Circular Additives and Compounds

Additives play a crucial role in the functionality and service life of conventional and bio-based polymers: As additives, they are added to products to ensure gentle and safe processing and to enable long-term properties such as stability. 

Our competences

We design precisely tailored plastic additives and compositions to improve the quality of recyclates, such as processing and long-term stabilizers, light stabilizers, compatibilizers for polyolefins, engineering plastics and plastic blends. One of our main areas of expertise is the odor improvement of recyclates through additives and their processing.

In addition, we test the degradation and lifetime of polycondensation products and develop new bio-additives from renewable raw materials, especially antioxidants. 

Your path to cooperation

Do you want to increase the circularity of your materials and attract new customers? Then please contact Dr. Elke Metzsch-Zilligen or Dr. Daniel Zehm.

You can find more information about a collaboration here. 

(Bio-)Degradation of Plastic in the Environment
Lott Ch., Kabasci S., Merrettig-Bruns U., Weber M.
Springer Handbook of Circular Economy, Springer Verlag
First published: June 2025, page 773-792

Methods for the Fast Detection of Unpleasant Odorants and Other Non-intentionally Added Substances in Recyclates
de Aragao Belé T., Haug H., Sauerwald T.
Springer Handbook of Circular Economy, Springer Verlag
First published: June 2025, page 667-682

Intentional Plastic Additives
Pfaendner R.
Springer Handbook of Circular Economy, Springer Verlag
First published: June 2025, page 649-666

Material Characterization of Recyclates
Klingenberg P., Fell T., Ortner E., Soll M., Brüll R.
Springer Handbook of Circular Economy, Springer Verlag
First published: June 2025, page 503-520

Quality Improvement of Mechanically Recycled Plastics
Pfaendner R.
Springer Handbook of Circular Economy, Springer Verlag
First published: June 2025, page 419-431

Recycling Technologies and Sustainable Processing
Pfaendner R., Henning F.
Springer Handbook of Circular Economy, Springer Verlag
First published: June 2025, page 373

Long-Term Thermal Stabilization of Poly(Lactic Acid)
Hallstein J., Metzsch-Zilligen E., Pfaendner R.
Materials 2024, Volume 17, art. no. 2761;
First published: June 2024; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17112761 

Radical scavengingand processing stability of novel biobased stabilizers in polypropylene
Markus, K., Metzsch-Zillingen, E., Pfaendern, R.
Polymer Degradation and Stability 2024, Volume 222;
First published: February 2024; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2024.110709 

Antioxidant Activity of Biogenic Cinnamic Acid Derivatives in Polypropylene
Mayer, J., Steinbrecher, R., Metzsch-Zilligen, E., Pfaendner R.
Polymers 2023, Volume 15(17), art. no. 3621;
First published: September 2023, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15173621

Controlled and Accelerated Hydrolysis of Polylactide (PLA) through Pentaerythritol Phosphites with Acid Scavengers
Polidar, M., Metzsch-Zilligen, E., Pfaendner, R.
Polymers 2022, Volume 14, Issue 19, art. no. 4237;
First published: October 2022, DOI: 10.3390/polym14194237

Restabilization – 30 years of research for quality improvement of recycled plastics review
Pfaendner, R.
Polymer Degradation and Stability 2022, Volume 203, art. no. 110082;
First published: September 2022, DOI: 10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2022.110082

Novel multifunctional antioxidants for polymers using eugenol as biogenic building block
Mayer, J., Metzsch-Zilligen, E., Pfaendner, R.
Polymer Degradation and Stability 2022, Volume 200, art. no. 109954;
First published: June 2022; DOI: 10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2022.109954

Unraveling the cause for the unusual processing behavior of commercial partially bio-based poly(butylene succinates) and their stabilization
Hallstein, J., Gomoll, A., Lieske, A., Büsse, T., Balko, J., Brüll, R., Malz, F., Metzsch-Zilligen, E., Pfaendner, R., Zehm, D.
Journal of Applied Polymer Science 2021, Volume 138, Issue 28, art. no. 50669;
First published: 20 July 2021; 10.1002/app.50669

Analysis of the molecular heterogeneity of poly(lactic acid)/poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) blends by hyphenating size exclusion chromatography with nuclear magnetic resonance and infrared spectroscopy
Malz, F., Arndt, J.-H., Balko, J., Barton, B., Büsse, T., Imhof, D., Pfaendner, R., Rode, K., Brüll, R.
Journal of Chromatography A 2021, Volume 1638, art. no. 461819;
First published: 8 February 2021; DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2020.461819