MATERIALS | COLOUR AND MASTERBATCH
Right: Riverdale offers liquid colour in returnable containers
US-based Riverdale Global, which supplies liquid colour in containers, has focused on meas- ures to increase efficiency and aid sustainability. During production, milling is automated with dedicated containers per pigment, which remain sealed to prevent cross-contamination and have built-in dispersion blades. The process is aided by use of both GlobalTracker software, which provides precise inventory tracking, and the Return for Refill program, whereby the company picks up custom- ers’ empty containers and refills them. The company says that due to the amount of
energy required for heating and extrusion, dispers- ing pigment into liquid uses 90% less energy than compounding into pellets and is more complete, achieving full colour strength with up to 30% less product. Another benefit is that liquid colour weighs about 75% less, which reduces transporta- tion costs, and storing it requires less warehouse space. Jared Arbeter, VP of Sales at Riverdale Global, says: “Almost every additive you use in liquid form will be more effective rather than in pellet form because we’re not adding a heat history. Any additive you are using in a masterbatch must be compounded and extruded, you’re adding a heat history when you’re producing it. With liquid, we’re blending it and the first heat history you’re getting is when the customer processes it.” He adds: “Liquid colour can also help with
Below: Teknor Apex has worked with UBQ Materials to produce colours for the latter’s
bio-based plastics
processing of PCR [post-consumer recyclate] and additional additives by easing injection pressures and wear and tear on the machine,” Arbeter adds. “By adding liquid colour, we can reduce energy use on a screw extruder in small-scale extrusion by 19% and it can also help material flow a lot better, which can be a problem with post-consumer material.” Encouragingly, the company says demand has
grown coming out of the Covid pandemic, and it has responded with new products, automation, and two new regional facilities planned in Monterrey,
Mexico and Grafton, Wisconsin, US. Avient has added recycled and bio-based polyolefin formulations to its sustainability portfolio which it showed at K2022. Maxxam REC recycled polyolefins are formulated with 25-100% recycled resin from post-industrial recycled (PIR) and post-consumer recycled (PCR) sources. Maxxam BIO bio-based polyolefins are formulated with 15-100% bio-based resin and/or natural filler from renewable plant sources. At K2022, Avient and Borealis announced the results of a joint study into the challenges of colour matching in PCR for rigid packaging.
“Insights obtained from the joint study will help value chain partners and customers take advantage of the wide range of colour options that can be enabled by the use of Borcycle M compounds (mechanically recycled polyolefins) from Borealis and colour solutions from Avient for even the most sophisticated application requirements,” says Avient. Further evidence of the increasing role bio- based plastics is playing recently came with US-based compounder Teknor Apex announcing a new colour masterbatch solution for UBQ Materials’ bio-based thermoplastic UBQ which enables it to be compounded with a broader spectrum of colours beyond the initial brown, black and grey. “Teknor’s colour masterbatch products combined with our bio-based thermoplastic strengthens our shared commitment to reshape how things are made and improve the footprint of everyday products,” says Liat Arad, VP of Marketing for UBQ Materials. “Through this new product line, manufacturers have the ability to make vibrantly coloured products while contributing to a truly circular economy.”
14 INJECTION WORLD | July/August 2023
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www.injectionworld.com
IMAGE: TEKNOR APEX
IMAGE: RIVERDALE
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