Flexible vinyl compounds incorporating phthalate-free plasticisers are available for medical and other applications from Teknor Apex Co. The BioVinyl materials, which enable manufacturers to reduce the carbon footprint of their products, can be used to extrude medical tubing and fabricate masks and collection bags. Blood bags are under development.
BioVinyl compounds incorporate phthalate-free Dow Ecolibrium plasticisers, which are manufactured using plant byproducts by Dow Electrical and Telecommunications (Dow E&T), a unit of the Dow Chemical Co. Life cycle analysis tests conducted by Dow and reviewed by a third party indicate that every ton of vinyl compound made flexible with the plasticiser helps industry reduce its carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 0.7 ton, or 41%.
The cost of the material reportedly is competitive with flexible vinyl containing nonphthalate plasticizers.