Extrusion International 5-2022

16 Extrusion International 5/2022 INDUSTRY NEWS Portfoliowith Catalysts and Absorbents for Plastics Recycling Introduced Reclassification of Recyclability of Coextruded Polyethylene/Polyamide Film Structures NewPublication Grants Insight Into theMechanical Recycling of PE/PAMultilayer Films  BASF launches PuriCycle®, a new line of advanced high-performance products for the purification of most complex waste plastics pyrolysis feeds. The PuriCycle portfolio includes novel catalysts and adsorbents de- veloped to selectively remove or convert a wide range of impurities in pyrolysis oils and enable downstream processing of circular plastics streams. PuriCycle can help customers meet industry compositional compliance standards, benefit from high efficiency purification and upgrading solutions, and increase their flexibility in the chemical recycling process of plastics. PuriCycle purifies pyrolysis oils, a secondary raw material obtained from the chemical recycling of plastic waste that is fed into the production process for new plastics at the beginning of the value chain. Purification of pyrolysis oils obtained from waste plastics is among the most demand- ing technical tasks in chemical plastics recycling. Impurities, such as halogen, nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur compounds but also higher levels of reactive components such as dienes, complicate the downstream use and impose strict limitations on the further processing of such streams in the production of new materials.  The „Stiftung Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister” (Central Agency Packaging Register) has reclassified the re - cyclability of polyamides in theminimumstandard for assess- ing the recyclability of packaging subject to systemparticipa- tion pursuant to Section 21 (3) VerpackG: Since September 1, coextruded polyethylene (PE)/polyamide (PA) film structures have been recognized as mechanically recyclable. “We appreciate the decision of the Stiftung Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister,” said Dr. Rolf-Egbert Grützner, Senior Manager Technical Support for Ultramid® extrusion polyamides at BASF. “It was time to correct the categorization of polyamide 6 and also the related PA6/6.6 co-polyamides and put them on a solid updated basis.” As early as June 2021, the independent testing and cer- tification facility cyclos-HTP systematically examined and confirmed the recyclability of PE/PA multilayer films on be - half of BASF. The use of coextruded PE/ PA film structures in multilayer films makes it possible to produce very thin films, which sig - nificantly reduces the use of plastics and also the amount of waste. BASF will present more about the value-adding use of polyamides at the K 2022. BASF SE www.catalysts.basf.com/puricycle www.basf.com  In a new publication, BASF and Institute cyclos-HTP re- veals details of the mechanical recycling of coextruded flex - ible packaging films containing polyamides (PE/PA multi - layer films). The independent testing and certification body cyclos-HTP systematically investigated the recyclability of PE/PA multilayer films on behalf of BASF and confirmed it in June 2021. The results and conclusions of these investiga- tions are now available in a 25-page publication on the web- sites of BASF and cyclos-HTP. In the tests, coextruded PE/PA multilayer films with PA6 and PA6/6.6 concentrations of up to 30 percent were used with tie layer materials. Based on the established CHI stan- dard, cyclos-HTP tested the recycling compatibility and re- cyclability of these films in the PE film stream from com - mercial sorting processes for household flexible plastic packaging waste. cyclos-HTP is already using these updated results for the differentiated certification of the recyclability of individu - al flexible PE/PA packaging structures by performing case- by-case reviews of packaging structures that were previ- ously classified as incompatible for recycling (according to section 4.3 of the minimum standard for determining the recyclability of packaging subject to system participation pursuant to section 21 (3) VerpackG, Central Agency Pack - aging Register, 2021). The publication is accessible via the following links: https://chemicals.basf.com/global/en/Monomers/polyamide_ intermediates/mechanical-recycling.html and https://www.cyclos-htp.de/publications/