Oceanex 

Putting sea shell waste to better use

OCEANEX Bio-Renewable Polymer Supplement

 

What Is Oceanex?

Simply Oyster Shell Extracts.  OCEANEX is derived by harnessing the power of the compounds naturally found in powdered Oyster shell.  The shell is denatured, blended with some additional organic material to create super-fine OCEANEX powder that can then be used as a high polymer replacement in the bags we manufacture.  Don’t worry. there is no actual Oyster in OCEANEX so plastics that contain it will not present a problem for people with seafood allergies.

OCEANEX is supplied as a compounded masterbatch pellet. The stock pellet carrier in our Ecohound range is HDPE which is compatible with most types of plastics and less than 10% of the pellet mass. For our compostable range PBAT will be used to create the OCEANEX masterbatch.

The Magic Ingredients:

Calcite

Calcium Carbonate is a chemical compound with the formula CaCo3. Calcite is a naturally occuring polymorph of CaCo3 and it is the primary mineral found in limestone, marble and oyster shell. Powdered Calcite is widely used as a filler in the production of plastics but it comes from mining and quarrying. The advantage of using Calcite from Oyster shell is that it is bio-renewable.

Aragonite

Aragonite is the crystalline form of calcium carbonate. Aragonite has an orthorhombic crystal structure which helps it to integrate well with synthetic polymers. This helps blends of plastic + OCEANEX establish a stable material structure compared to using conventional fillers. Aragonite sourced from Oyster shell is of course also a bio-renewable material.

Chitin

In the nacreous layer of Oyster shells, the bio-polymer Chitin serves as the major component of the organic framework. Bio-polymers can be blended with synthetic polymers to increase the renewable content of plastics and to provide dimensional stability.

 

How does Oceanex works in Ecohound waste bags?

OCEANEX is supplied as a compounded masterbatch pellet which is added to our HDPE Ecohound waste bags during the manufacturing process.  Production is currenlty able to achieve up to 25% high polymer replacement with OCEANEX.

Is Oceanex Sustainable?

The shell of an oyster represents more than 70% of its total weight so every year processing oysters for food leaves behind millions of tons of waste oyster shell which presents a major disposal problem in many costal regions. Some of this is sold for use as aggregate or pharmaceutical products, but much of it has historically been landfilled or thrown back into the sea. In recent years interest has grown in putting this sustainable waste stream to better use. The creators of OCEANEX are pioneers in utilising this bio-renewable waste material to bring improvements to the production of flexible and rigid non-durable plastics. There are also no GMO issues with OCEANEX and it does not contain a food stock.

Is Oceanex Recyclable?

The polymer component of plastic products containing OCEANEX can be recovered and recycled using standard processes.

Can Oceanex be blended with recycled plastic?

Yes, OCEANEX can be blended with any percentage of recycled polymer so the Ecohound product range complies with ongoing global initiatives to encourage plastic recycling.

 

 

 

Scot-PetShop

Unit 9 / 10
1 Firth Road
Houstoun Ind Est
Livingston
West Lothian
UK
EH54 5DJ

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