Creating the future of polymer additives

Vegetable oils from palm seeds and sunflower or rapeseed are the source of a variety of highly useful lipids and acids, which can be transformed into safe, sustainable ingredients and functional additives given the right mindset and the tenacity needed in long, deliberate research efforts.

We know this better than most here at Palsgaard - for more than a century we have explored the boundless possibilities of these naturally occurring oils in the development of emulsifiers and other functional ingredients for the global food industry. The same knowledge and open-minded approach to R&D are also the key drivers in our development of vegetable-based functional agents for the polymer industry; a range of products we market under the name Einar®. These additives have been thoroughly tested and optimised on our polymer pilot setup where we are able to make masterbatches and finish them as extruded films or injection moulded pieces used for performance evaluations.

Market-driven, scientific development

The R&D effort at Palsgaard is a collaboration between hard market intelligence and pure scientific endeavour.

We have decades of experience in dealing with the polymer industry, and through a close dialogue with our customers and partners, we are often capable of pinpointing the need for a specific solution to problems that have beset the industry for years.

Sometimes we enter into a development programme with our customers to discover solutions for new applications, but more often than not we are simply driven by curiosity. Here, our unique ownership status comes as a fantastic benefit to us.

We have the financial and corporate stability to think in long-term solutions and to develop answers to questions few have yet begun to ask - financial gain here and now is all well and good, but market leadership and a deeper understanding of our products and their applications, in the long run, is far more desirable to us.

Often, our research shows us new possibilities which we explore and develop into viable solutions to problems facing the industry. Such basic research regularly leads us in entirely new directions - and to new products, all based on the inexhaustible wealth of natural ingredients. Read more about Nexus, the independent R&D facility within Palsgaard, here.

A history of innovation

For decades, Palsgaard’s food-grade emulsifiers and stabilisers have contributed to better and safer products for the food industry. With the general trend towards sustainable and safe products across industries, this technology platform offers plenty of opportunities also for other industries.

The replacement of polymer additives of concern, like amides and amines, by bio-based and food-grade functional additives for the polymer industry is just one example. When sustainability, functionality, product safety and cost-performance are crucial, the Einar® products can make the difference for instance as anti-static or anti-fogging additives in polyolefins which are often the polymer types used in sensitive applications such as food packaging.