About 70% of the soft PVC global market is produced using phthalate plasticizers, in particular diethyl-hexyl-phthalate (DEHP), which are synthetic esters of phthalic acid, characterized by acute
toxicity. As a consequence the EU banned phthalates for some applications, in which the plasticizer migration can make them harmful to human health. Besides this phthalates are a class of synthetic, oil derived products and therefore have a significant impact on the carbon dioxide balance. Consequently, in recent years phthalates have been subjected to major revisions, leading to severe restrictions in their use by the EU. On the other hand, most of the alternative commercial plasticizer suffer for a lower effectiveness than DEHP and for the higher cost. Currently, the cost of alternative plasticizers such as adipates, trimellitates and citrates is 50%, 100%, and 140% higher than that of DEHP, respectively. In these cases a plasticizer content of 50 phr, involves a cost increase of soft PVC about 60%. The innovative idea promoted by this project is to substitute phthalates by eco-friendly, bio based plasticizers derived from cardanol. The result is the reduction of environmental and toxicological impact of soft PVC, though maintaining mechanical, physical and durability properties comparable to those of conventional, phthalate based, PVC.
Recently, different natural derived plasticizers have been introduced into the market.
Compared to these products, the PLACARD plasticizer presents the following advantages:
- Primary resources are not used since cardanol is a natural derived by-product of the food industry. Moreover, cardanol does not contribute to the subtraction of resources to food chain.
- Its miscibility with PVC is comparable or even better than that of DEHP.
- It is characterized by a reduced migration.
- The volatility at room temperature is very low and comparable to that of DEHP.
- Its gelation properties are comparable to those of DEHP, which involves a very low interaction with the polymer at room temperature, and processing conditions very similar to those used for traditional PVC.
- It can be used in standard soft PVC processing equipments.
For more details on PLACARD technology, please contact:
Massimiliano Calò, tel.: 0039 0832 631702
e-mail: cip2012.placard@gmail.com