Page 44 - Plastics News April 2024

FEATURE

ing able to maintain a constant tem- on which part of the world you are sites to achieve quality components.
perature may lie in the mould tool, in. These minerals are attracted to the Therefore, you can conclude from
being caused by a coolant leak within channel walls or the internal pipes of this that temperature control in the
the mould tool. This can be caused by a TCU causing scale deposits to form. process is a critical component, and
fractures in tool steel or failure of a These scale deposits have two effects, should not be underestimated as to
seal in the coolant channels. A solu- they can reduce flow and heat trans- the impact poor temperature control
tion often used, instead of addressing fer over time. can have during the manufacture of
the root cause, is to run the cooling Testing the coolant quality at prede- components.
on negative pressure where a TCU fined intervals is part of preventive It is therefore crucial to identify and
equipped with a negative pressure maintenance as is testing coolant flow control the temperatures at every
option pulls rather than pushes water rates over time to determine if any step through the injection moulding
through the mould tool channels. reduction of flow is occurring. Also process. There are a number of com-
Coolant quality flushing tools with chemical descaling panies that offer solutions to this, En-

The lowest cost solution to use for agents will help reduce scale build up. gel with their digital product iQflow,
heat transfer is water, this though has Conclusion Burger and Brown Smartflow solu-
its problems as ‘clean’ water is loaded Process monitoring and stable pro- tions, and RJG Inc Edart and CoPilot
with minerals which vary dependent cess control are essential prerequi- process control systems to name a
few.

Enzyme in laundry detergent can help recycle single-use plastics in
24 hrs: Study

cientists have developed a novel down into their chemical building worldwide is on track to almost triple
Smethod that uses enzymes found blocks. by 2060, with around half ending up
in laundry detergents for recycling sin- Once converted into monomers- in landfill and less than a fifth recycled.
gle-use bioplastics in disposable items single molecules-the materials can be While bioplastics-derived from bio-
such as coffee cups and food contain- turned into equally high-quality plastic logical sources such as corn starch,
ers. The method, described in the for multiple reuse, according to the cassava or sugarcane-are seen as a
journal Cell Reports Physical Science, researchers. more sustainable choice by consum-
uses the enzymes to "depolymerise"- ers, current methods of bioplastics
or break down-landfill-bound bioplas- Current rates of plastic production production are costly and compete
tics into soluble fragments within just outstrip our ability to dispose of it sus- with food-based agriculture for use of
24 hours. tainably, they said. land, the researchers said.
The process achieves full degrada- According to non-profit Environmen- Mechanical recycling methods are in-
tion of the bioplastic polylactic acid tal Action, it is estimated that in 2023 efficient, generate CO2 and are inca-
(PLA) in an approach that is 84 times alone more than 68 million tonnes of pable of producing high-quality reus-
faster than the 12-week-long indus- plastic globally ended up in natural able materials, they said.
trial composting process used for environments due to the imbalance
recycling bioplastic materials, the re- between the huge volumes of plastics These "green" plastics primarily end
searchers said. produced and our current capacity to up in landfill after just one use, caus-
manage and recycle plastic at the end ing many retailers to revert to using
The research offers a widespread of its life. oil and fossil-based materials.
recycling solution for single-use PLA
plastics, as the scientists at King's Col- A recent Organisation for Econom- The speed at which the bioplastics
lege London, UK, found that in a fur- ic Co-operation and Development break down using this new method
ther 24 hours at a temperature of 90 (OECD) report predicted that the could revolutionise plastic produc-
degrees Celsius, the bioplastics break amount of plastic waste produced tion, offering an efficient, scalable and

46 PLASTICS NEWS April 2024