ODOUR REDUCTION | TECHNOLOGY
New ways to combat volatile off-gases
Solutions to VOC emissions – the source of smells in cars and recyclate – are being developed by additive producers and machinery groups. By James Snodgrass
As China’s economy strengthened, and its people’s purchasing power increased, western manufacturers were keen to export their luxury cars. And we soon learned a key difference between western markets and China. In the west, secondhand car dealers will proudly boast that an only-one-owner-from-new, low-mileage, used car still has that “new car smell”. But in China that “new car smell” was regarded as malodorous and a signifier of poor quality. The odour is a mix of volatile organic chemicals
(VOCs) released by various materials in the car: adhesives, leathers, polyurethanes, rubbers and, of course, plastics. Increasingly, international regula- tory bodies, industry associations and OEMs are clamping down on emissions of certain VOCs including ethylbenzene, styrene, toluene, trimeth- ylbenzene and xylene. Here we look at the regula-
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tions on VOCs that will affect compounders, new production methods for reducing or eliminating VOCs, new methods for monitoring VOC levels, and new compounds and additives which reduce VOC off-gassing. The issue of VOCs is not just about cars. The EU
Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), finalised as Regulation (EU) 202/40, was enforced from February 2025, and becomes applicable from August 2025. The PPWR doesn’t explicitly legislate for odour, but odour reduction is implicit in its goals. The regulation pushes for greater use of post-con- sumer recyclate (PCR) – 30% rPET in food packaging by 2030, for example – and recycled plastics often contain residual VOCs such as degradation prod- ucts, printing ink residues, or absorbed contami- nants. These VOCs can migrate into food and impart
July 2025 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 37
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
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