Kisuma Launches Setogem RD: Dual-Function Nucleator and Acid Scavenger for Polypropylene
A number of new additive solutions have been introduced by Kisuma Chemicals, a world leader in magnesium-based additives, with the goal of broadening the company’s diverse product line and improving the sustainability, performance, and efficiency of plastics. Kisuma will launch Setogem RD, a cutting-edge dual-purpose nucleating and acid scavenging agent for polypropylenes (PP), as part of this significant project.
“We are very proud to offer this unique new molecule to our customers in the plastics industry,” says Samir El Khoury, regional business manager Middle East & Africa and Global Product Line Manager Polyolefin Additives at Kisuma Chemicals. “As a two-in-one product, Setogem RD combines a superior balance of properties in one single environmentally friendly and cost-efficient solution that minimizes the complexity of PP formulations, enables faster processing and maximizes final part quality.”
The excellent nucleation performance of Setogem RD helps resin producers promote and control the formation of crystals within the polymer, which results in PP materials with outstanding stiffness, impact strength and isotropic shrinkage. Moreover, it provides excellent heat deflection temperature and low creep deformation. At the same time, acid scavenging is an integral property of the product’s composition, offering non-migratory performance even atlow use levels. This contributes to a substantial reduction in blooming and migration—critical for medical and food contact applications facing strict regulatory demands—while ensuring corrosion protection for processing equipment and preserving the function of additives essential to long-term polymer stability.
Setogem RD is zinc-free and reduces the need for tallow or palm oil derivatives. It also allows customers to reduce the loading levels compared to other, less sustainable additives, such as talc and sodium benzoate (NaBz), from several kilograms per ton of PP to only 200 or 300 ppm. In addition, the innovative new dual-function molecule has a very low Scope 1 and 2 carbon footprint. For instance, a major customer has initiated the replacement of talc by Setogem RD for one million tons of PP produced per year at one site, eliminating the exposure of employees to talc in their process and resulting in a CO2 emission reduction of over 2 kilotons per year.
Talc contains high amounts of hazardous substances which led the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in 2024 to classify it as a health hazard.
Available worldwide, Setogem RD has previously obtained full food contact approvals in the EU, Switzerland, Brazil, and Japan. The FDA is anticipated to approve it by the end of the year.
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