Vegetable oil based plasticizers

High-efficiency, non-toxic, biodegradable plasticizers have always been a focus of attention in the plastics processing industry. Recent advances have been made in this area. Scientists have used vegetable oils to develop plasticizers that can directly replace traditional phthalates. Ester plasticizers. This plasticizer, trade name GrindstedSoft-N-Safe, produced by Danisco of Denmark, has been approved for sale and use in the European Union, and is listed in the European Union's “perfect grade". It is not limited by the number of parts used in the processing of food contact materials.

This kind of plasticizer is mainly used to process various food-contact packaging materials, toys and medical equipment. Its first commercialized products will be caps, sealed inner layers, films and other food-contacting plastic products. The current production scale is still at a pilot stage. After a promotion period of 2 to 3 years, the company expects Grindsted Soft-N-Safe's sales to reach tens of millions of euros, while the current global market has 1% of its phthalates. The sales of esters reached 67 million euros.

The raw materials used to make the plasticizer are reactive glycerides extracted from hardened castor oil, processed to obtain a monoglyceride, and then reacted with acetic acid as an intermediate to produce the final product.

Lynge Kristoffersen, product development manager at Danisco, said: “GrindstedSoft-N-Safe has the same functional properties as phthalates, making PVC soft and pliable, which is the first 100% alternative.” He added that due to the complete replacement of phthalates, it is not necessary to replace equipment and formulations when using this vegetable oil based plasticizer to process soft PVC products. In addition, it can also replace epoxy soybean oil and adipic acid esters. And other plastic processing main and auxiliary plasticizer types. Danisco company listed other advantages: No hormone stimulation, completely biodegradable, no bad taste and odor, even if it is mistaken for eating into the body, there is nothing serious, you can metabolize. However, the price of this plasticizer is 3 to 4 times that of phthalates, which also limits its application to food contact materials, toys, medical equipment, and the like. It is expected that in the near future, new plasticizers will be sold in markets such as the United States and Japan. (Translated by Huang Zexiong)

Source: Foreign Plastics