restrictions are anticipated by many. At the start of this year, the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) in the US announced the automatic addition of seven PFAS to the list of
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chemicals — which already includes 189 PFAS — covered by its Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). This requires operators of facilities in designated industry sectors — as well as federal facilities — that manufacture or process to report the use of TRI-listed chemicals above set quantities. The move is part of the US government’s growing concern over PFAS and follows the removal of a TRI exemp- tion by the EPA in October last year that had allowed facility operators to avoid reporting on PFAS used at small concentrations. Within the EU, meanwhile, the comment period
on a proposed ban ended in September last year and the final decision by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is pending. On 13 March 2024, ECHA announced that the Agency’s scientific committees for Risk Assessment (RAC) and for Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC) would evaluate the proposed restrictions in batches. The evalua- tion will focus on different individual grouped sectors and begins this month — the food contact materials and packaging sector is expected to be discussed in September this year. While regulators are debating, users of process-
April 2024 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 23
Main image: Process aids can help to manage problems such as the die exit flow marking due to high wall shear stress, accord- ing to Constab
IMAGE: CONSTAB POLYOLEFIN ADDITIVES/MICHAEL WEBER
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