CESA®-extend masterbatches restore recycled PET, PLA for high-value packaging needs

06-Apr-17

Clariant, world leader in specialty chemicals, now offers enhanced formulations of CESA-extend masterbatches that restore important material properties to recycled condensation polymers including PET, PLA, and polycarbonate. This means even high percentages of regrind can be incorporated with virgin resin without significantly reducing physical properties required in food-contact and other high-performance packaging applications.

The latest CESA-extend masterbatches provide a simple, low-cost solution for increasing molecular weight and restoring physical properties, melt strength, and processability that are lost when PET and PLA polymer chains break down during processing and recycling. When added to these recycled materials during processing, CESA-extend masterbatches react with, and re-link, broken polymer chains. Long polymer chains are essential in both PET and PLA extrusion because they give the extruded material the tensile strength essential for good performance when formed into packaging materials.

“CESA-extend masterbatches give processors an affordable, sustainable way to meet growing market demands for higher levels of recycled content in food packaging applications. One of our customers was even able to achieve acceptable results using 100% regrind,” says Peter Prusak, Clariant Head of Marketing for North America. Pelletized CESA-extend masterbatches are available in standard and custom formulations, and can be used to control or enhance a range of material parameters, including melt-flow index (MFI), intrinsic viscosity, hydrolytic stability, mechanical properties and clarity. They can also be custom formulated to provide both linear and branched chain extension.