Baerlocher strengthens its foothold in recycling applications
At the PRSE last year, a large number of plastic recyclers turned up at the Baerlocher stand to learn how to improve margins and gain market share by using additives in their processes. Baerlocher is eager to follow up on this success at this year’s PRSE from 22-23 June, sharing latest experiences with its Baeropol T-Blend range.
Baerlocher is a long-established provider of additives for PP, PE and other thermoplastics. These have been developed by Baerlocher´s Special Additives business unit. The portfolio includes the unique Baeropol RST stabilizer, which has formed the basis for a set of additive blends that have been found to be particularly useful in polyolefin recycling applications.
Baerlocher offers fully formulated stabilizer packages under the Baeropol T-Blend range of products. The stabilizers from Baerlocher are available in a dust-free pastille form, much appreciated by recyclers, who often struggle to handle powder materials. Unlike additives in masterbatches, these products have 100% active content.
Adding value to reHDPE for extrusion blow molded packaging
Brand owners are increasingly turning to reHDPE for packaging of for example detergents and personal care products, which has intensified the competition for reHDPE of sufficient quality for this purpose. The low hanging fruits in terms of input waste have long been picked and recyclers are struggling to meet the demand. Some have found the solution by applying a Baeropol T-Blend from Baerlocher, which allows them to use lower quality feedstock which would otherwise have produced an insufficient recyclate quality. The Baeropol T-Blend also contributes to keeping process costs down, by allowing for an output which had not been possible without it.
Baerlocher´s Technical Product Manager Henrik Eriksson comments: “Making small packaging parts with extrusion blow molding may not be perceived as much of a challenge, even when reHDPE is concerned, but for mass market products the cycle time and product consistency become critical. This is where a recyclate enhanced with a T-Blend proves its value.”
Reducing gels in rePE film products
Also in film recycling the Baeropol T-Blends are the go-to solution for recyclers that target the more demanding and thus more profitable end applications. In film recycling the pastilles are fed directly into the cutter-compactor unit by using low-cost volumetric feeders. The improved quality of the recyclate is then quickly made visible in, for example, a downstream film blowing line, where less gelling and fewer degradation products lead to fewer bubble breakages and a more homogenous mechanical performance of the film.
Baerlocher´s New Business Development Manager Michael Kriebitzsch comments: “Although we certainly encounter many film recyclers that are spoiled by the current situation, with sold out lines where they produce the same old recyclates which can only compete on price, we are increasingly acquiring new customers that want to make themselves less replaceable and enter markets where margins are higher. We find that film recyclers are steadily turning to more sophisticated means to improve their profitability.”
