Toyo Ink Specialty Chemicals Europe (TIESC) is a member of the Toyo Ink Group. The company has recently developed a new series of Lioplax black plastic masterbatches for near-infrared (NIR) separation and subsequent material recycling. The new packaging masterbatch supports the recyclability of black plastic waste that is currently destined to be landfilled, thereby helping customers to achieve a closed loop of circular economy.
At present, the sorting of plastic waste is based on automatic optical sorting methods, and most sorting equipment relies on the reflectivity of the near-infrared band. Standard black masterbatches are usually produced with carbon black pigments. Since carbon black absorbs infrared light, it cannot be recognized by optical sensors. This will result in undetectable black or dark packaging waste being sent to landfills or incinerated. In order to solve the problem of recycling, TIESC has developed a new alternative to standard carbon black masterbatch.
"TIESC has successfully brought a sustainable alternative to the market, enabling packaging to integrate recycling cycles," commented Dr. Xavier André, TIESC's technology and research manager. "Packaging using the new Lioplax black masterbatch can be recycled in materials The sorting stage of the center is detected by NIR sensors. This allows dark packaging to be sorted and recycled as reusable raw materials and reintegrated into the value chain. Our NIR black colorant has passed the Cotrep recyclability test protocol Certification and obtained positive results at the Pellenc and Tomra test centers."
The Lioplax series NIR sortable black masterbatch is specially designed for PP pallets, PET preforms, films, bottles and other packaging applications. Different grades have different black tones, resin grades (polyolefin, PET) and processing compatibility, such as injection molding, extrusion and blow molding. For brand owners, the advantage is that they can retain the product code of the black packaging market while becoming more sustainable.