Global PVC compounding technology

The past year has seen multiple changes in the global PVC business with sales, mergers and acquisitions of many major vinyl players in Europe, a new PVC plant opening in Russia, and new growth in the Americas and China. Brigitte Dero of the European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers (ECVM) will outline developments in Europe including the successes of the industry sustainability initiatives at AMI’s conference on PVC Formulation 2015 to be held at Cologne, Germany. Africa is regarded as having massive potential for growth and trends in the South African PVC compounding industry will be outlined by Dr Claus Maurer of CBI Electric Aberdare ATC Telecom Cables. From the resin producers, ShinEtsu has new speciality PVC grades for the European markets, which are tightly controlled – Ineos Chlorvinyls will outline the latest developments in the REACH regulations affecting the industry. CEFIC ECPI will talk about the safe and sustainable use of plasticisers and BASF will review the use of plasticisers in medical devices, as the healthcare industry continues to debate the use of PVC. Flame retardancy is a primary property requirement for rigid construction applications such as pipes and profiles and the EUPC has a group working on this subject: Nabaltec and Deflamo are two key suppliers of fire retardants. Besides the PVC resin producers and compounders who have undergone company changes, the suppliers of additives have seen the same pattern. This has made PMC Organometallix a more significant player in the stabilisers industry and the company will be describing how to stabilise PVC for injection moulding applications. Akcros Chemicals will demonstrate compounding for antibacterial and good stabilisation properties, while Addivant will outline antioxidant stabilisation for plasticisers. Ercros in Spain has worked on PVC compounds for flexible applications which are free of external plasticisers. Meanwhile, the search for new plasticisers for PVC continues. There are new terephthalate plasticisers from Eastman Chemical for plastisols. Nynas has mineral oil secondary plasticisers for PVC compounds and Fine Organics (India) has a special bio-based plasticiser. From the US, Emerald Kalama Chemical has developed high solvator benzoate plasticisers, while Oxea has looked at the use of plasticisers in the evolving world. The Ergis Group in Poland has been formulating compounds with hardness modification of PVC recyclates and reviewing potential applications. The compounding challenges for PVC flooring are the subject of research by Gerflor. Next generation nano-additives have been used to modify PVC by Klockner Pentaplast. Many applications of PVC are coloured for safety and for aesthetic purposes. Colourtone Masterbatch has looked at the opportunities offered by infra red reflecting colours. The white pigments from titanium dioxide (TiO2) are very important to the PVC construction industry: TZMI will outline market supply.