In life, we humans are constantly exploiting the resources of the Earth to make useful items or objects for the world. One of those resources is plastic - a material that plays a huge role in the development of humanity. Over time, people have created many different variations of plastic, and one of them is ABS plastic.
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However, their disadvantage is that it takes hundreds to thousands of years to decompose, so plastic waste will be very harmful to the environment. To solve this problem, people have continuously recycled ABS plastic. So what's so special about this material? What role does recycled ABS plastic play in life? Find out through the article below.
What is recycled ABS plastic?
First, it is necessary to understand the definition of ABS plastic. ABS stands for Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (chemical formula (C8H8 · C4H6 · C3H3N)n), a non-transparent thermoplastic with good mechanical and thermodynamic characteristics. “Thermoplastic” here means that when plastics are heated to the melting point and then cooled again to return to a solid state, their quality does not change.
To make ABS plastic, the most common way is to mix the three main ingredients acrylonitrile, butadiene and styrene and heat them up, forming a plastic mixture. In addition, other additives such as processing aid, odor removing, or desiccant are also added to make ABS plastic. ABS plastic is a plastic that is cheap, easy to process and has a solid structure, so it is mostly used to manufacture consumer goods such as camera cases, computer keycaps, helmets, protective cases, printer and printer cartridges,...
When these items are damaged and cannot be repaired, they are collected, crushed, melted and molded to become a new form of plastic - recycled ABS plastic.
Recycled ABS plastic
ABS’s Properties
Recycled ABS plastic consists of three main components:
- Acrylonitrile: An organic compound with the chemical formula C3H3N, it provides the rigidity and mechanical strength of ABS plastic.
- Butadiene: An organic compound with the chemical formula C4H6, it provides elasticity and impact resistance.
- Styrene: Having the chemical formula C8H8, this is an organic compound that provides the gloss and thermal stability of ABS plastic.
Recycled ABS plastic is made up of three compounds: acrylonitrile, butadiene and styrene.
In addition, depending on the final product, manufacturers may add other additives to ABS plastic such as flame retardants, antistatic agents, colorants or anti-corrosion agents.
Can ABS be recycled?
As mentioned above, ABS plastic in particular and plastic materials in general have the disadvantage of being difficult to decompose, so if plastic waste is not handled properly, it will be very harmful to the environment. In order to take advantage of these types of waste, people have researched and developed recycled plastic technology from ABS, thus recycled ABS plastic is born.
ABS Recycling Code
In order to make the recycling process easier, the recycling industry has devised a system of codes to designate different types of plastic. In the case of recycled ABS plastic, this classification code is usually printed on the bottom of the plastic bottle, with the logo ABS surrounded by arrows as shown below. When a product is printed with this logo, this means the product is recyclable.
The ABS logo with three arrows around it, indicating that the product printed with this logo is recyclable.
ABS Recycling Process
Today, the 3D printing industry has flourished, with many people around the world owning 3D printers at home and recycling their own ABS waste at home to make printer materials. So ABS plastic recycling is no longer limited to professional factories. However, whether working at home or working in a factory, the ABS plastic recycling process in general does not make much difference. Basically, the ABS plastic recycling process takes place in 3 steps:
Classification
The recycling process starts with items made entirely of plastic or containing plastic parts such as helmets, cases, etc. that are damaged and cannot be repaired, which will be collected to take to the recycling plant. From here, the sorting process begins, with items made of ABS plastic being separated from other forms of plastic, while they also need to be removed from debris and other types of contaminations.
Damaged helmets will be collected and sent to an ABS plastic recycling plant.
Shredding
After the classification process, the items made of ABS plastic will be crushed into small pieces. Recycling factories often use specialized machines, such as 2-axis plastic shredders or hydraulic shredders. As for those who grind ABS at home to make raw materials for 3D printers, this is quite expensive and ineffective because household crushers are not designed for the purpose of crushing ABS plastic.
The common feature of home grinding or factory grinding is, the process is very easy but also really time consuming. If the ABS plastic has been carefully screened, it will be very easy to just put each material to be crushed into the machine, but because ABS plastic has a very solid structure, it will take a long time to grind each plastic material into small pieces. After being grinded successfully, the plastic pieces are then cleaned again before being dried.
Melting and molding
After being dried, the plastic pieces are melted into a liquid form. The plastic mixture is finally put into a press to form fibers or beads, which are then sold to other manufacturers to make new products. Compared with other recycled plastics such as PP, PVC, LDPE or HDPE, ABS recycled plastic is superior in low cost, suitable for industry.
Outstanding recycled ABS plastic thanks to its reasonable price.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Recycled ABS
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- ABS recycled plastic is environmentally friendly: Using recycled ABS plastic can reduce waste to the environment, thereby minimizing the negative impact of plastic production.
