MATERIALS | ADDITIVES


with a PA barrier leads to a “significant reduction in defects and the ability to load a high amount of barrier material back in”, said Fulmer. GreenMantra Technologies, another exhibitor at


Compounded at a 2% level with a frac-melt PCR HDPE resin, GreenMantra A120 PE additive increases extruder throughput by 27% Source: GreenMantra


at Compounding World Expo in Cleveland. “If you can have a drop-in solution, that’s a seamless way to solve a problem,” he said. The company identified the growing plastics


Right: Gel formation in film produced with recycled content can be reduced with additives


recycling sector as strategically important around five to six years ago. Fulmer said Struktol recog- nised that recyclers wanted to increase the value of their products through recompounding but were looking for a certain price-performance ratio in the additives they needed to use. The company is finding success selling additives to recyclers not just in North America, but also countries in Europe, and in Japan and Russia. “We see a lot more acceptance of the idea of using additives, especially on the engineered plastics side,” said Fulmer. The company has focused particularly on polyamide and polycarbon- ate compounds, in addition to PP compounds. “There are some real opportunities to make significantly improved recycled compounds.” There is a lot of work being done by companies in the automotive sector wanting to use recyclate, he said.


Multiple performance benefits


mean that Struktol additives can be used in various applications. TR 052, for example, is a compatibi- liser for PP and PE, but it also acts as a dispersing agent and flow modifier. It has been shown to improve the processability and perfor- mance of mixed recycled streams, the company says. The use of TR 052 for recycling PE film


18 PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | July/August 2019


Compounding World Expo in May, is a Canadian company that set up in the sustainable materials sector with investment from funding agencies and private finance groups. Based in Brantford, Ontario, the company has developed a thermo-catalytic system and patented process to convert waste plastics, including hard-to-recycle materials such as grocery bags and film, into high-value waxes and other specialty chemicals. These materials can be used as an additive in PP and PE compounds, and in applications in the coatings, adhesives, roofing and paving industries. The company is also pursuing polystyrene recycling using patented catalytic depolymerisation technology -- in May it signed a joint development agreement with Ineos Styrolution. GreenMantra’s Ceranovus PP and PE additives, derived from recycled plastics, act as melt flow modifiers, performance enhancers and processing aids. Ceranovus A120 PE additive, for example, increases melt flow rates by more than 50%, the company says. At the same time, it maintains flexural modulus, tensile strength, IZOD perfor- mance and density. In a trial, PCR HDPE pellets were produced with Ceranovus A120 loaded 2% and 4% and also without the additive, then injection moulded into parts and blow moulded into bottles. Pellet melt flow rate increased by 58% and part melt flow by 39% for both compounds with the additive compared with the control. Elongation increased by 19% for the 2% loading and 62% for the 4% loading versus the control. Drop testing of bottles demonstrated reduced breakage by more than 50%, said the company. At the Plastics Recycling Technology Conference in Düsseldorf, Germany in June, additives for recycled polymers was the subject for a paper by Isabel Arroyo, Application Technology Leader for Packaging Sustainabil- ity at Dow – which now also owns products developed by DuPont, following the merger of the two groups. She presented case studies for some of Dow’s broad range of functional polymers, copolymers, alloys and elastomers that can be used for


PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK


enhancing post-industrial and post-consumer recyclate, including its brands Elvaloy, Intune, Retain and


www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com


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