Extrusion Asia Edition 1-2024

is the SafeFlake technology in the vacuum reactor, which brings together decontamination, drying and IV treatment. Thanks to the pretreatment of the PET flakes in vacuum at the correct temperature, moisture and migration substances are effectively removed already prior to extrusion. This prevents any hydrolytic and oxidative decomposition of the melt in the extruder. The quality of the rPET pellets remains consistently high even if the parameters of the input material – such as moisture, mixture or bulk density – vary. In addition to the quality aspects, the financial factors are also a strong argument in favour of this recycling process. This is be- cause both the total costs of acquisition and use (total costs of ownership) and the energy consumption are comparatively low. "The specific overall energy consumption of a VACUREMA ® Prime system is only 0.295 kWh/kg, for example. This is a top energy efficiency value compared to conventional PET proces- sing lines on the market," says Christoph Wöss, Business Deve- lopment Manager for the Bottle segment at EREMA. VACURE- MA ® Prime is a version of the process where two crystallisation dryers immediately upstream from the vacuum reactor operate in batch mode alternately – also in vacuum – to decontaminate the material. The intrinsic viscosity (IV) is increased thanks to Solid State Polycondensation (SSP) on the flake. Double safety with VACUNITE ® Legal requirements and the much publicised commitment of well-known brand owners are pointing the way towards a big increase in the proportion of recyclate used in products such as PET bottles. "Recycling machines have to produce better quali- ty output material despite the decreasing quality of the input material," explains Christoph Wöss. "That is where VACUNITE ® comes in, to meet these requirements." Together with Polyme- trix, EREMA has developed the tried-and-tested VACUREMA ® process to include vacuum-assisted SSP in a nitrogen atmos- phere. All of the thermal process steps are performed in nitro- gen and/or vacuum. Decontamination carried out at the beginning and end of the processing sequence means double safety for users. "With VACUNITE ® we offer our bottle-to-bottle customers a new technology which sets new standards at all levels from technical performance to recyclate quality," says Christoph Wöss. The nitrogen used in the SSP is purified and can be fed back into the processing stage upstream so that nitrogen consumption is reduced as a result. Another advan- tage of VACUNITE ® is the improved colour values. "We can re- tain the transparency of the material even after several recy- cling cycles, which makes bottle-to-bottle recycling fit for the future – for a truly functional circular economy," says Christoph Wöss. Food-safe rPET on the increase – also in the textile industry As well as in the food sector, food-compliant rPET is also play- ing an increasingly important role in the textile industry. Well- known brands are relying more and more on recycled PET as a material that meets the requirements for food grade specifica- tions in order to be able to offer their customers textiles that are both sustainable and safe from a health perspective. This trend is reflected by the increase in sales of bottle-to-fibre ap- plications at EREMA. Asia is an important market in this seg- ment. Ultimately, the textile industry is increasing the demand for PET recycling. Around two thirds of the total volume of PET flows into the production of synthetic fibres. EREMA has responded by setting up its own business application for fibres and textiles. Gentle material preparation for fibre-to-fibre The INTAREMA ® FibrePro:IV machine was developed specifical- ly for fibre-to-fibre recycling. Proven INTAREMA ® technology combined with the new IV Uptimiser succeeds in processing shredded PET fibre materials heavily contaminated by spinning oils in such a way that the finest fibres can be produced again from the recycled pellets. The system features active surface re- newal of the melt in a vacuum atmosphere, which focuses on removing the spinning oils and other additives more efficiently than conventional PET recycling processes. Following extrusion, the intrinsic viscosity is increased in the new IV Uptimiser by 40 2024中国国际橡塑展 – Chinaplas 2024 Extrusion Asia Edition 1/2024 在 2024 年国际橡塑展上，EREMA 团队将再次与感兴趣的莅临者深入探 讨。(图为： 2023 年国际橡塑展）（ 图片版权：EREMA GmbH） At Chinaplas 2024, the EREMA expert teams will once again be on hand to share their expertise with visitors (Photo from Chinaplas 2023) (Photo credits: EREMA GmbH)