- Reduce costs: Recycled ABS plastic usually costs less than new plastic, thereby reducing processing costs and benefiting both manufacturers and consumers.
- Equivalent physical properties: Even after being crushed and recycled many times, recycled ABS plastic retains the same physical properties as new ABS plastic
Disadvantages
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Unequal quality: Depending on each factory, the screening and production process of recycled ABS plastic will be different, so the uniformity and overall quality of the output cannot be guaranteed.
- Difficult to control purity: During the screening process, it may not be possible to remove all impurities, thereby affecting the quality of the output product.
- Not easy to maintain: Recycled ABS plastic is easily damaged under the influence of sunlight, requiring manufacturers to invest in the preservation period.
Introducing EuP additives for recycled plastics’ production
At EuroPlas, the company provides three out of six additive solutions for businesses who are using recycled ABS plastic to manufacturing products:
Processing-aid additive
The processing-aid additive is materials added to the polymer to lower the friction between plastics and machines during production. It helps enhance the melting, processability, and handling of high molecular weight plastics without any technical effect on products. Polymer processing aids have a wide range of applications, including blown film, extrusion, and injection molding. Thanks to processing-aid additives, thermoplastic resins can be extruded more effectively. They can add aesthetic qualities by reducing flow traces and die lines, resulting in glossy, transparent products.
Thanks to processing-aid additives, thermoplastic resins can be extruded more effectively.
Odor removing additive
Smelly plastics (especially recycled plastics) can affect their application and competition. Therefore, eliminating bad odors is essential to enhance plastics' effectiveness and value in industrial production.
Odor-removing additive is a savior that works as an odor-neutralizer. It does not replace the original smell in products with fragrances or perfume. Instead, it will prevent the absorption of unwanted odors and irritating chemicals. Odor control additive is utilized widely in rubber plastic products or items made of regrind material such as home appliances, toys, or textile packaging.
Odor-removing additive will prevent the absorption of unwanted odors and irritating chemicals.
Desiccant
Moisture exists in everything, and polymer material is no exception. Especially in technical resins, moisture may cause fisheye and surface defects on final products. Desiccant additive is added to the formula to absorb moisture in the plastic materials, thereby limiting common errors in processing (bubbles, fisheyes, ...) and improving the quality of the end-product.
Desiccant masterbatches from EuroPlas contain Calcium Oxide (CaO), which is a strong water absorber. In polymer processing, Calcium Oxide disperses, eliminates moisture, and prevents phenomena such as fisheye. It also solves moisture problems in extrusion (blow film, film casting, blow molding, etc.) and injection molding. Especially for recycled plastic, it helps remove moisture and cuts out the oxidizing effect that occurs during the recycling of the polymer.
Especially for recycled ABS plastic, desiccant additive helps remove moisture.
Purging Compounds offer many benefits to processors which we will discuss in detail, but first lets look at the different types of purging compounds available.
Mechanical Purging Compounds
Mechanical Purging Compounds are compounded specifically to match your processing temperatures, your resins, your MFR’s, and your processing needs. Mechanical Purging Compounds depend on your machine’s power to do the work. They perform best in injection molding and other high-pressure applications. This is because they rely on pressure and agitation to clean out the previous resin or any contamination within your machine.
Unlike regrind or virgin resins, Mechanical Purging Compounds are designed to clean. They have strong detergency and have no affinity to metal. This guarantees your machine will be running clean in no time.
Asaclean® offers a full line of Mechanical Purging Compounds for all processing situations.
Chemical Purging Compounds
Chemical Purging Compounds are blended products that also match your processing temperatures, your resins, your MFR’s, and your processing needs. But unlike Mechanical Purging Compounds, Chemical Purging Compounds clean using a heat-activated chemical reaction that performs best in low-flow and low-pressure environments. Chemical Grades are usually recommended for extrusion or blow molding because they expand to effectively clean large dies or other areas where contamination can hang up.
Chemical Purging Compounds are strong cleaners that clean hard-to-reach areas within your machine. They do require a short soak time. Some people worry when they hear this but keep an open mind. If a Chemical Purge is cutting your changeover time in half, a short period spent cleaning the machine is more than worth it.
Asaclean® offers a full line of Chemical Purging Compounds for your needs.
But that's not what really makes the Asaclean® Difference.
EXPERT TECHNICAL & PRODUCT SUPPORT
Our Team Understands What you're Dealing With
While there are high-quality purging compounds available, we are more than just MRO supplier.
We offer world-class purging compounds with expert complimentary ongoing service and training to match.
Asaclean® Technical Service Representative offer a unique level of service not found in other areas of the industry. Many of our Purging Experts used Asaclean® as customers themselves before joining our team.
