Clariant继续开发新技术，以提高塑料的可回收性，同时为包装和产品开发人员提供更多颜色选择。最新的开发是一系列深色的深色，通常需要使用碳黑色颜料，这使得它们被回收中心的自动聚合物分类系统中使用的近红外（NIR）传感器无法检测。
However, the new Clariant color concepts, developed in its ColorWorks design and technology center near Milan in Italy, now makes it possible to explore a darker and more mysterious color space entirely without the use of carbon black. Development is progressing in polyester (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) in both virgin and post-consumer recycled (PCR) forms.
在大多数自动分类系统中，红外光都被束缚在塑料材料上，并且由于不同的聚合物反映了不同的光，因此系统可以对不同的材料进行分类。不幸的是，碳黑色颜料通常用于制作黑色和其他深色的深色吸收所有或大部分的NIR灯光，因此，传感器甚至无法“看到”黑色包装，更不用说从中从其他。
Late last year, Clariant introduced CESA®IR, a masterbatch range that makes black plastics visible to NIR radiation. This effect was confirmed by testing conducted by TOMRA Sorting Recycling, a Norwegian company that is a leader in the field of instrumentation for recycling solutions.
But designers want more choices than pure black. In fact, says Roberto Romanin, a ColorWorks Designer at Clariant, “there are very definite trends in this direction. Some exclusive, high-end facial treatments, nutrient serums and oils are being packaged in these rich dark colors. However, most of them still use carbon black and so they have recyclability problems.”
To address this issue, the ColorWorks team undertook a project, to use CESA-IR technology to develop colors that could be dark without the use of carbon black. Three colors – a dark umber, a deep velvety green, and a regal dark blue – have been created initially. All three are really saturated so they are almost black but the colors come through, bringing to mind elegance, exclusivity, heritage and boldness.
“Until now,” says Mirco Groeseling, Regional Circular Economy and Sustainability Manager EMEA at Clariant, “making dark and black plastics NIR detectable required that the amount of carbon black must be carefully controlled, and this is not always possible under real-world conditions. So, we have been seeking – and we have found --new solutions that are very black, and we have been able to remove carbon black totally from these new detectable formulations.”
该范围适用于所有主要包装聚合物，包括PET，聚乙烯和聚丙烯（包括消费后的再生树脂），包括托盘，瓶子和帽子。
