Extrusion International 2-2024

57 Extrusion International 2/2024 • Refillable / returnable bottles; • Hot fill bottles; • Cylindrical bottles at high speed; • Color PET bottles The heating process is faster in comparison with the conventional infrared (IR) system. It reduces energy consumption and permits to design a smaller (shorter) heater of the PET stretch blow-molding machine. The equipment has smaller footprint and is easier to transport. Case study PET Technologies with 24 years of experience in the industry was among the first companies that adapted NIR heating to the linear PET stretch blow molding ma- chines. The innovative series of blow molders APF-Max is among the first SBM machines of linear type where it was implemented. It is compact and has a user-friendly concept. The ma- chine has high output while its dimensions are more compact. The advantages of NIR heating system for PET bottles production: • Uniform temperature distribution between the inner and outer parts of preform wall; • Reduced heating time; • Compact heater size; • Reduced energy consumption of blow molder. Automatic temperature regulation is on the top of the story. NIR radiation & recycling There is a range of controversies regarding the use of colored (of any other color but for transparent and transparent blue) PET bottles. They have been banned by law in India and South Korea. There are similar dis- cussions in other countries. In contrast, the European PET Bottle Platform Techni- cal Committee states that transparent colored PET bot- tles should not be banned. They increase the total value of PET bottle recycling. Near Infrared (NIR), in combination with optical sort- ing, is an efficient and quick way to sort PET bottles au - tomatically by color. Once sorted they are 100% recycla- ble and reusable for different applications. Additional sorting by individual color (e.g., green or amber) is also possible. It additionally increases the rPET value. NIR & rPET Finally, this recycled PET bottle is used again to produce a new PET bottle. This can repeat unlimited number of times. They are both eco-friendly and transparent, resist- ible and flexible. Recycled PET uses 79% fewer green - house emissions and less energy than the virgin one. Some other environmental benefits it has: • Up 50% less energy is consumed for its production; • Eliminates plastics wastes; • Less water is used for production. Still, not all blow molding machines are capable to process preform from rPET due to the technical limita- tions. They come from the properties and characteristics of the material. Some of the reasons why not all ma- chines are capable to process it: • Material properties (melt flow, crystallinity, molecular weight); • Wear and tear (rPET contains impurities that cause additional wear of blow molding machine components); • Melt temperature and thermal stability (rPET requires higher processing temperature due to its molecular changes during recycling). The whole model range of the reheat stretch blow molding machines developed by PET Technologies is compatible with rPET. Already implemented projects in Europe and Asia, Africa, North and Latin America are a proof. The role of NIR heating system in bottles blow mold- ing from rPET preform increases with the percentage of recycled content in the sample. PET Technologies https://pet-eu.com/