Your point-of-contact isn't a salesperson. They are a processor.
With over 200 years of combined processing experience, we understand your issue and can offer solutions. We've seen it all and are here to help you.
When you work with Asaclean®, you have access to free ongoing consultations with a subject matter expert.
We Will Train Your Team to Be Asaclean® Purging Experts
Asaclean® Purging Compounds are incredibly easy to use, but you will only see your best results when you follow our recommended purging procedures.
When it comes to purging compounds, less is more.
We do not want you to use more Asaclean® than is necessary to achieve your best performance. If you use more than we recommend, your cost savings will drop.
We want you to get the absolute best performance using the least amount of Asaclean®. That is why we place such a premium on training your team.
All molders are dealing with slightly different challenges, so it's important that you follow the correct instructions.
That's where we come in.
You will get efficient and thoughtful service from RUNME.
When you select Asaclean®, we will diagnose your issues, build out a free Purge Program, and train your shifts on how to use Asaclean® to get the best results.
We will help you trial our product, provide in-person or virtual training, answer any questions, and be available however necessary to help your team succeed.
As part of Asahi Kasei, we have a robust network of production facilities and warehouses and incredibly consistent product quality. We work tirelessly to improve our delivery times, local support, and customer support to improve how we best serve your market.
If you choose Asaclean®, you are choosing a reliable partner invested in your success.
A Holistic Approach: How We Help Different Team Members at Your Plant
Help us, help you.
We stated earlier that we are not an MRO Supplier—we're a solutions provider.
When we work with our customers, we dont just try to help on the production floor.
Our Purging Experts work with different departments within your plant to make everyone's lives easier. Our value doesn't stop at scrap rates and downtime.
We always look for ways we can help other key members of your team. Here are a few examples:
Process Engineers/Production
- Easier and more efficiency changeovers.
- Reduction of scrap, downtime, and other processing metrics.
Maintenance
- Safer, easier, and scheduled screw pulls. No more surprises. Screw pulls using Asaclean® EX are incredibly easy and safe. Look at this video to see what a difference EX can make for your plant.
But maybe you're still not convinced. Maybe you think you know a better way.
Let's take a closer look at some of the “better” options we see when we visit plants.
When you try to take a shortcut, you may be doing more harm than good.
Virgin Resin & Regrind Are Not Designed to Clean
To save money, some plastics processing manufacturers turn to a cheaper, lower-quality virgin resin to address their purge problems. However, this tends to make purging problems even worse.
“Old school” purging methods — such as flushing the machine with the next resin or regrind — are time-consuming, material-wasting, and ineffective at removing color and carbon contamination. These materials are not designed to clean machines. When using regrind or virgin resins to purge, the material simply creates another layer over any existing resin layers, color deposits, and carbonized material within the barrel. The most common situation we run into is a plant using virgin resin or regrind to facilitate changeovers. Historically, they look at the price of the production resin and tell us that they're okay taking a little longer on changeovers because the cost of resin is cheap.
Regrind Isn't Free
“We'll just use regrind. It's free.” These are famous last words.
Regrind will cost you in the long run.
We've already mentioned layering, but contamination occurs even faster with regrind.
Regrind has already been processed and probably has degraded slightly. You will end up with black specks and unplanned downtime. There are times when regrind is good enough to make end parts. But regrind will never clean your machine. The energy necessary to make the runners as well as the material cost itself are the first true costs of regrind.
Next, consider the energy and time needed to run the grinder. Also, if regrind isn't recycled back into the process at the side of the machine, these grinds will need to be managed. Overall, regrind leads to further energy, material and labor costs which are easily avoided with Asaclean®.
Auto-Purge Settings Sabotage Your Savings
Many new machines come equipped with Auto-Purge settings. With so many technicians involved with the purging and cleaning process of their machines, usually across multiple shifts, processors and convertors struggle with getting everyone on same page with using a standard operating procedure (SOP). It's reasonable and understandable how an Auto-Purge function can be attractive.
Unfortunately, there are 2 reasons why Auto-Purge usually hurts the performance of your purging compounds.
1. One Size Doesn't Fit All
The functionality on your machine makes generalized recommendations to 'purge' the machine-meaning remove the material inside- but do not consider how purging compounds are supposed to be used. These features are not specific to the suppliers' purge instructions. We recommend different procedures for different situations. Furthermore, Auto-Purge doesn't offer options for Chemical Purging Compounds. You could be destroying your savings with the push of a button.
2. Auto-Purge doesn't Account for Cost-Per-Purge
Auto-Purge may push material out of the barrel, but it simply doesn't take your Cost-per-purge into consideration. For example, it neglects to account for how long the purging process takes (overall downtime) and how much weight of purge is used for a thorough cleaning and to get the job done. This tracks towards taking longer while using more quantity purge to complete the purging process. This leads towards higher cost-per-purge, inevitably resulting in spending more money than needed.
