COMPATIBILISERS | MATERIALS


Overcoming differences: what’s new in compatibilisers


Getting immiscible polymers from mixed waste streams to work together requires the input of specialist additives companies. Peter Mapleston reports on their latest offerings


One day in the not-too-distant future, automatic sorting equipment that can create single-polymer streams from mixed post-consumer waste may be a commonplace feature. Until then, recycling and compounding companies will continue to call on special additives to compatibilise plastics that are normally immiscible in order to provide improved, consistent, performance. If you relish a challenge, somewhere in the wide range of solutions available to you could be the answer you are looking for. Here are just a few of the latest developments. A solution for compatibilising polyethylene with


polypropylene – two non-polar polymers that are incompatible nevertheless – is now being upscaled from the laboratory. Intermix Performance Materi- als in Ithaca, New York, is a start-up that was found-


www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com


ed last year on ethylene-propylene multi-block compatibiliser additive technology licensed from Cornell University in the US. One of its founders, Principal Investigator Ting-Wei Lin, says: “High-den- sity polyethylene and isotactic polypropylene (iPP), the world’s most manufactured commodity plastics, share similar optical properties, which makes the sorting process between these two plastics chal- lenging in large scale. Despite the resemblance in chemical structures, HDPE and iPP are immiscible with each other and therefore result in brittle and valueless materials when melt-blended. This has hampered the recycling efficiency of these plastics. Only less than 7 wt.% and 1 wt.% of HDPE and iPP, respectively, are reportedly recycled.” Working with plastics recyclers, Intermix obtained


Main image: Teaming up polymers can benefit recycling


May/June 2022 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 27


IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK


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