PROCESSING AIDS | BIOPLASTICS
Clariant’s Licocare range of rice bran-derived ester waxes provide a renewable processing aid option for formulators of bioplastic compounds
Sustainable waxes for bioplastics
Consumer demand for sustainable products has grown rapidly in the past few years. However, in terms of plastics, realising such a major change has not been easy. Achieving 100% sustainability even with fully renewable-sourced polymers such as polylactic acid (PLA) and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) has been limited by availability of bio-based additives – lubricants, dispersion aids, process aids, etc – to support conversion to usable goods, according to Frank Neuber, Regional Technical Segment Manager in the Additives Business Unit at Clariant Corporation in the US. What sustainable additives existed were often a cause of discolora- tion and higher cost, he says. Neuber says the use of renewables is important
to improve resource consumption. Clariant devel- oped its Licocare rice bran ester waxes to take on the challenge. The materials are based on crude natural waxes extracted from bran husk discarded during the processing of rice. These crude, or underivatised, waxes do not provide the tempera-
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ture stability and the colour specifications required for certain plastics applications. However, they contain the raw materials to make a sustainable wax with a structure based on the premium montan waxes that Clariant has produced for many years.
Established science Using established separation science, esterification techniques and reactors, Clariant developed a process to separate the underivatised bran wax into its aliphatic acids and polyols, and then to re-esterify these into high-temperature processing aids, mould releases and dispersion agents analogous to its existing montan ester waxes. According to Neuber, this processing results in ester structures with more fully-saturated aliphatic acid chains, reducing the requirement for costly bleaching and resulting in reduced colour contribution. The rice bran wax products show good organic pigment dispersion results, improved mould release properties, and high heat stability in PLA as
Main image: Natural waxes from rice husk form the basis for Clariant’s Licocare range of renewable processing aids
September 2019 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 39
PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK
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