Most reputable commercial purge suppliers put a tremendous amount of R&D work into their purge products. They've spent countless hours perfecting their purge process over many years. Unless you can pre-program the Auto-Purge function using the Asaclean®'s recommendations, we recommend you avoid using it.
Asahi Kasei and Asaclean®'s R&D departments have been working for almost 30 years to engineer Purging Compounds that are perfect for your needs.
These are two important parts of this process:
1. Create a world-class product that delivers results
2. Develop procedures to repeat and optimize those results
The tricky part here is that neither the product nor the procedures will achieve the results on their own. You need to follow the correct instructions for your needs in to see your best possible cost savings. It sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised how often people choose to “wing it.”
Here are a few ways to avoid common purging mistakes:
1. Understand All Purging Compounds Are Different and Have Different Instructions for Different Situations
There is no one-size-fits-all purging compound. As processors gain experience, they may begin to treat all purging compounds the same way and run them using the same instructions. Maybe they used to purge at a previous job. Maybe they used to use a competitor and assume it's the same thing. This is hurting your performance. Read the instructions and follow them. We spent years developing best practices to get the most out of each grade of Asaclean®. We didn't write the instructions without making sure they are the best way to see the strongest results.
2. Different Purging Compounds Are the Best at Different Things
When most people think about Asaclean®, they usually think about EX Grade. It's the best cleaner on the market and it makes screw pulls a breeze. But just because it's the best grade for contamination and screw pulls, doesn't mean it's the best grade for everything. Work with an Asaclean® Purging Expert and we'll be sure to get you “the best purging compound” for you. Keep in mind that it might not be the one that you think you need. We will figure that out together.
3. Establish a Baseline Before Starting Using Asaclean®
Peter Drucker once said, “You can't manage what you don't measure.”
This is incredibly important to keep in mind before you start using Asaclean®. You need baseline processing data to know whether your purging compound is working for you.
How many good parts do you usually make? What is your scrap rate? How much material are you using now? What are your total costs (including labor)?
Understand these factors before you start your Purge Program.
4. Work with an Asaclean® Purging Expert to Develop Your Purge Program
As we've mentioned before, our Purging Experts are former processors who understand your processing challenges. They also happen to be experts in purging. When you fill out a free Purge Program Consultation request, your own dedicated Purging Expert will reach out to you within 10 minutes, guaranteed.
Here's how the Purge Program process works:
- Introduction
Have a short conversation about your processing challenges including resins, application, temperatures, etc.
- Diagnosis
They will help you diagnose the cause of the problem and will consider potential solutions.
- Free Sample
Your Purging Expert will send you a free sample of Asaclean®.
- Cost Savings Analysis
Your Asaclean® Purging Expert will work with you to set up expectations on potential savings using Asaclean®.
- Trial
We recommend having your Asaclean® Purging Expert on-site for trials because it's important for you to have an expert standing by to offer best practices and help troubleshoot. We've seen hundreds of situations just like yours and are an asset when you're deciding. If on-site trials are not possible, virtual options are also available.
- Introduction of Purge Program
Once the trial is complete, your Purging Expert will build a Purge Program to help get the best results based on your situation. Your expert will train all shifts on Asaclean® best practices to make sure they see the best possible product performance. Purge Programs can include best practices for changeovers, sealing during shutdowns, changeovers, screw pulls, holding a bubble in blown-film extrusion, etc. A Purge Program looks very different based on your situation.
5. More Purge Doesn't Mean Better Cleaning
When it comes to Purging Compounds, less is more.
Seriously.
You may be surprised to hear that from a company that sells Asaclean®, but it really shouldn't be all that surprising.
We sell solutions. We want to sell you cost savings.
If you need more Asaclean® to do a certain job, you will see lower cost savings.
We understand that If you aren't happy with the performance of Asaclean®, you will probably start looking elsewhere.
Our teams aren't paid-per-pound sold. We recommend the correct amount of product to get the job done. If you use too much product, your benefits will decrease. Follow our recommendations to get the most out of your investment.
6. BONUS TIP: If You're Trialing Against Competitors, Be Sure to Follow Each Suppliers' Instructions
If you don't use the correct instructions, your trial's end data will be flawed. Give each product a chance to perform during your trials.
You're investing the time, manpower, and energy to try to pick a purge supplier and help your company save. That's great!
As we've said before, Purging Compounds only work when you use them correctly.
Set yourself up for success even if it means the instructions are different during a trial.
The application is the constant. The product isn't. If you follow the correct procedures for each product and a grade stands out, then you have the best choice for your plant.
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