SUSTAINABILITY | COMPOUND INNOVATION
Above: Compounding plays a key part in the sustainability research work carried out at Aimplas in Spain
what is available, inevitably driving market demand for sustainable compounds,” Roca adds. The picture is different for bio-based polymer compounds. “Bioplastics rely strongly on availabil- ity, which is currently at a rate too low to keep up with market demand. This demand is linked to the fact that companies grow and develop rapidly through the development of new bioplastics, such as compostable renewable resources. To close the gap between supply and demand, companies need to be able to obtain similar properties to those conventional polymers can be subjected to in injection moulding applications and provide higher technical performance,” he says. “Another factor driving market demand is linked
to natural additives, but this is made more compli- cated by the low thermal stability of these materi- als. At this time more research is needed in this field before natural additives can be used for sustainable compounds,” Roca explains. Aimplas says the key common trend driving new developments is availability, linked to price and performance. From a technology angle, it says a variety of problems are yet to be resolved as far as the matrix materials are concerned. “However, compounding is not a complex process and once this matrix is more universally understood, it will have a knock-on effect where there is more availability at the right quality,” says Roca. “For recycled materials specifically, the problems we see most often besides availability - which is not a technical issue - are quality and consistency. These issues include odours, rheology, colours and stabilisation, all of which are crucial to boost the reintroduction of recycled material in the value chain,” he says. Roca says he sees interest growing in recycling of complex materials where compounding equip-
44 COMPOUNDING WORLD | February 2023
ment is carrying out the most critical operations, such as decontamination, controlled degradation and de-crosslinking. Another area of interest is how to remove legacy additives, such as flame retardants, stabilisers and plasticisers. “For new bioplastics, mechanical performance and rheology such as melt strength, are the main challenges,” he says. “The main interest is finding new natural bio-based polymers that can be converted into bioplastics to boost renewability and to profit from biowastes of bio by-products. The reformulation of PHA, as well as compounds with other types besides PHBs, are also the next areas of interest.” AIMPLAS is currently working with new types of bioplastics based on biowaste from different sources. It aims to understand how to make these compounds more processable and to engineer them to behave like conventional bioplastics, which is not always possible. It is now looking for new renewable fillers, possibly sourced from agricul- tural waste, and renewable natural additives such as flame retardants.
Customer expectations The Netherlands-based Wittenburg Group, which includes Witcom Engineering Plastics, also argues that sustainable compounds are now very much expected by customers. “Sustainable compounds are increasingly a qualifier, instead of a differentia- tor,” says Vice-Director Anne Looije-Traa. “The demand for sustainable compounds keeps
increasing. However, it is also difficult to determine and prove what exactly a sustainable compound is — it depends on which angle you look at it from,” she says. “Market demand for sustainable compounds is being driven by increasing concerns about climate change, resource depletion, and waste and pollu- tion and resulting health effects. Although every global market has its own context and therefore the main focus may differ between them.” Looije-Traa says that the main trend driving new developments in sustainable compounding is circularity, including the use of recycled and/or renewable materials but also the need to design- for-recycling. “Together with the whole value chain, we should
redesign products in a more circular way,” she says. “This requires more transparency between partners throughout the design stage. At the end all partners, as well as society, should gain something from participating in the development and gener- ating added value, otherwise the endeavour will not be sustainable and viable.” Other problems requiring solutions include
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IMAGE: AIMPLAS
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