ANTIOXIDANTS/STABILISERS | ADDITIVES
Overcapacity issues According to Clariant Adsorbents & Additives, the market for antioxidants and UV stabilisers is facing a long-lasting and deep crisis of overcapac- ity, with low demand and prices. “During the Covid period, new capacity in China has been built for antioxidants, HALS and some intermediates,” says Dr Mohamed Sidqi, Global Manager for Plastics Upstream. “Meanwhile, a decrease in polymer production rates and related market prices has put the whole industry in a difficult situation.” Sidqi adds that drivers for new developments in
antioxidants and UV stabilisers are based on natural and sustainable stabilisers, focusing mainly on antioxidants. For UV absorbers, drivers are mainly replacement of benzotriazoles, which are on the EU SVHC (substance of very high concern) list. In performance terms, one of the major obstacles
to overcome, when it comes to plastics circularity, is the need to maintain high polymer quality over multiple recycling cycles. “New concepts for polymer stabilisation and new additive solutions are required to improve original plastic quality. This is crucial for recycling, for recyclate quality and for achieving plastics circularity,” says Sidqi. “Recycling is one of the interesting technical
areas where a lot of development is being under- taken in both mechanical and chemical recycling. Most polymer producers are acquiring recycling companies or building their own recycling lines. The high cost of recycled materials, availability and quality of waste remain a real challenge. Some additive solutions largely based on traditional antioxidants are available, mainly for mono-material polymers. However, those solutions are not suffi- ciently efficient to ensure circularity,” Sidqi adds. The latest development from Clariant is Ad-
dWorks PKG 158, which was launched at the ChinaPlas trade show earlier this year. The additive is designed to improve ESCR (environmental stress-cracking resistance) and OIT (oxidative induction time) in HDPE blow moulding and related recyclate quality. The performance benefits include improved melt flow (MFR) and colour after multiple extrusions, as well as boosting mechanical performances at a lower dosing levels. As part of its Ecocircle circular plastics pro-
gramme, in which Clariant works in joint projects with a number of different partners and expert teams in the packaging sector, the company has developed a performance additive system that is claimed to maintain the properties of high-value PCR material. It is said to confirm the viability of 100% PCR content in skin and body care packaging applications. Meanwhile, the Design4Circularity project — a
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collaboration between Clariant, Siegwerk, Borealis and Beiersdorf — was launched to produce recycla- ble consumer packaging based on 100% retrieved plastic packaging waste for cosmetics applications. It aimed to develop truly circular packaging by incorporating full life cycle thinking at each development step so that a cleaner input waste stream can loop back into high-value applications. The project centred on a colourless polyolefin
bottle with 100% PCR content, which was full body sleeved in a printed deinkable shrink sleeve. Critical design parameters included polymer and additive composition, material selection of sleeve and bottle, sortability and deinking of sleeve material, recyclability and PCR quality. First sorting trials in existing recycling infrastructure proved the sortability of the full body sleeved HDPE bottle and are said to have achieved a high recovery of bottle material. Trials conducted with full body sleeved, transparent PET bottles achieved similar results.
Sustainable investment Softening demand has been evident through 2023, according to specialty additives maker SI Group, which says that restocking, initially anticipated for the middle of the year, is now shifting towards the fourth quarter. “Although demand for certain legacy products is weak, companies like SI Group are using the time to invest in their sustainability developments and innovation pipeline, while expanding product offerings such as Evercycle,” says Jeroen Frederix, Market Development Manager – Circular Economy. “Without question, the challenge of ramping up
The Design4Circularity project saw Clariant, Siegwerk, Borealis and Beiersdorf take on the challenge of creating recyclable cosmetics packaging based on 100% plastic packaging waste Image: Clariant
September 2023 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 55
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