International Conference on Plastics Additives and Modifiers

Rapra Technology's 12th Plastics Additives and Compounding (AddCon) conference took place on 17-18 October in Cologne, Germany, with representations from industry leaders such as Borealis, Du Pont, Croda Chemicals, Adeka, Omya, 3M, Membrana and Kabelwerk Eupen. There were 24 papers altogether, 23 of which will soon be available in the form of a proceedings book from Rapra. Ron Babinsky of Townsend's Polymer Services and Information, Texas, opened the conference with an examination of the market for additives targeted at the global polyolefin business, which he estimated involved sales of 108 mln tons of resin, incorporating 870,000 tons of additives, in 2005. This included 180,000 tons of antioxidants. The fastest growth was in Asia/Pacific (9% in terms of resin sales) followed by the Middle East and Africa (8%). Speaking about what he termed the "looming supply shift" Mr Babinsky described how the vast infrastructure needs of China and other Asian countries would drive further demand, especially for additives such as flame retardants. Mr Babinsky predicted growth of 5-6% per year up to 2010 in this area. After three other business and legislation talks, including one on Omya's distribution business, there followed several papers on the stability of plastics.One wasa notable presentation by Dr William Starnes from the College of William and Mary in the USA, and formerly head of chemistry and life sciences at the Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, New York. Dr Starnes spoke of the role of organic carboxylate esters containing one or more thiol groups as primary thermal stabilisers and plasticisers for PVC. Explaining the mechanism of stabilisation, Dr Starnes said that the ester thiols are thought to act by radical scavenging, displacement of labile halogen atoms and addition to double bonds. The main of advantage of ester triol technology, he said, is that good yields of the additives are obtained by short synthetic routes and despite their thiol chemistry, the additives do not have unpleasant odours when pure. Part of this stabilisation technology was licensed for commercial use in 2005 and studies are continuing. The afternoon session featured papers on antistatic and antifog agents. Bjarne Nielsen from Danisco Emulsifiers in Denmark gave an important paper on new antistat and antifog additives for PE and PP film. Danisco has used polyglycerol esters to develop additives suitable for food grade materials and electronic packaging, because of their performance at low humidity and their high molecular weight. The use of polyglycerol esters is unrestricted, meaning that sufficient quantities can be added to give superior antistat properties, unlike for example, ethoxylated amines which have limitations on loading levels. Dr Karlheinz Hausmann of DuPont in Switzerland described a new permanent polyolefin based antistatic additive for use in blown film and extrusion blow moulding. Using these processing techniques the additive can be concentrated into specific layers to maximise its action, without it migrating into other layers. Dr Hausmann went on to describe how an addition level between 15 and 20wt% is required to achieve low surface resistivity, measured at 50%RH, using fish flakes to test for dirt pickup. Day one's proceedings were concluded with a presentation on the many applications of titanates by Salvatore Monte, President of Kenrich Petrochemicals, Inc., which was followed by a dinner in central Cologne hosted by Rapra Technology. The second day of the conference started with a session on nucleating agents with papers from Mayzo Inc, RiKA International Ltd and ADEKA Corporation. Philip Jacoby, Vice-President of Technology at Mayso Inc, USA, presented a new beta nucleant masterbatch that can be added to a non-nucleated polypropylene resin, offering processing advantages for film, injection moulding and thermoforming applications. The processing difficulties associated with thermoforming PP have been seen as a roadblock for greater use of PP in applications such as rigid packaging. However PP sheet containing beta crystals (which have a melting point of typically 12-14°C below their alpha form) have a dual melting point and hence a broader temperature range over which the material can be thermoformed. According to Mr Jacoby, the beta crystals lower the yield stress of the PP and the sheet can be formed at colder temperature without using excessive force. There followed papers on slip and lubricant additives and biocides, masterbatches and stabilisers. Bruno Jalenques from CTech Europe described how his company's non-toxic additives could be incorporated into cables and other infrastructure products to deter rodents and other animals that might cause malfunctions. Of particular interest was the contribution from veteran Dr Jan Pospisil, a regular speaker at Rapra's AddCon conferences and the author of over 300 papers on stabilisation. He spoke about the exploitation of the complex chemistry of hindered amine stabilisers (HAS) in effective plastics stabilisation. With over 50 years experience in chemistry, Dr Pospisil gave a passionate presentation on the role of HAS in shaping future polymer development, promoting polymer consumption in new areas and expanding material performance. Marc Leifer of Kafrit Industries in Israel disclosed how polymer additives in the form of a masterbatch can be used to provide innovative anti-counterfeit measures, preventing the loss of business by pirate copying. They can also be used for the tracking of goods. Rapra Technology has announced dates for next year's Addcon event in Frankfurt on 5-6 September 2007. Papers are now being invited for submission for what will be the thirteenth AddCon World conference.