RECYCLING | ADDITIVES Compatibilisers
New technologies for compatibilising dissimilar materials in compounds with recycled content have been discussed in detail in previous articles (see Plastics Recycling World May 2025 issue). Compatibilisers can be used to enable recycling of
multimaterial, multilayer edge trim back into multilayer films, for example. The Polarfin PD41 diblock copolymer compatibiliser from Interface Polymers can be used in this type of multimaterial, multilayer film application to disperse PA or EVOH into a PE matrix. The company scaled up production earlier this year and has formulated a master- batch product for large-scale customer trials. Lotader recycling agents from SK Functional Polymer include products used for compatibilising EVOH with PE. Other compatibilisers are in development for compatibilis- ing small amounts of PE contaminants in a PET or PA 6 recycling stream, to prevent property degradation. Compatibilisers and coupling agents are also used to enhance reinforcing fibres or fillers in a polymer compound and can be particularly important for compounds with recycled content. Tisan Engineering Plastics said that its EcoStar brand includes PA with PIR content and PP with PIR or PCR content; both PA and PP compounds use a variety of reinforcements or fillers to improve mechanical and processing performance. “The most significant challenge in working with recycled polymer materials is the raw material’s instability, because of impurities in recycled polymers [that] can cause poor poly- mer-fibre interface adhesion and surface problems, which can lead to poor thermal and mechanical performance,” the company said. The company uses compatibilisers to prevent these problems by providing better adhesion between polymers and fillers. The Olebond 7401 PH3 compatibiliser is specifically developed for PP-based compounds. Olebond 7403 OE2 is suitable for PA-based compounds containing recyclate and can increase impact properties. The US Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) and the
EU’s RecyClass organisation support recyclability through test methods that evaluate whether a plastic product is recyclable. Additives for recycled materials can also be evaluated and recognised, so that processors can consider the information when choosing material formulations. Various existing commercial compatibilisers have been evalulated and recognised as not interfering with recycling at certain levels in given polymers. For example, last year, Kraton’s CirKular+ C1000 and C1010 Compatibilisation Series and CirKular+ C2000 Performance Enhancement Series received Critical Guidance Recognition from APR for use in PE flexible films. CirKular+ additives had previously received the APR Critical Guidance Recognition for use in PP containers and HDPE bottles and had been certified as compatible with HDPE and PP container recycling in Europe by Plastics Recyclers Europe and the RecyClass system. The European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP) offers
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