BASF’s IrgaCycle™ Five New Polyolefin Additive Solutions Have Mutual Advantages to Increase the Content of Recycled Plastics in Products

BASF launches IrgaCycle™, a new range of additive solutions to meet the urgent needs of plastic recycling: customized solutions for post-consumer waste plastics and waste from processing, improving the reuse of recycled plastics in rigid, flexible and molding applications performance
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The new products from BASF's portfolio of plastic additives, VALERAS™, help customers achieve their sustainability goals
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Figure 2.
New additives customize solutions for different target industries to enhance the performance of mechanically recycled plastics

With increasing consumer focus on "plastic reduction" and stricter regulatory requirements, the plastics industry is actively seeking ways to increase the content of recycled polymer materials in all important applications to meet sustainability goals
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A major challenge arising from this is how to reduce the quality defects of polymers due to thermal degradation and mechanical stress during recycling
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Recycled plastics often contain impurities and polymer contaminants that can accelerate the degradation of the polymer, thereby changing the properties of the material
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This is also a quality and performance issue that recyclers and plastics processors face when dealing with recycled polymer materials
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A portfolio of composite additives can improve the properties of recycled plastics, thereby addressing the challenges of plastic recycling
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Dr.
Thomas Kloster, President of BASF's Performance Chemicals business unit, said: "As technology continues to improve and regulation improves, the production of plastics recycled by mechanical methods is expected to nearly triple by 2030, equivalent to an annual increase of around 10%.

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We are gradually expanding our existing product portfolio through IrgaCycle, providing specific recycling solutions and promoting the realization of plastic circular economy goals
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Dr.
Ge Ling, technical manager of the Asia Pacific Innovation and Technology Center of the Plastic Additives Business Unit of BASF's Performance Chemicals Division, said, "During the processing process, the previous life cycle has been enhanced and modified, and the recycling process includes cleaning, sorting, and recycling.
The degree of pollution cannot be completely guaranteed to be removed, so recycled materials have two characteristics, the first is that some materials have been degraded, and the second is that they cannot be as clean as virgin plastics
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When these plastics are used in different applications, For example, rigid packaging and flexible packaging must meet certain physical property requirements to make these products, so each additive solution must be designed according to market demands and problems that customers need to solve
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At this stage, BASF's new series of additive solutions for IrgaCycle include a total of 5 products, which are all added to polyolefins at this stage, but BASF will also provide solutions for recycled engineering plastics commonly used in automobiles and home appliances in the future
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Figure The new IrgaCycle™ solution can target the processing stability, long-term stability and outdoor aging of recycled resins

IrgaCycle PS030 G is used to enhance the long-term stability of recycled HDPE, polyolefin blends in backend rigid material applications
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According to reports, the most commonly used materials for rigid packaging are PET, HDPE and PP
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The intuitive value brought to customers is that the content of recycled materials can be increased when virgin and recycled materials are mixed, which meets the current needs of major brands to increase the content of recycled plastics in final products
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IrgaCycle PS031 G improves processability and long-term stability of recycled low density polyethylene and linear low density polyethylene for film and related flexible packaging applications
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When the film is recycled after consumption, crystal points are most likely to appear when the re-cleaned film is reprocessed.
Adding IrgaCycle PS031 G can greatly reduce the crystal point, make it more beautiful, and increase sales
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IrgaCycle PS032 G provides process stability and long-term thermal stability for recycled polypropylene and polyolefin blends containing impurities
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For example, the battery shell may experience leakage of battery electrolyte and even fillers, which cannot be completely removed in the process of recycling.
Therefore, in addition to the traditional antioxidants in the additive formula, there are other additives to remove these pollutions.
To the extent that it can still be applied to some high value-added products when it can be reused
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IrgaCycle UV033 DD provides weather resistance to recycled HDPE and PP blends while enhancing thermal and processing stability for use in outdoor applications
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Considering that more and more recycled plastics have been used in various industries or living surroundings, such as beach chairs in parks, front baskets of shared bicycles, etc.
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Therefore, the cycle is dominated by extending the plastic life cycle, and IrgaCycle UV033 DD is well suited for this
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IrgaCycle XT034 DD restores the processing stability, long-term thermal stability of the material, acting on impurities contained in the previous life cycle, thereby improving the mechanical properties of the polyolefin recyclate
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IrgaCycle XT034DD contains some components other than antioxidants, which can react with polar substances.
When the recycled plastic contains some complex components, it can still meet the needs of higher value-added applications
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The special advantage of the above product combination is the ready-to-use product form - easy to use directly in the recycling step
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The granular, dust-free product form ensures that the recovered material is safe during processing or mixing and can be easily added
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Dr.
Ge Ling mentioned that the best use window of the IrgaCycle series of additives is recommended to be added when the waste is input into particles.
In addition, BASF also recommends adding them during the process of film formation and molding
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The specific amount and type of addition need to be recommended according to the subsequent requirements and the degree of contamination of the primary material and the degree of difficulty in separation
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Better additive dispersion can promote the use effect.
BASF recommends recyclers to use twin-screw extruders.
For cost-sensitive recyclers, they can also consider adding side feed ports next to traditional extruders
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Dr.
Volker Bach, Head of the Global Innovation Center for Plastic Additives at BASF, said: "With our extensive experience in the plastics industry, we have combined a high-quality product system of antioxidants and light stabilizers with technical expertise to develop these solutions
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Layout, no matter where it is, we will actively participate in the entire industrial chain of the recycling industry together with brand owners and processors
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The IrgaCycle series is introduced to the market as an important part of the VALERAS™ product portfolio
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In addition to recycling plastics through the IrgaCycle, VALERAS solutions bring significant sustainability value to the plastics application industry by increasing durability, reducing waste, saving energy, reducing emissions and promoting biodiversity
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