Speciality chemical maker Ingevity has developed\u202f a \u202fthermoplastics caprolactone polymer that enables the \u201ccomplete degradation\u201d of bioplastics when formulated with polylactic acid (PLA).<\/p>\n
The US firm said \u202fits Capa polycaprolactone (PCL) thermoplastics technology helps bioplastics\u202f break down into carbon dioxide and water within 40 days, with no toxic chemicals produced.<\/p>\n
Capa thermoplastics can be formulated as a base resin or as an additive for compounded bioplastics. Ingevity said it offers at least 500 per cent more stretch before breaking and 300 per cent increased impact resistance in biopolymers, such as PLA.<\/p>\n
The company suggested that using traditional, fully bio-based, biodegradable materials like PLA with starch often cannot meet \u201cexacting performance or biodegradation criteria\u201d expected by customers \u2013 and that these products tended to be more brittle and temperature sensitive.<\/p>\n
While these products may be compostable in industrial facilities, they are not entirely biodegradable, Ingevity said. Under normal conditions, they will break down as slowly as conventional plastics, it added.<\/p>\n
Capa can be used in\u202fmost types of\u202frenewable single-use plastics products, including rigid packaging, straws, plastics films and bags, and plastics cutlery.<\/p>\n
The technology behind Capa helps formulators achieve a higher-performing final bioplastics material, said Steve\u00a0Hulme, vice president for engineered polymers at Ingevity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen blended with biopolymers, Capa behaves as a polymeric plasticiser, improving flexibility and giving the resulting material higher impact toughness,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe technology can be used in novel bioplastics applications that meet demanding biodegradability and performance characteristics. Capa\u2019s ability to formulate well with other compounds means customers can meet strict performance requirements and achieve faster, complete degradation with minimal impact on formulation cost and the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ingevity said its caprolactones are food compliant with additional grease- and moisture-resistant properties \u2013 and are tough and durable, but also soft to the touch.<\/p>\n
It added that the Capa range comprises various products that conform to international standards for composting, including the T\u00dcV Austria home and industrial compostable European standard, and the GreenPla Japanese standard.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Ingevity announced plans to open a Capa Innovation Centre in Warrington, UK.<\/p>\n
Located adjacent to its existing central laboratory, the new centre will be dedicated to accelerating innovation and application development of Capa for use in coatings, adhesives, sealant and elastomer applications. It is expected to be operational by the end of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Speciality chemical maker Ingevity has developed\u202f a \u202fthermoplastics caprolactone polymer that enables the \u201ccomplete degradation\u201d of bioplastics when formulated with polylactic acid (PLA). The US firm said \u202fits Capa polycaprolactone (PCL) thermoplastics technology helps bioplastics\u202f break down into carbon dioxide and water within 40 days, with no toxic chemicals produced. Capa thermoplastics can be formulated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[11270,5847,10416,12239,7105],"supplier":[15201],"class_list":["post-84594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biodegradability","tag-bioplastics","tag-circulareconomy","tag-compostability","tag-packaging","supplier-ingevity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84594\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84594"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=84594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}