What is the Smarter Choice for Plastic Manufacturing…Color Concentrates or Liquid Color?

Over the past decade, consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies have increasingly prioritized cost reduction. While efforts have largely focused on innovations in package design and construction, attention has also shifted to other cost factors, such as colorants and design features.

Traditionally, CPG companies relied on the expertise of their molding partners in these areas. However, in recent years, colorant suppliers have taken a more proactive approach, presenting their cost-saving solutions directly to corporate decision-makers.

This shift has led to the growing adoption of liquid color in the packaging industry, because in some cases it has demonstrated ability to lower let-down ratios and reduce overall costs compared to traditional color concentrates. Despite these benefits, many processors remain hesitant due to the housekeeping challenges and high scrap rates often associated with liquid color.

 Overview of Liquid Color

Chroma Color Liquid Color Alternative

Advancements in liquid colorant dosing systems over the past decade have greatly enhanced their user-friendliness, providing cleaner and easier handling solutions tailored to industry requirements. Liquid colorants have long delivered vibrant hues at low use rates, offering excellent color distribution ideal for tints and transparent applications. For instance, liquid colorants can achieve some pearlescent and metallic effects, enhancing shelf appeal for brand owners and packaging designers.

Additionally, liquid colorants can be processed at lower temperatures than traditional masterbatch, avoiding heat history degradation and eliminating pre-decomposition concerns. This makes them a reliable and efficient choice for achieving striking visual effects without compromising material integrity.

On paper, liquid color may seem cost-effective, promising aesthetic benefits at reduced expenses. However, the hidden drawbacks often complicate the overall production process.

Challenges of Liquid Color:

  • Complex Equipment Needs: Liquid color requires specialized pumps and hoses to integrate properly, complicating operations. For example: If a line stops and the equipment isn’t tied into the screw signal correctly the liquid pump will keep dosing, flooding the barrel with color.

In addition, Liquid is delivered through polyethylene tubes which can wear out and rupture, causing spills.  Additionally, these tubes are consumables not provided by the manufacturer and need to be purchased by the molder.

  • Handling Inefficiencies: High risks of spills and constant equipment maintenance make liquid color messy and inefficient. For example, liquid color often causes screw slippage, especially at higher letdown ratios, which results in the constant monitoring of the machine and severe delays in production.  When a liquid container empties, it often does so with no warning. This requires the machine to be stopped until the new container is ready to run and again, causes delays in production.

Liquid color also has a tendency when used for long periods of time to cause staining of the screw of the manufacturing machine The limited shelf life and frequent separation issues lead to waste.

  • Resin Compromises: Liquid color displaces resin, requiring more material to maintain shot weight, which can increase costs unexpectedly. For instance, a lower letdown ratio (LDR) may look appealing but adds resin expenses, diminishing perceived savings. In addition, liquid needs to be stored in temperature-controlled areas.  Additionally, shipping liquid in cold weather can allow it to freeze, ruining the color.
  • Waste & Sustainability: Liquid color cannot be fully used from containers, leading to scrap rates of up to 10%. Combined with disposal issues requiring hazardous waste removal, this contributes significantly to environmental concerns. Plus, when using regrind, the fines can mix with liquid and create clumps that block the flow of pellets through the feed throat.

The Efficiency of New Technology of Color Concentrates

Newer color concentrate technology offers a superior alternative that minimizes these inefficiencies. Unlike liquid color, advanced pelletized concentrates eliminate the mess, waste, and complex equipment while offering consistent color results across various applications.

Chroma Color Pellet Color Concentrates

Advantages of Color Concentrate Pellets:

  • Sustainability: Liquid color’s carbon footprint is significant, with oil-based carrier systems adding to environmental impact. This technology’s carrier system uses fewer raw materials and reducing carbon output.
  • Ease of Use: These pellets integrate seamlessly into production lines, compatible with standard feeding systems. No pumps, no spills—just easy, efficient coloring.
  • Maximized Usage: Unlike liquid color, this technology allows for 100% use, reducing waste and ensuring every pellet contributes to the product.
  • Reduced Scrap and Downtime: Liquid color systems often cause scrap and require frequent purging, but these color concentrates pellets enable faster color changeovers with minimal waste, optimizing production efficiency.
  • Simplified Disposal: These pellets are also non-hazardous and disposed of in traditional waste streams, unlike liquid color, which needs special disposal and adds to a higher carbon footprint.

