PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2017

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 05/17 www.petpla.net 12 Also in the field of plastics pro- cessing, manufacturers are looking for the possibility of lowering the costs of materials and processing, while main- taining the highest quality for their products. In the production of PET preforms, for example, work has long Additives for more efficient and economical PET-packaging by Lucia Buffoni, Marketing Manager at Repi One of the main tasks facing the world today is how to save the resources of our planet, including all types of natural raw materials and energy, which allows us to live on a level of comfort, which we have become used to, and from which, more and more, we depend. been going on to reduce the weight of the preforms. At the same time, machines yield a higher productivity: cycle times have been reduced, while the quantity of preforms in one shot has increased. In this context, Repi is established with a series of liquid additives and special solutions for PET packag- ing, as a support to the market needs. The fastest growing Repi additive family is the one of Anti Yellow. These additives in liquid form are dosed from 0.005% to 0.05% both in the rPET resin production and in the rPET packaging injection mould- ing process. If we consider PET produced on bottle-to- bottle recycling lines, these additives are able to per- fectly make up the preforms since this material has the characteristics of virgin PET, with one exception, namely that the rPET has a slight yellow or grey shade, which is successfully “cancelled” by using the additive. Enhancer for optimising process parameters In the field of rPet, Repi IV Enhancer is widely used both in injection moulding, where it enhances the physical and mechani- cal characteristics of the bottle and in the extru- sion of rPET sheets for thermoforming, where it optimises the process parameters, enables better thickness distri- bution and allows for a less frequent cleaning of calenders. The above mentioned process additives are closely followed by others no-less successful, the first one being Repi Blowing Additive. This product is able to improve and control the absorption of infrared in the blowing stage, giving custom- ers the possibility of reducing blow- ing temperatures. At the same time, the blowing equipment works in a smoother way, without unplanned stops, and the productivity of blown bottles per hour is increased. From the aesthetic point of view, this addi- tive hardly affects the colour of a transparent preform. It even happens that customers who have access to Fast Reheat PET resin, prefer to work with standard PET and blowing addi- tive, since they enjoy the flexibility in production having the freedom to modify the addition rate of the addi- tive themselves. Repi offers also the option of colour with additive inside: popular ones are not only dark amber and dark green for beer preforms, but also blue for mineral water preforms, and even a white colour developed for milk monolayer preforms. Repi Process Aid is another addi- tive positively acting at the blowing stage by reducing sticking between one and other of preforms and bot- tles. This product creates a better slip effect between preforms and as a result up to +10% of preforms can be stored in a box, with consequent advantages in terms of transport and storage costs. Preforms main- tain a better visual aspect, remain more transparent and clear, with fewer scratches. The recommended dosage is from 0.12% to 0.2%. Also here “all-in-one” solutions of colour and additive are often demanded by customers. MATERIALS Special Repi Anti Yellowing additive for rPET