TAGS: Additives for Packaging
With Bayferrox® 303 T, LANXESS has developed a black pigment for coloring black plastic that reflects 20 percent of near-infrared radiation. This enables plastics to be identified efficiently and cost-effectively with the aid of NIR detectors like those used for sorting waste.
“Plastic packaging colored with carbon black, on the other hand, as is used in large part today, does not reflect any radiation and therefore cannot be detected in sorting plants,” says Stefano Bartolucci, global market segment manager for Plastics in the inorganic pigments business unit at LANXESS.
Offering Higher Color Strength
The LANXESS pigment Bayferrox® 303 T can make a decisive contribution to recycling black plastic packaging. Unlike the carbon black pigments often used in the plastics industry, Bayferrox® 303 T reflects infrared radiation, thus allowing identification with the aid of NIR detectors. As a result, black plastic items such as packaging films or trays can be better identified with the iron-manganese mixed oxide and sent for recycling.
Complex inorganic colored pigments and manganese ferrites, of which the latter are far more cost-effective, are high-quality alternatives to carbon black thanks to their property profiles – because they reflect infrared light. The iron-manganese mixed oxide Bayferrox® 303 T from LANXESS also offers color strength that is 20 percent higher than comparable pigments.
Reduced Magnetic Properties Prevent False Alarms
The reduced magnetic properties of Bayferrox® 303 T make it ideal for coloring plastic packaging. Magnetizable pigments can trigger false alarms during quality control processes in the food industry, for example, disrupting production as a result. After all, metal detectors cannot distinguish between pigments and pieces of metal in an edible item. Therefore, metal contaminants must be avoided in both the masterbatch and the packaging.
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Thanks to a special manufacturing process, we have succeeded in synthesizing a pigment with an extremely low magnetic value. If you compare our Bayferrox® 303 T with standard manganese ferrites, the magnetism has been reduced by more than 50 percent,” says Bartolucci. “
With our black pigment, false alarms in production can be avoided and a higher degree of process reliability can be achieved because there are fewer interruptions,” Bartolucci adds.
Bayferrox® Range from LANXESS
Source: LANXESS