Comparing the Environmental Impact

Chroma Color Pellet Color Concentrates Shipping

Packaging and Shipping:  A 1,000-pound order of this technology is packaged in Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) rated cardboard and weighs about 25 pounds including the lid. Most processors have liquid color delivered in 5-gallon buckets so they can agitate the color before use. Obviously, pellets do not need to be agitated. To ship 1,000 pounds of liquid color in plastic buckets is roughly 100 pounds of packaging material used to ship the liquid color vs 25 lbs. of the new pellet technology.

Some liquid companies have touted a “Pump in a Drum” system for reusable packaging, but keep in mind doing this adds another shipment back to the manufacturer and increases the carbon footprint of the packaging in the life cycle assessment.

“Cradle to Grave” Sustainability: The complete lifecycle of this newer color concentrate is designed to be environmentally friendly, with fewer emissions and more efficient waste management. Liquid color’s extra shipments for hazardous waste disposal and inefficient usage only add to its environmental burden.

Why Chroma Color’s G-Series Is the Future

Chroma Color G Series, G2 & G3

Chroma Color’s patented G2 and G3 technologies represent a breakthrough in the plastics industry. By combining the dispersion quality of liquid color with the ease and efficiency of pellets, G2 and G3 achieve vibrant, uniform colors at lower letdown ratios. This means manufacturers benefit from cost savings without sacrificing quality.

To explore how G2 and G3 can transform your production, visit: Chroma Color G-Series.

About Chroma Color Corporation
Chroma Color delivers unparalleled color solutions for industries ranging from packaging to healthcare. With a focus on innovation and customer satisfaction, our G-Series technology and strategic growth have established us as industry leaders for over 50 years. Learn more at www.chromacolors.com.

Chroma Color® Expands Footprint with West Coast acquisition of Spectra Color

Chroma Color and Spectra Color logos

<12/20/2024>, McHenry, IL: Chroma Color Corporation (“Chroma Color®” or “Chroma”) continues to grow its manufacturing footprint along with its portfolio of colorant and additive technologies with its recent acquisition of Spectra Color, Inc. (“Spectra Color” or “Spectra”) a custom manufacturer of colorants and pre-colored resin compounds. Spectra also manufactures a proprietary resin primarily made from linear low-density polyethylene, predominantly used in the rotational molding industry.

Located in Corona, California, Spectra is a leading provider of masterbatch and color-matching services with custom blending capabilities. Founded in 1976, they have supplied the plastic industry with high quality thermoplastic compounds, colorants, additives, and value-added resins for over 45 years. Spectra serves diverse end-markets, including medical, healthcare, agriculture, consumer products, among others.

Spectra CEO, Bob Shedd, said, “We are thrilled to join forces with Chroma Color. Chroma’s strong market reputation and shared vision for the business make this partnership a perfect fit. By combining  our technological expertise, we can deliver a powerful competitive advantage, enhance performance, and create even greater value for our customers.”

“Chroma Color® is dedicated to driving growth through both organic initiatives and inorganic growth opportunities. The acquisition of Spectra Color underscores our commitment to expanding our geographic reach and enhancing our product offerings to better serve our customers,” stated Joe Herres, Chroma Color Corporation, CEO. “The entire team is fully prepared to support Spectra’s customers during this transition, and we are confident they will experience significant value from Chroma’s extensive capabilities and resources.”

Chroma Color®:

Chroma Color Corporation is a leading specialty color and additive concentrate supplier serving diverse markets, including wire and cable, packaging, healthcare, pharmaceutical, consumer products, among others. Chroma Color’s growth strategy includes a deep focus on organic growth as well as inorganic growth through several strategic acquisitions over recent years. Chroma’s extensive technical leadership and manufacturing expertise, coupled with its market-leading colorant, has delivered high value to customers for more than 50 years. chromacolors.com

Chroma Color Corporation Introduces New Capability to Mold 3D Samples for Enhanced Color Visualization

Chroma Color Sample Program

Chroma Color Corporation, a leading supplier of innovative color concentrates, is proud to announce a new capability that revolutionizes the way customers can experience and evaluate color options. Moving beyond traditional flat color chips, Chroma Color now offers the ability to mold samples, showcasing their colors in a more dynamic and realistic 3D form.

This advancement allows customers to see how colors appear on an actual sample, providing a comprehensive view of hues, effects, and undertones in real-world applications. By moving from standard step chips to molded samples, Chroma Color enhances the decision-making process, ensuring clients have a more accurate understanding of how their chosen colors will look on finished products.

“Our new molded color samples offer a significant advantage for our customers,” said James Walsh, VP of Technology, Chroma Color Corporation. “It’s all about providing a more tangible, three-dimensional experience to better meet the creative and functional needs of our clients.”

