Extrusion International 3-2022

26 Extrusion International 3/2022 INDUSTRY NEWS  Reifenhäuser Blown Film showcased technical solutions for the economical and sustainable production of blown flm that pay off in terms of a function - ing circular economy and reduction of the carbon footprint at the new GREENPLAST 2022 congress trade fair inMilan fromMay 3 to 6. Highlights in- cluded the patented EVO Ultra Stretch production process for fully recyclable All-PE Blown Film, the use of digital product passports in the interests of a functioning circular economy, and technologies for the economical pro- cessing of post-consumer and post- industrial recyclate. The blown flm plant specialist showcased examples of future-proof technologies that are consistently designed for the produc- tion of sustainable products. EVO Ultra Stretch, Reifenhäuser's pat- ented stretching unit, enables the pro- duction of mono-material composites (All-PE Film) for fully recyclable flexible packaging inwhich theotherwiseusual PET layer of the packaging is replaced by stretched PE. This is made possible by the maximum 10-fold stretch rate, which gives PE flms completely new mechanical properties. There is no need to adapt further processing steps such as printing, laminating and con- verting. Thanks to the patented posi- tion of the stretching unit directly in the haul-off of the blown flm line, the flm is stretched at the ideal time and from frst heat, which at the same time makes the process particularly user- friendly, stable and effcient. To make the best use of the potential of fully recyclable packaging for the circular economy, Reifenhäuser relies on digital product passports via R-Cycle – the traceability standard for plastic packaging. AtGreenplast, Reifenhäuser showed a fully recyclable ALL-PE pouch equipped with this technology. R-Cycle automatically stores recycling- relevant information during produc- tion and makes it available as a stan- dardized data record for the waste sorting process. This enables data- based and thus more precise sorting for high-quality recycling. Production machines along the entire value chain can thus record relevant data, such as the type of plastic, printing ink, ad- hesive, additives and also the use of the packaging (food / non-food), and make this information available on the end product via appropriate mark- ing (e.g. digital watermarks). R-Cycle was developed to market maturity by various technology companies and or- ganizations along the entire life cycle of plastic packaging. Reifenhäuser is a foundingmember of the cross-industry community that aims to establish digi- tal product passports to build a func- tioning circular economy worldwide. High recyclate content in packaging is just as important as recycling-friendly design of plastic products. However, manufacturers face new technical chal- lenges in processing recyclates: The highly fluctuating quality of the input material is one of the biggest problems. With the Reifenhäuser EVOUltra Fusion extrusion process, blown flm produc - ers make themselves less dependent on the input quality and can also dispense with the energy- and cost-intensive re- granulation of the recycling material. Fluff (flm shreds) as well as all types of production waste and PCR material can thus also be extruded directly. Ultra Fu- sion processes even the lowest quality recyclates, which were previously out of the question for the blown flm pro - cess, into functional flms for applica - tions such as trash or mailing bags. This is made possible by twin-screw technol- ogy, for a better melt homogenization, which ensures a stable process. Proces- sors can also degas the system very eas- ily and effectively, removing unwanted ingredients in the recyclate. For processing better quality regranu- lates, Reifenhäuser recommends the already well-known EVO Extruder in the 33L/D variant. Thanks to optimized barrier as well as shear and mixing parts, this extruder processes recycled material as reliably and naturally as other rawmaterials. Reifenhäuser Blown Film https://reifenhauser.com R-Cycle www.r-cycle.org Recyclable All-PE Film with Digital Product Passport Reifenhäuser EVOUltra Stretch: Theposition of the stretchingunit directly in thehaul-off of theblownfilm line is patentedand is a unique sellingpoint on themarket (Photo: Reifenhäuser WithEVOUltraFusion, fluff (filmshreds) as well as all kinds of productionwasteandPCR material of the lowest quality canbeprocessed into functional films for applications suchas trashormailingbags (Photo: Reifenhäuser) ReifenhäuserAll-PEPouch: Adigitalwatermark concealed in theprinted imageallowswaste sorting facilities to retrieve recycling-related information fromtheR-Cycledigital product passport (Photo: R-Cycle)