Milliken K 2022 Preview

With the circular economy, other global sustainability challenges and future perspectives and solutions the focus at this year’s K Show, Milliken is putting its new measures to advance the circular economy through chemistry front and center stage. The company is also highlighting its more than 30 partners in purposeful collaborations, including its ongoing partnership with PureCycle Technologies, whose patented technology turns recycled polypropylene into virgin-like material.

Milliken is also engaged in other industry-spanning initiatives, including the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, The Recycling Partnership, the Association of Plastic Recyclers, the HolyGrail project to improve the sorting of waste plastics via digital watermarks, and the RecyClass recycled-content certification program for packaging.

“At Milliken, we work closely with our trusted partners to develop additives that build a better world,” said Cindy Boiter, President of Milliken’s Chemical Business. 

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Replace 

Many of Milliken’s products are designed specifically to yield sustainability benefits. These qualities include: reduced energy consumption and lightweighting, better reuse potential, increased net use of recycled content, improved recycling and recyclability, and the replacement of less-sustainable resins. 

A leading example includes Millad® NX® 8000 ECO, a clarifying agent for polypropylene (PP), that boosts clarity, enables faster production rates and reduces energy use. This product is certified by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) to provide average energy savings of 10% for the production of injection molded clarified PP parts.

Others are Milliken’s DeltaMax® performance modifiers. DeltaMax for recycled PP is unique in its ability to balance melt flow, impact strength, and stiffness to increase overall performance for recycled materials while DeltaMax performance modifiers for virgin polypropylene impact copolymers (ICPs) enable resin producers to balance the properties of ICP resins more effectively, while affording them the opportunity to optimize processing efficiencies. DeltaMax also helps converters reduce energy by running machines with faster cycle times or lower temperatures.

Launched in 2021, Milliken’s Viscosity Modifiers (MVM) are solid concentrates designed to specifically help PP recyclers by increasing the melt flow rate of recycled polypropylene (rPP) for extrusion and injection molding processes. MVM-optimized resins allow for lower processing temperatures, which can enable converters to reduce cycle times, boost productivity and improve processability. 

Another performance additive for PP, Hyperform® HPN® delivers an improved balance in properties between stiffness and impact resistance while reducing energy use. It is certified by UL to enable 5% to 8% energy savings when used as a nucleator in the production of thin-wall injection molded PP container lids and similar PP applications.

Finally, UltraGuard™ Solutions enable downgauging to reduce material usage and part weight while also improving barrier properties in polyethylene (PE), allowing designers to create more mono-materials products, improving recyclability.

 
Milliken’s solutions are future-focused, and the company is proud to be part of the drive that will enable the entire industry to advance circularity and boost the percentage of plastics being recycled. 

“Together, we solve the challenges our customers face. We are partnering and working with many throughout the value chain to make plastics more reusable, more recyclable and more efficient, and these solutions are helping to create a better tomorrow,” added Wim Van De Velde, Global VP of Plastic Additives.

For more information, visit Milliken at Booth A27 in Hall 6 at the K Show or k2022.milliken.com.