For more information on how Chroma Color’s new sample bottle capability can benefit your project, contact us here: https://chromacolors.com/contact-us/

Download this product pdf: https://chromacolors.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Chroma-Colors-3D-Sample-Program-2024.pdf

About Chroma Color

Chroma Color Corporation is committed to delivering exceptional color solutions for a variety of industries, including packaging, consumer goods, and healthcare. With a focus on innovation and quality, Chroma Color continuously pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in color technology.

Chroma Color’s growth strategy includes robust organic and inorganic growth through nine acquisitions over three years. Chroma’s extensive technical leadership, manufacturing expertise, and its game-changing G-Series colorant, has delighted customers for over 50 years.

The Power of G2 Color Concentrates for Large Plastic Molded Parts: A Game-Changer for Construction, Utilities, and Material Handling Markets

Chroma Color G2 for large construction products

In the world of construction, utilities, and material handling efficiency, durability, and cost-effectiveness are paramount. Chroma Color Corporation’s G2 color concentrates have emerged as a game-changer, providing a solution that not only enhances the aesthetic appeal of large -molded parts but also significantly reduces overall costs.

Unmatched Effectiveness

G2 color concentrates are designed to deliver superior performance in large-scale molding applications. Their advanced formulation ensures consistent and vibrant colors, enhancing the visual appeal of products ranging from construction equipment to safety gear and utility components. The high pigment load in G2 concentrates ensures excellent color strength and uniformity, even in the most demanding applications.

Chroma Color UV additives

In addition, Chroma Color’s G2 color concentrates can be enhanced with UV additives, providing superior protection against the harmful effects of UV rays from the sun. This added UV stability ensures that colors remain vibrant and do not degrade quickly, extending the lifespan and aesthetic appeal of large -molded parts used in outdoor environments.

Cost Efficiency

One of the standout features of G2 color concentrates is their ability to lower overall production costs. The concentrates are engineered for high dispersibility, meaning they blend seamlessly into various polymers, reducing the amount of colorant needed. This efficiency translates into cost savings on raw materials.

Additionally, G2 concentrates:

  • Minimizes the need for frequent color adjustments,
  • Reduces downtime
  • Enhances production efficiency.

Versatility Across Markets

Chroma Color G2 for Material handling products

Chroma Color’s G2 concentrates are versatile and adaptable, making them ideal for the diverse needs of the construction, safety, and utilities markets. In construction, they are used to mold durable and visually appealing components like pipes, fittings, and housing materials. The safety industry benefits from the high visibility and durability of G2-colored safety gear, ensuring compliance with safety standards while maintaining cost-effectiveness. In utilities, the concentrates contribute to the production of robust and reliable parts such as electrical enclosures and water management systems.

Environmental Benefits

Beyond cost and performance, G2 color concentrates align with sustainability goals. Chroma Color is committed to environmentally responsible manufacturing practices, and G2 concentrates are formulated to minimize waste and energy consumption during production. This eco-friendly approach not only benefits the environment but also appeals to companies striving to meet their sustainability targets.

Conclusion

Chroma Color Corporation’s G2 color concentrates are a testament to innovation in the field of large-scale molding. Their effectiveness, cost efficiency, versatility, and environmental benefits make them an invaluable asset in the construction, safety, and utilities markets. By choosing G2 concentrates, manufacturers can enhance their product offerings, streamline production processes, and contribute to a more sustainable future. Learn more at https://chromacolors.com/products/g-series/

Chroma Color® Exhibiting at Compounding World 2024 Booth # C1526

Chroma Color Compounding World 2024

Chroma Color Corporation is a leading specialty color concentrate supplier serving diverse markets, including wire and cable, packaging, healthcare, pharmaceutical, consumer products, and others. With the acquisition of Epolin, Chroma is also the recognized leader in the near-infrared (NIR) absorptive dye industry, producing proprietary blends to suit the eye protection and light management sectors. Stop by booth C1526 to talk to the Chroma Color® about our color concentrates and masterbatches that includes G-Series, UltraPET, ChromaPCRPET, ChromaNIR, Bio-Compostable option, and more.

The Compounding World Expo is being held in Cleveland, OH, on November 13-14, 2024. Cleveland is the plastics hub of North America and this event caters to the entire compounding supply chain where you can network with peers, gain insights from experts, and explore cutting-edge exhibits – all for FREE. To register visit: https://na.compoundingworldexpo.com

Also you can gain a broader perspective with the co-located expos: Plastics Extrusion World Expo, Plastics Recycling World Expo, and Polymer Testing World Expo that offer cross-industry insights. Our dynamic conference program features technical presentations, industry debates, and insightful seminars across four dedicated theaters.

