Evonik has introduced a new portfolio of additives designed to enhance the performance of recycled resins, which the company is showcasing today and tomorrow at the PRSE in Amsterdam (booth #A12). These additives work to save energy during the mechanical recycling process while also enhancing the quality of the polymers.
The new portfolio, called Tego Cycle, further expands the broad and diverse range of products marketed under Evonik’s Tego brand.
The new additives will help to increase the volume of recycled polymers offering the required quality and performance for a broad range of applications. Currently, of the 400 million tonnes of plastic produced yearly, only a fraction is recycled. A major part ends up in landfills and incinerators after only one use - or the waste is discarded into the environment.
“Despite recent improvements in plastic waste streams and better recycling infrastructure across the globe, the high costs and technical challenge of yielding polymers of high enough quality, have meant only around 100 million tons of plastic has been recycled so far,” said Alper Aksit, Marketing Manager Compounds & Circular Plastics Region EMEA. “Transforming plastic waste into valuable reusable plastic requires collaboration across the entire plastics value chain.”
The additives developed by Evonik help at each stage along the entire mechanical recycling value chain to convert plastic waste into reusable plastic goods. During the wet stage, Evonik’s antifoams and wetting agents can be used to make washing, separation, deinking and drying processes more efficient and help to significantly reduce energy. During compounding, odour absorbers, compatibilisers, dispersants and processing aids serve to improve processing and enhance polymer properties, leading to more competitive costs and a much higher quality of recycled plastic content.
At the show, Evonik also launched its new organo-modified siloxane-based Tegomer polymer processing aids (PPA) for converters looking to replace standard PPAs made from fluoroelastomers in PE and PP processing.