Printed packaging material with improved recyclability, recyclate, recycling method, and method for assessing recyclability

Claims

1. A recyclable packaging material containing polymeric materials, comprising - a carrier material that includes at least two adhesive-laminated polymer films, wherein these films include at least 70 weight percent of a single type of monomer and / or a single type of polymer, and - an optically distinguishable element formed by printing ink, characterized in that the printing ink and / or adhesive are thermally stable and have a mass loss of less than 20% when exposed to temperatures in the range ≥30ºC and ≤320ºC.

2. Packaging material (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the polymeric material of the polymeric films comprises at least 70 mass percent, preferably over 90 mass percent, in particular preferably over 95 mass percent, of polymerization products of propylene or ethylene, or butadiene, or butane, or hexane, or octane, or styrene, or acrylic acid ester.

3. Packaging material (1) according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the printing ink and / or adhesive, when exposed to elevated temperature, forms ≤15 mass percent, preferably ≤10 mass percent, more preferably ≤5 mass percent, in particular preferably ≤3 mass percent, most preferably does not form gaseous decomposition products.

4. A packaging material (1) according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it has a printing ink which has components selected from the group which includes polyurethane, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl acetal, in particular polyvinyl butyral or combinations thereof.

5. The packaging material (1) according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the polymeric material is selected from the group consisting of HDPE (high density polyethylene), LDPE (low density polyethylene), LLDPE (linear low density polyethylene), PE-HMW (high molecular weight polyethylene), PE-UHMW (ultra high molecular weight HDPE), ethylene copolymers, preferably (respectively independently of each other) ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA), ethyl methacrylic acid ester (EMA), ethylene-acrylic acid copolymer (EAA), and ethylene-butyl acrylate copolymer (EBA) or mixtures thereof, isotactic polypropylene (iPP), syndiotactic polypropylene (sPP) and atactic polypropylene (aPP), expanded polypropylene (EPP), non-oriented polypropylene film (CPP), (unidirectionally or bidirectionally) oriented polypropylene films (OPP and BOPP) or their mixtures, combinations of polypropylene with ethylene as a comonomer,preferably a polypropylene copolymer, preferably a random copolymer of polypropylene with ethylene as a comonomer, preferably a polypropylene-ethylene block copolymer.

6. Recycled polymer material, which comprises packaging material according to at least one of the preceding claims, preferably in a mass fraction of ≥25%, preferably ≥70%, more preferably ≥75%, in particular preferably ≥90%.

7. Recycled polymer material according to claim 6, characterized in that it is a granulate, and the granulate preferably has an average particle size (d 50 according to sieve analysis) in the range of ≥0.5 mm to ≤25 mm, preferably ≥0.75 mm to ≤20 mm, more preferably ≥1 mm to ≤10 mm, and particularly preferably ≥0.3 mm to ≤6 mm.

8. A method for producing recycled polymer material according to paragraph 6 or 7, characterized by the stages a) providing waste polymeric materials comprising packaging material according to at least one of claims 1 to 5, preferably with a mass fraction of ≥25%, preferably ≥70%, more preferably ≥75%, in particular preferably ≥90%; b) cleaning of waste polymeric materials; c) if necessary, crushing and / or mixing waste polymeric materials; d) introducing waste polymeric materials into an extruder and producing an extrudate from the waste polymeric materials; and e) grinding the extrudate to form granules.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that step b) is carried out before step d) and preferably steps a) to e) are carried out in the above sequence.

10. A method for predicting the suitability for recycling of packaging material containing printing ink and / or adhesive, characterized by stages - obtaining a sample of printing ink and / or glue; - conducting a thermogravimetric analysis of the sample, wherein the thermogravimetric analysis comprises at least measuring changes in mass in a temperature range from ≥30ºC to ≤320ºC; - establishing a critical temperature value in this temperature range; - determination of the loss of mass of a sample at a critical temperature; - classification of the suitability for recycling of printing ink and / or adhesive based on the loss of mass of the sample at a critical temperature.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that the printing ink is dried before carrying out the thermogravimetric analysis, wherein the drying is carried out at a temperature of ≥20ºC and ≤100ºC, preferably ≥30ºC and ≤50ºC, in particular preferably at 40ºC±3ºC, and / or the drying takes a period of time between ≥2 days and ≤14 days, preferably ≥3 days and ≤10 days, more preferably between ≥4 days and ≤7 days, in particular preferably 5 days±12 hours.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that the adhesive is dried and / or cured before carrying out the thermogravimetric analysis, wherein the drying and / or curing is preferably carried out at a temperature of ≥50ºC and ≤150ºC, preferably 80ºC-120ºC, in particular preferably ≥90ºC-110ºC, and / or over a period of 5 days±24 hours, wherein preferably after this period of time the isocyanate and / or solvent content is determined, and if a set limit value is exceeded, which is preferably ≤5 weight percent, the drying and / or curing time period is extended at the above-mentioned temperature for an additional drying and / or curing time period, which is preferably between ≥1 day and ≤5 days, preferably ≥2 days and ≤4 days, in particular preferably 3 days ±12 hours.

13. The method according to one of claims 10-12, characterized in that the thermogravimetric analysis is carried out with a temperature increase of ≥10ºC / minute and ≤100ºC / minute, preferably ≥20ºC / minute and ≤50ºC / minute, more preferably ≥25ºC / minute and ≤40ºC / minute, in particular preferably at 30ºC / minute ±3ºC / minute.

14. The method according to one of claims 10-13, characterized in that for thermogravimetric analysis, a sample amount of less than 500 mg is used, preferably a sample amount of ≤200 mg, preferably ≤100 mg, more preferably ≤50 mg, more preferably ≤20 mg, and particularly preferably 10 mg, if necessary ±5 mg.

15. The method according to one of paragraphs 10-14, characterized in that after the thermogravimetric analysis, an additional analysis of the resulting decomposition products is carried out, wherein the decomposition products are preferably analyzed by gas chromatography, wherein the gas chromatographic analysis is preferably carried out at a trigger temperature that corresponds to the melting temperature of the polymer material during regranulation.