SUSTAINABILITY | ADDITIVES FOR RECYCLING
Above: Ampacet’s Silky Bliss range of masterbatches are optimised for effective NIR sorting
Monte. He says the additive allows in-situ organo- metallic polymer catalysis that also couples and compatibilises interfaces. The catalysis effect increases polymer flow and
creates new co-polymers, rather than just alloys, Monte says. These copolymers have better me- chanical strength than polymer blends, which allows use of higher levels of PCR. The Ken-React additive is available in a master-
batch pellet or powder form. Monte says that when compounding with the concentrate, melt tempera- tures should be maintained at about 10% lower than normal to regain the shear energy needed for reactive compounding. The additive can compati- bilise any post-consumer recycle mixture, even with the typically wide mix of fillers, carbon black, and other contaminants. “Any organic materials remaining after washing, such as oils, are compatibilised through proton coordination. And any calcium carbonate in the
mixture is coupled to the polymer, which improves properties,” says Monte. The additive is said to work with any mix of polymers, including polyole- fins, PA, and PET, which means it can be used to compatibilise a mixed PCR stream. Imerys offers an extensive portfolio of mineral additives for plastics compounds and, for the recycling sector, has developed ImerLink, which is described as an engineered mineral specifically designed to compatibilise recycled blends of PE and PP. However, the company says that its talc products can also added to recycled plastic com- pounds (as well as virgin compounds) to restore mechanical performance. “As talc is chemically inert, thermally stable and is not affected by multi-pass extrusion, it can be recycled indefinitely without losing its initial properties,” says the company. Adding talcs to recycled PP increases composite
stiffness, according to Imerys, which says that ultra-fine talcs can be used at lower incorporation rates and provide the added advantage of increas- ing impact and scratch resistance. The company says it has a full range of talc grades with different fineness, enabling recycled plastics producers to select a grade that provides the optimum cost/ performance ratio for their requirements.
Maximising value One of the challenges in extracting maximum value from most post-consumer recyclate (PCR) is in the process of separating the mixed incoming stream — which will typically contain PET, HDPE, PP, PE, and other materials — into purer streams that can be processed and re-used. Many material recovery facilities (MRFs) are set up to sort out PET and
MAAG Group is the Partner for the Polymer Processing Industry worldwide. All of our inte-
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Integrated Systems for Polymer Processing
grated solutions from Pump and Filtration Sys- tems to Pelletizing and Pulverizing systems to Recycling Systems have an outstanding perfor- mance for demanding customer requirements.
IMAGE: AMPACET
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