Oysters increase environmental performance of TPEs

The compounder CTS Compound Technology Services based in Tiffauges in the Bretagne, a region in Northwestern France famous for its oyster farms, has found a useful application for these by-products and uses oyster shell powder (OSP) as mineral content in its Green Tefabloc series of thermoplastics elastomers.

From a chemical point of view, the material of the oyster shell is very similar to calcium carbonates, however, in terms of sustainable development, it offers an incomparable environmental advantage, says CTS:

• no quarrying
• fast regeneration - unlike quarried chalk, OSP is quickly renewed, in less than five years
• local availability for CTS
• ecologically beneficial use of by-products of the oyster farms
• natural purification - before being crushed, the remaining organic material needs to be removed from the shells. This operation is performed manually without chemical or heat treatment.

CTS says that the OSP used in the Green Tefabloc series gives these TPE coumpounds the same properties (regarding cycle times, rheology, reprocessing, etc.) as quarried chalk.

In order to improve the environmental performance of its compounds, CTS selects materials from three main sources:

• natural, quickly regenerating materials, such as fibres or powders from natural sources as by-products
• materials regenerated or recycled by suitable systems
• materials synthesised from biomass

About CTS

CTS Compound Technology Services develops and produces thermoplastic elastomers, powders for instrument panel skins and vinyl compounds, destined for plastic convertors.

The company makes up the compound section of Tessenderlo Group with the brands belonging to Cousin-Tessier (F), TCT-Polska (PL) and CTS-China (CN).

The TPE and PVC compounds are marketed under the brand names Tefabloc, Tefanyl, Tefaprene, Marvylex and Marvyflo.