MATERIALS | COLOURS AND MASTERBATCH
ees, who will join Avient’s Color, Additives and Inks segment. PolyOne has historically not publicly said how many operations it has per business, but sales in this segment last
year just tipped $1bn. Sorting out black
Above: PolyOne and other master- batch produc- ers have developed black colour- ants that can be detected by NIR sorting systems used in plastics recycling
There is a fair amount of comple- mentarity in the two parties’ offerings as far as colour is concerned, if recent announcements are to go by. Both have launched products that facilitate use and
reuse of blacks, and both have new additives that provide metallic finishes without the need for parts to be painted.
Back in September, for example, PolyOne unveiled OnColor RC Environmental Black, a concentrate that makes use of Bolder Black, a carbon black from Bolder Industries derived from end-of-life tyres. Production requires use of 90% less water and 61% less electricity than convention- al carbon black, and CO2
emissions are 90% less. “OnColor RC Environmental Black maintains
expected performance levels in plastics,” said PolyOne at the time. “It passes REACH and RoHS requirements and is available for use in multiple resins across a variety of industries and applica- tions, such as automotive, appliances, electronics, and office furniture.” Staying in the black colour space, PolyOne also
Right: Clariant has introduced CESA IR, a masterbatch range that makes black plastics visible to NIR sorting technology
last year launched a new portfolio of black colour- ants for plastic packaging that can be detected by near-infrared (NIR) sorting equipment. It says these will allow black waste plastic to be properly sorted at recycling facilities, something that until recently has proven very difficult to do using just NIR equipment. This is because the carbon black pigments typically used to make black and other deeply dark colours absorb all or most of the NIR light shone at them, so the sensors cannot see the black packaging. OnColor Infrared Sortable Blacks for Recyclable
Packaging contain no carbon black pigment, which PolyOne said permits the automatic optical sorting sensors used in many waste management plants to detect black polymers and sort waste into the correct recycling streams. They are available in both liquid and solid form in a range of eight black shades as well as custom colours. In June, Clariant made a similar announcement. It said new Clariant colour concepts, developed in its ColorWorks design and technology centre near Milan in Italy, “now makes it possible to explore a
32 INJECTION WORLD | July/August 2020
www.injectionworld.com
darker and more mysterious colour space entirely without the use of carbon black. Development is progressing in polyester (PET), high-density polyeth- ylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) in both virgin and post-consumer recycled (PCR) forms.” Late last year, Clariant introduced CESA IR, a masterbatch range that makes black plastics visible to NIR radiation. This effect was confirmed by testing conducted by Tomra Sorting Recycling, a leader in the field of sortation technology. “But designers want more choices than pure black,” said Clariant. The ColorWorks team undertook a project to use CESA-IR technology to develop colours that could be dark without the use of carbon black. Three colours – a dark umber, a deep velvety green, and a regal dark blue – have been created initially. “All three are really saturated so they are almost black, but the colours come through,” says the company. The range is suitable for all major packaging polymers including PET, PE and PP (including PCR resin) in all the various packaging applications, including trays, bottles, and caps. Carbon black producer Cabot has been working
with partners developing sorting technologies for post-consumer plastics to enable identification even of material containing “regular” carbon black. Cabot is also working on the inclusion of recycled carbon black. At K2019, it announced the Techblak 85 series of masterbatches, which includes formu- lations based on reclaimed carbons, post-industrial carbon black materials as well as recycled poly- mers tailored for compounding, injection moulding and non-critical film applications for use in indus- trial, packaging and consumer markets. Other masterbatch companies are pursuing
alternatives to carbon black. AF-Color has begun offering carbon-free masterbatches – these are called AF-Color IR – for NIR-detectable packaging.
IMAGE: POLYONE
IMAGE: CLARIANT
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