Neodecanoates and Polymers

Safer Dryer Series: Neodecanoates and Polymers In accordance with REGULATION (EU) 2022/692 published on 16 February 2022, as of 23 November 2023, the classification of 2-ethylhexanoic acid and its metal salts will be reclassified as Toxic to Reproduction 1B H360. With this new classification, the use of 2-ethylhexanoic acid and metal salts must not exceed a 0.3% limit. Products containing this H360 hazard classification are prohibited from being placed on the market for public use. They may only be used by professional users and must be labelled with the statement "For professional users only." Neodecanoic acid, a safer acid for humans and the environment under CLP regulations, is considered an alternative to 2-ethylhexanoic acid. Ege Kimya has been using neodecanoic acid in its extensive product range for many years. Leveraging our comprehensive experience and knowledge in metal carboxylate technology, we expanded our product portfolio to include metal neodecanoate products as an alternative to 2-ethylhexanoic acid-based products. Since neodecanoic acid is classified as non-hazardous, the new products contain only hazard classes arising from the metal. The new neodecanoate product series shows certain differences compared to the 2-ethylhexanoate series in terms of metal content. Neodecanoic acid has a higher molecular weight, which means a higher proportion of carboxylate and a lower proportion of solvent in the structure for a given metal percentage. This means a reduction in solvent volume. As a result, the maximum achievable metal percentage for some neodecanoate products may be lower. Since the metal is responsible for catalytic activity, Ege Kimya can guarantee similar catalytic performance for its neodecanoate-based products, and comprehensive assessments conducted have confirmed the effectiveness of this new product range on performance. Another advantage of neodecanoate products is the increased organic acid portion, which increases the solubility of the products in hydrocarbon solvents and reduces hydrolysis potential. The reduced water solubility of neodecanoate products makes them less bioaccumulative. Therefore, they are less harmful to living organisms and their use is safer. In the neodecanoate series, Ege Kimya is currently the only company developing and able to bring to market Calcium Neo 10 products. The toxicity of cobalt metal, being Carcinogenic, Mutagenic and Toxic to Reproduction (CMR), is extremely hazardous to human health and has been widely discussed. Ege Kimya has developed a polymeric cobalt product series to reduce the harmful effects of cobalt metal on human health. With products coded EGEDry® Prime, cobalt metal has been integrated into a polymeric structure. By incorporating cobalt into a polymer, the adverse toxic effects of the metal have been minimized without reducing catalytic effect. Current EU REACH legislation does not cover polymers, therefore this product series complies with regulations. Furthermore, our polymer series products have been proven to be non-reprotoxic through COMET and AMES tests conducted in internationally accredited laboratories. The first product of Ege Kimya's polymeric cobalt series is EGEDry® Prime, developed in 2013, containing 4% cobalt and having a viscosity of approximately 2500 mPa.s. Following Ege Kimya's desire to add a product with higher metal content and lower viscosity to its polymeric product series, EGEDry® Prime LV Pro was created, containing 6% cobalt with a typical viscosity of 800 mPa.s (Table 1).   M.Sc. Bahar Taylanlı - Assistant Research and Development Specialist Ege Kimya Dr. Aslı Ustalar İnal - Regulatory Specialist Ege Kimya