PIGMENTS | COLOUR
This has an impact beyond Europe, Lazerme
says, pointing out that customers in other world regions tend to follow often-stricter EU legislation. In addition, some market areas, such as apparel (textiles and shoes for example) have their own lists of restricted substances. Brand owners may also have restricted substance lists that suppliers must follow. An example of a new pigment being developed to meet these multiple market and regional requirements is a greenish yellow pigment with no PCBs that the company plans to launch in the autumn (fall) of 2023. Biodegradable and compostable plastics place
Above: Lanxess now offers verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for most of its Bayferrox synthetic iron oxide pigments
Targeting carbon A growing level of enquiries for reliable values for carbon footprint of pigments is also reported by Philippe Lazerme, Head of Marketing Plastics at Heubach Group. He attributes this to the increas- ing number of masterbatch producers — and masterbatch customers — that have set up targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Certified values from suppliers are important in order to reliably calculate Scope 3 greenhouse gas emis- sions, explaining why the company is launching a range of pigments supported with certified carbon footprint values. Pigment users are also concerned about the
presence of chemicals such as PFAS or polychlorin- ated biphenyl (PCB). “In Europe, stricter legislation for specific substances, such as lower limits for PCBs in pigments that are produced or sold in the European market, have triggered requests for purer pigments,” says Lazerme.
specific requirements on pigments and Heubach has a full range of pigments for such applications that are certified as “OK Compost,” according to Marc Zwart, Technical Manager at the company. Higher colour strength can also improve sustain- ability by requiring lower levels of pigment usage. He says that Heubach recently increased the colour strength of two of the company’s yellow pigments by up to 20% for this reason. “The increased usage of post-consumer recy-
clate in new plastic packaging represents a challenge for the masterbatch industry, and pigment experts can help chose the right pigments to get appealing colours,” Zwart says. Colorants with high chroma are helpful in these cases. Recyclability after use should also be considered. “Heubach also has a range of pigments that can withstand several recycling loops (and, conse- quently, repeated heat cycles) without releasing harmful substances,” he says. Among Heubach’s new pigment additions is the Ultrazur ultramarine blue, which is said to be
Forecasting a ‘balanced’ colour future
The ColorForward forecast, developed by Avient’s ColorWorks team, looks ahead to the colours and effects likely to be favoured by consumers in 2024. “Purples and greens were the main protagonists of ColorForward 2023 showing an interesting duality between the natural world and the artificial one, but there were also stark contrasting colours underlining a year of ambiguity and contrast,” says Roberto Romanin, Designer at Color- Works EMEA. “The 2024 palette is more harmonious and balanced, with colours more evenly distributed across the colour spectrum and only a slight emergence of the yellow and brown families. However, we also see a trend towards bright and saturated colours to represent exuberance and human expressiveness,” he says. �
www.avient.com
36 COMPOUNDING WORLD | September 2023 IMAGE: AVIENT COLORWORKS
Avient’s latest ColorForward forecast throws light on to the colour trends for 2024
www.compoundingworld.com
IMAGE: LANXESS
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