Extrusion International 5-2017

36 Extrusion International 5/2017 PET-RECYCLING rPET packaging trend Manufacturers count on energy-saving add-on technology from EREMA – including food contact compatibility Some 1.3 million tonnes of PET are al- ready recycled every year around the worldwith VACUREMA technology from EREMA. The end products include food contact compliant preforms for the bev- erage industry, thermoforming sheet, fi- bres and strapping. The order figures at EREMA show that the trend in PET recycling is clearly to- wards direct processing. This does with- out pellet production as an intermedi- ate step and post-consumer PET flakes or PET production waste are processed directly and in one step to make end products. Twenty-four of these VACU- REMA Inline systems have been shipped in the last 15 months alone and, ad- ditionally, a new process for the direct production of food contact grade pre- forms from post-consumer bottle flakes has been presented. EREMA also offers the MPR, a highly ef- ficient crystallisation dryer, for customers who are converting their existing PET ex- trusion plants for food contact compliant end products. The decontamination, dry- One year ago EREMA an- nounced the relaunch of the Multi-Purpose Reactor (MPR) at the Discovery Day. Since then, the trend towards the food contact grade di- rect processing of PET prod- ucts has continued to grow. More and more customers are enhancing their existing extrusion plant by adding the attribute of food contact compliance Christoph Wöss in front of the MPR of Sky- Light at EREMA’s production facility. Photocredit: EREMA ing, dedusting and crystallisation of dif- ferent PET input materials takes place in just one step inpreparation for extrusion. “The MPR is becoming increasingly pop- ular for customers who have a conven- tional crystalliser and pre-dryer and are confronted with long process times and high operating costs. With energy con- sumption at only 0.1 kWh/kg, the MPR is a crystalliser and pre-dryer at the same time, making it the economically interest- ing alternative,” says Christoph Wöss, Business Development Manager for the bottle sector at EREMA. Input materials such as washed PET bottle flakes, ground PET flat sheet waste and virgin PETmate- rial plus mixtures of them are decontami- nated and therefore already food con- tact compliant before extrusion. “The list of alternative suppliers of these PET ex- truders without pretreatment is long and tempting. However, later investments in dryers or high-maintenance decontami- nation modules reduce the profits of the PET producers in the end,” warns Chris- tophWöss. Everything in a single working step: the input material goes from the MPR into the extrusion system and is then processed directly to make an inline sheet product. Photocredit: EREMA, Humer / Wallmen