New ChromaBioColor Masterbatch from Chroma Color for “Difficult to Recycle” Parts

ChromaBioColor Masterbatch

 

Companies in the plastic’s industry continues to look for color concentrate solutions to meet sustainability goals. To support these customers Chroma Color’s technical team continues to develop additional options. Recently, a customer was looking for a partner to come up with a color masterbatch using a PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates) biobased polyester that would comply to *ASTM D-6400/*DIN EN13432 Bio-Composting standards.

The Chroma Color Technology team developed three new colors for our customer using a specifically designed carrier resin for a masterbatch:

41OR0001SC41CO-F Orange 50/1

41RD0001SC41CO-F Red 50/1

41WH000141CO-F White 50/1

*ASTM D6400 outlines the standard requirements for the biodegradation of solid materials through composting, specifically tailored for labeling plastics intended for aerobic composting in municipal or industrial settings.

*DIN EN 13432 specifies the requirements and procedures for determining the compostability and aerobic treatability of packaging (and its materials).

About PHA’s: are a family of biobased and biodegradable polyesters made by bacterial fermentation. PHACT biopolymers were chosen for this project are plant-based and feature a sustainable manufacturing process. Alone or when blended with other polymers, they dramatically improve environmental characteristics while enhancing physical properties in a broad range of consumer applications. This material is considered to be thermally stable in the normal and customary processing range of 185- 200 Cº. Extended polymer and concentrate residence time in the process equipment may require that process temperature profiles be reviewed and/or adjusted to insure a proper and suitable product.

Click here to download the brochure : https://chromacolors.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Chroma-PHA-Color-Masterbatch-Final-LR.pd

Chroma Color:

Chroma Color Corporation is a leading specialty color and additive concentrate supplier serving diverse markets, including wire and cable, packaging, healthcare, pharmaceutical, consumer products, and others.

With the recent acquisition of Epolin, Chroma Color is now the recognized leader in the near-infra-red (NIR) absorptive dye industry, producing proprietary blends to suit the eye protection and light management sectors.

Chroma Color’s growth strategy includes robust organic and inorganic growth through nine acquisitions over three years. Chroma’s extensive technical leadership and manufacturing expertise, coupled with its game-changing colorant, has delighted customers for over 50 years.

 

Chroma Color® Announces New Chief Executive Officer Joe Herres

®Chroma Color Joe Herres CEO
Chroma Color Corporation, leading formulator and supplier of specialty color and additive concentrates and IR absorbing and modifying dyes with an extensive manufacturing footprint throughout the United States, has appointed Joe Herres as Chief Executive Officer effective April 17, 2024 replacing Shruti Singhal. Joe Herres, Chroma’s new CEO commented, “I am very excited to take the leadership role in a business I love and, in an organization, made up of incredibly dedicated and talented team members. Having been the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Chroma for the past 15 months, I see great opportunities to continue our journey with our customers in helping them grow their business which in turn strengthens Chroma’s ability to partner even more effectively”.
 
 
 
Arsenal Capital Partners Operating Partner and company Chairman George Abd commented, “we are pleased to have Joe take this leadership role bringing with him decades of industry experience and proven success leading and growing businesses. Joe’s deep experience in the plastics industry with a diverse background in polymers and manufacturing processes and his passion for the customer make him uniquely qualified to lead Chroma to the next level. Joe’s strong track record of providing leadership and execution led to exponential growth and market expansion at Spartech, LLC under the ownership of Arsenal and other private equity firms. Joe previously worked for Spartech Corporation both as a public and private business for nearly 20 years and has also worked for Avient (formerly PolyOne). Joe attended Washburn University’s Business Administration and Management program. We want to thank Shruti Singhal for his dedication in leading the organization over the past two and a half years and wish him the best in what we are sure will be a successful next step in his career.”
 
 
 
Chroma Color®: Chroma Color Corporation is a leading specialty color and additive concentrate supplier serving a diverse range of markets, including packaging, healthcare, pharmaceutical, wire, cable, consumer products, and others. With the acquisition of Epolin, Chroma is also the recognized leader in the near infrared (NIR) absorptive dye industry producing proprietary blends to suit the eye protection and light management sectors. Chroma Color’s growth strategy includes robust organic and inorganic growth including nine acquisitions. Chroma’s extensive technical leadership and manufacturing expertise, coupled with its game changing colorant and light management technologies, have delighted customers for over 50 years. Chroma Color Corporation is an Arsenal Capital Partners portfolio company. For more information, please contact us: https://chromacolors.com/contact-us/