Omya becomes exclusiveAddiFlex supplier Swiss minerals company Omya has agreed aglobal distribution deal with Sweden’sbiodegradable plastics firm Add-X Biotech tosell its AddiFlex additives on an exclusive basis.The products are used to make polyolefin prod-ucts biodegradable. AddiFlex can be used as amasterbatch addition for virgin or recycledpolymers or in combination with natural materi-als such as calcium carbonate and wood fibres.

The AddiFlex additives promote the oxidativebreakdown of polymers into a lower molecularweight. It this state mineralization of the poly-mers – the conversion of polymers by micro-organisms into carbon dioxide, water and bio-mass – can occur.

Omya manufactures calcium carbonate, fillers,extenders and coating pigments and also acts asa distributor for a variety of speciality mineralsand chemicals from other sources. The compa-ny employs 5600 people in 100 locations across30 countries.

Contact: Omya AG, CH-4665 Oftringen,Switzerland; tel: +41-62-789-2929; fax: +41-62-789-2077

PolymerAdditives.com celebrates second anniversaryCreated by Albemarle Corp, Cytec Industriesand GE Specialty Chemicals to provide a com-prehensive resource for polymer additives,PolymerAdditives.com reached its second birth-day on 16 October this year. The past 12 monthshave seen Atofina Chemicals and Akzo NobelPolymer Chemicals join as suppliers. The rangeof polymer additives available from the portalnow includes: anti-block and slip agents, antiox-idants, anti-static agents, clarifiers, curatives,flame retardants, heat stabilizers, UV stabiliz-ers, lubricants, modifiers and peroxides. Thesite claims more than 2000 registered users andaround 540 active customers.

In early October the company introduced anenhanced Additives Wizard, which has beenredesigned for ease and speed of use and com-bined with the Product Selector to provide a

more powerful tool. The company says that anextensive information library is also now avail-able via the Additives Wizard. The most recentenhancement is the introduction of automaticindexing of documents stored in pdf format. Thisallows full and quick searching of all technicaldata sheets, brochures and other literature storedin pdf format on the site. Material safety datasheets have been excluded from the site searchfacility for security reasons, the company says.

Contact: PolymerAdditives.com, Charlotte, NC,USA; tel: +1-704-665-7041; URL: www.PolymerAdditives.com

EQUIPMENT

New gravimetric dosing unitfrom MovacolorMovacolor, the Dutch manufacturer of volumet-ric dosers, has introduced a new type of gravi-metric colour or additive dosing unit to comple-ment its existing range. The company says thatthe MC-Balance enables processors to dose mas-terbatch or single additives gravimetrically at themachine throat at a relatively low capital cost.

The new design combines the Movacolor dosingcylinder® feeding system with new gravimetriccontrols to produce an accurate and practicalunit costing less than �4000, according to thecompany. By dosing directly into the virginmaterial stream at the machine throat the needfor both batch weighing and a mixer are elimi-nated. It also eliminates the need to conveymixed material to the machine.

The unit is said to be suitable for use on injectionmoulding machines, extruders and blow moul-ders. In each case it delivers accurate dosing ratesthrough continuous loss-in-weight measurementswith closed-loop control of dosing speed,Movacolor says. Dosing rates from 5 g/h to 25kg/h are possible, depending on the form anddensity of the material being dosed. Both instal-lation and set up are said to be easy. Colourchanges are also claimed to be quick and easy.Movacolor says that a calibration procedure orweight check is not required when changingmaterial or introducing a new masterbatch.

Additives for Polymers December 2002

8 ©2002 Elsevier Science