{"id":28050,"date":"2026-10-20T10:26:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T14:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sensing.konicaminolta.us\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=28050"},"modified":"2026-10-27T13:31:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T17:31:02","slug":"color-measurement-in-recycled-plastic-compounding-process","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/sensing.konicaminolta.us\/us\/blog\/color-measurement-in-recycled-plastic-compounding-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Color Measurement in Recycled Plastic Compounding Process"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The increasing concern about plastic pollution has highlighted the urgent need for effective waste management strategies. A vital component of this strategy is plastic recycling, which involves a meticulous process of collection, sorting, cleaning, and ultimately transforming discarded plastics into new, usable products. This is achieved through plastic compounding, in which recycled plastics are blended with various additives, fillers, and reinforcing materials to achieve specific characteristics such as improved strength, flexibility, flame resistance, and color.<\/p>\n<p>As compounding involves the addition of various additives and colorants, color measurement plays a crucial role in the recycled plastic compounding process. This step ensures that recycled plastic compounds meet customers\u2019 specific color requirements, maintain consistency across batches, reduce costly rework and scrap, and satisfy the aesthetic and functional requirements of various applications.<\/p>\n<p>In recycled plastic production, feedstock variability often creates significant color variation from batch to batch. Consistent color measurement during compounding helps manufacturers compensate for these variations, reduce off-spec material, minimize waste, and improve customer satisfaction.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Objective Color Measurement with a Spectrophotometer<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Spectrophotometers play a critical role in a wide range of industries, including the chemical and plastics industries. These color measurement instruments provide objective color data for quality control processes, ensuring that color standards and customer expectations are consistently met. In addition, they support research and development efforts by providing precise data for formulating new products and materials.<\/p>\n<p>A spectrophotometer operates by measuring the reflectance or transmittance of light across different wavelengths. The resulting data are then converted into color-space values, such as those defined by the CIE L*a*b* color space. The CIE L*a*b* color space is a three-dimensional representation of color that provides a standardized framework for communicating color information. It consists of three coordinates:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>L*<\/strong>, representing the lightness of the color<\/li>\n<li><strong>a*<\/strong>, describing the position on the green-red axis<\/li>\n<li><strong>b*<\/strong>, indicating the position on the blue-yellow axis<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These coordinates provide numerical values for each color parameter, facilitating the establishment of color tolerances for evaluating acceptable color differences.<\/p>\n<p>Spectrophotometers can operate in various measurement modes, including reflectance and transmittance, and selecting the appropriate mode is essential for obtaining accurate and meaningful data based on the nature of the sample.<\/p>\n<p>In reflectance mode, the spectrophotometer measures the amount of light reflected from the sample\u2019s surface, making it suitable for opaque or solid plastic samples. In transmittance mode, the instrument measures the amount of light passing through a sample, providing insight into its color characteristics. This mode is typically used for transparent or translucent plastic samples, as well as liquid samples.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Konica Minolta Color Measurement Solutions for Recycled Plastic Compounds<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Konica Minolta offers a range of color measurement solutions specifically designed for the plastics industry, including recycled plastic compounding applications. Among these solutions, the <a href=\"https:\/\/sensing.konicaminolta.us\/us\/products\/spectrophotometer-cm-36dg\/\">CM-36dG Spectrophotometer<\/a> offers the flexibility of both reflectance and transmittance color measurements, making it suitable for a wide range of recycled plastic compounding applications. CM-36dG Spectrophotometer reflectance (left) and transmittance (right) color measurement of plastics.<\/p>\n<p>With repeatability of \u0394E*ab &lt; 0.02 and inter-instrument agreement of \u0394E*ab &lt; 0.12, the <a href=\"https:\/\/sensing.konicaminolta.us\/us\/products\/spectrophotometer-cm-36dg\/\">CM-36dG Spectrophotometer<\/a> provides manufacturers with the confidence and control needed to produce recycled plastic compounds with minimal color variability while ensuring consistent color quality across production runs, even across multiple production sites.<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-28055 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/sensing.konicaminolta.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/ColorMeasurementRecycledPlastics.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"526\" height=\"257\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sensing.konicaminolta.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/ColorMeasurementRecycledPlastics.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/sensing.konicaminolta.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/ColorMeasurementRecycledPlastics-300x147.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/sensing.konicaminolta.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/ColorMeasurementRecycledPlastics-768x375.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/sensing.konicaminolta.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/ColorMeasurementRecycledPlastics-350x171.jpeg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 526px) 100vw, 526px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/sensing.konicaminolta.us\/us\/products\/spectrophotometer-cm-36dg\/\">CM-36dG Spectrophotometer<\/a> offers multiple measurement-aperture options and supports a wide range of accessories to help streamline the measurement process. In addition to delivering precise and consistent color measurements, this versatile instrument features an integrated 60\u00b0 gloss sensor, enabling the simultaneous measurement of both color and gloss.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, the CM-36dG offers an optional Wavelength Analysis &amp; Adjustment (WAA) function, which helps correct wavelength shifts during calibration, ensuring long-term measurement accuracy and reliability. When used with <a href=\"https:\/\/sensing.konicaminolta.us\/us\/products\/spectramagic-nx2-color-data-software\/\">SpectraMagic NX2 color management software<\/a>, manufacturers can monitor color trends, track batch consistency, generate quality reports, and establish pass\/fail tolerances. These capabilities help recyclers and compounders maintain tighter process control while reducing color-related production issues.<\/p>\n<p>As demand for recycled plastics continues to grow, maintaining consistent color quality remains a critical challenge for compounders and recyclers. Advanced color measurement solutions such as the CM-36dG Spectrophotometer help manufacturers achieve reliable color consistency, reduce waste, and meet increasingly stringent customer requirements.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the <a href=\"https:\/\/sensing.konicaminolta.us\/us\/learning-center\/youtube\/how-to-use-a-cm-36dg\/\">CM-36dG product video<\/a> to learn more about its full range of capabilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":28058,"template":"","learning_center_categories":[237],"class_list":["post-28050","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","learning_center_categories-color-appearance-measurement"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.7 (Yoast SEO v28.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>Color Measurement in Recycled Plastic Compounding Process - Konica Minolta Sensing<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sensing.konicaminolta.us\/us\/blog\/color-measurement-in-recycled-plastic-compounding-process\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Color Measurement in Recycled Plastic Compounding Process\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The increasing concern about plastic pollution has highlighted the urgent need for effective waste management strategies. 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