Extrusion International 5-2024

34 Extrusion International 5/2024 FAKUMA 2024 Versatile Recycling Technologies to Meet Increasing Expectations D espite the tension felt by the plastics recycling market in Eu - rope, new legislation provides rea - son for optimism. Recycling machine manufacturer EREMA has invested in the very latest technologies in recent years to pave the way for a plastics circular economy. Trade fair visitors interested in the latest processes can discover the company’s extensive product portfolio at Fakuma. "We see new legal requirements such as the PPWR as an opportu- nity to demonstrate our expertise. The European recycling industry has the know-how to meet these requirements, which gives Europe a significant competitive advan - tage," says Markus Huber-Linding - er, Managing Director at EREMA, in the run-up to Fakuma. The new EU PPWR (Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation) prescribes a sig - nificant increase in the proportion of recyclates used to make packag - ing products by 2030. In other sec - tors, such as the automotive indus - try, the European Commission and well-known manufacturers are also calling for a higher proportion of recycled materials. State-of-the-art recycling processes are needed to achieve the necessary quality stan- dards and provide a consistent sup- ply of recycled pellets. Innovative solutions are needed to achieve the recycling quotas in the food grade packaging sector. Over the past 25 years, the VACUREMA ® series of machines has become es- tablished for the production of food- safe rPET. EREMA technologies for the recycling of PO materials (poly - olefins) have also already been ap - proved by an American food safety authority: the combination of the INTAREMA ® TVEplus ® with the Re- Fresher module allows recycled PO pellets from defined input streams to be reused in food packaging in proportions of up to 100 percent. By decontaminating the plastic and removing unwanted odours effec - tively, the technology opens up fur - ther high-quality applications for re - cycled pellets made using collected post-consumer material. These can be used in the automotive, home and design products, and for sen - sitive personal care products, for example. In the EU, the permit for food-safe recycled pellets is based on a "novel technology". EREMA supports recycling companies in generating data and evidence for the EFSA (European Food Safety Au - thority) assessment process. As the demand for recyclates in- creases, so does the need to expand capacities by using larger machines. For recycling PET materials, EREMA supplies large-scale systems with throughputs of up to 6 tonnes per hour. The company has also built machines for recycling polyolefins with a throughput of over 4 tonnes per hour. In addition to throughput, mate - rial-specific processes are decisive for increasing recycling capacities. EREMA's extensive range of prod - ucts also includes solutions for com- pounding, such as the COREMA ® series, which combines an EREMAex - truder with twin screw technology. PCU TwinScrew technology, which features a direct combination of the patented PreConditioning Unit (PCU) and a twin screw extruder, is also ready to take on challenging homogenisation processes. These machines, as well as the new DuaFil ® Compact and various filter solutions, are available for trials at the EREMA Customer Centre and in the R&D lab. "This wide selection of technologies is necessary to achieve an efficient re - cycling process because the method needs to be matched to the specific polymer, degree of contamination, input material and the application that the recycled pellets will be used for," explains Huber-Lindinger. Digital assistance sys - tems also make a ma- jor contribution to efficiency in plastics recycling. BluPort is EREMA’s online cus- tomer platform that is viewed Markus Huber-Lindinger, Managing Director at EREMA, is certain that the required recycling quotas in the EU can be achieved using innovative EREMA recycling solutions and the combined effort of European industry (Photo credits: EREMA GmbH) INTAREMA ® TVEplus ® technology combined with the ReFresher anti-odour system is ideal for producing recycled pellets for food packaging and other high-quality applications