Time to take stock: in what condition and with what agenda is the industry presenting itself after two-and-a-half years of a difficult climate? We have conducted a survey: insights into the dominant themes of the age.

Preview of K 2022: Kunststoffe Questionnaire on the Situation in Injection Molding Machine Construction

Spritzgießen

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Steuerungen (Hardware und Software)

Automatisierungstechnik

Doriat, Clemens, Dr.

Messe K-Kunststoffmesse

kunststoffe-international.com

Steuern, Regeln

Software

Digitale Transformation

Wirtschaft

Innovationen und neue Technologie

Nachhaltigkeit

Umweltmanagement

Mess-, Steuer- und Regelgeräte

Qualitätssicherung

Qualitätssicherung Kunststoff

Energieeffizienz

Spritzgießmaschinen

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Kunststoff-Rezyklat

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Kreislaufwirtschaft

Harsh Realities

Paint bucket or A-pillar finisher? In our thoughts and attribution of value, packaging items and high-tech components often represent opposites. Yet the two can complement one another – when you look at used packaging as a valuable raw material. At the fair, KraussMaffei will be showing the concept for a closed material cycle and is making plastics processing sustainable through this.

First a bucket or another plastic product, then raw material for further processing: the shredded post-industrial material

At the K, KraussMaffei Will Be Showing the Cycle from Product to Upcycling  to a New Product

Smart Factory

Folientechnik (IMD, IML, FIM, u.a.)

Laserbeschriftung

Oberflächentechnik

Laserbearbeitungen

Rückverfolgbarkeit, Traceability

Qualitätsmanagement

Handling, Handhabungstechnik

Zerkleinerungsmaschinen

Greifer für die Kunststofftechnik

Compoundieren

Today Packaging,  Tomorrow Raw Material

In an online survey, representatives of the plastics industry formulated their expectations toward the Plastics Innovation Center 4.0 (PIC 4.0).

Wordcloud generated from the answers to the open question concerning the most important use cases for PIC 4.0

Part 5 of the Series: Practical Demonstrators for the Plastics Innovation Center 4.0

Industrie 4.0 für die Qualitätssicherung

Industrie 4.0

Messdatenerfassung und -verarbeitung

Prozessoptimierung

Prozessmanagement

Machine Learning

Datenanalyse

Industrie 4.0 für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Focus on the User Benefit

Statutory recyclate quotas and the specifications of brand-name producers are weighing heavily on the packaging branch these days and turning recyclate availability into a hot issue. Some polymers are simply not available in sufficient amounts. Experts at the 31st Dresden Packaging Conference provided insights into the current situations and explained why the situation could worsen in the future.

Recyclates of many polymer types are hard to get right now.

16:9

Verpackungsmaterial

Logistik

Streifinger, Florian

Recycling

Hard-to-Find Recylates

Electrical and electronics manufacturers want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their products and optimize waste management and recycling for them. This can be achieved, among other ways, by using more sustainable thermoplastics and quality-assured recyclates. A close cooperation between companies to establish material cycles and the recycling-friendly design of equipment are also important.

Driving Sustainability Trends in the Electrical and Electronics Industry with Polymers

Elektronik

Technische Kunststoffe

Thermoplaste

Polycarbonat

Support for a Greener E&E World

A growing number of companies and industrial sectors would like to use recyclates for their products. However, the application is frequently still confronted with considerable difficulties. And the extension of recycling to other fields and sectors also poses new questions. An overview of the current status and associated technical solutions was provided in conference “Forum Plastic Recyclates” at the end of March.

Conference Minutes of “Forum Plastic Recyclates”

Additive

Start into a Second Life for Plastics

IKV develops recyclable packaging solutions with the help of plasma technologies and presents the current state of research at the IKV colloquium in September.

Oberflächenbeschichtung

Holz

Recyclable Barrier Systems for Sustainable Packaging

Interview with Korbinian Kiesl, President of Billion SAS

kunststoffe.de

“In difficult economic times, recycling is a reason to invest”

ABS is a material for esthetically and mechanically demanding applications in the automotive industry, electronic housings, household appliances, and medical technology.

ABS is particularly in demand for electrical and household appliances.

Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene: Recycling Successes and Challenges

ABS / ASA-Kunststoffe

Right Combination of Mechanical  and Esthetic Properties

After the focus was on individual manufacturing and model-supported process set-up in recent years, the Institute for Plastics Processing (IKV) at RWTH Aachen University is linking the two aspects of digitalization and circular economy at K 2022.

The QR code on the PCR component provides project information and process data.

Werkzeuginnendrucksensoren

Messtechnik

Sensoren / Messwertaufnehmer

Precise Process Control with Injectix

The increasing demand for recyclates and the shortage of food-grade PET flakes pose challenges for batch quality and color consistency.

Repi offers various additives for recycling PET, which can be used, for example, to prevent the material from darkening.

Polyethylenterephthalat

Compensating for Darkening in Recycled PET

Erema enters a new dimension with large-scale recycling plants. Up to 40,000 tonnes per year of rPET can now be produced. The first plant of this size has been shipped to Brazil.

The reactor of the Vacurema T large-scale plant almost reaches the roof of the new Erema production hall, which was commissioned in 2021.

Extrusionsanlagen

Extrusions-Zubehör

XXL Recycling Plant for Brazil

Additives manufacturer Milliken has developed viscosity modifiers specifically for recycled polypropylene (rPP). The products, called DeltaFlow, improve the flow behavior of rPP for extrusion and injection molding processes, according to the company.

The modifiers allow recycled PP to be processed at lower temperatures. Among other things, this reduces cycle times during injection molding.

Improved Processing of Recycled PP

The growing demand for plastic recycling directly reflects the machine sales for Polystar. By the end of April 2022, a total of over 110 recycling machines will have been shipped within 12 months – twice as many compared to last year.

The new factory in Sinji industrial park is the third Polystar manufacturing facility in Taiwan.

Sales Doubled for Polystar in 2021

Together, the two companies want to tackle the challenge of plastic packaging waste and its recycling.

The partnership between Borealis and Reclay aims to accelerate the shift to a circular plastics economy.

Borealis and Reclay Establish Strategic Partnership

The IKV is researching digital solutions for better description and classification of recyclates. The aim is to increase the actual recyclate use rates. Results will be presented at the IKV colloquium in September.

The Institute for Plastics Processing (IKV) in Industry and Craft at RWTH Aachen University is researching digital solutions for better description and classification of recyclates. The aim is to increase the actual recyclate use rates. Results will be presented at the IKV colloquium in September.

As part of the European Green Deal, an international shift to a circular economy is being promoted at EU level. This involves, among other things, setting the course to reduce environmental damage caused by emissions, making sustainable use of finite resources, and enabling the recycling and reuse of as many materials as possible. The recycling-friendly optimization of products and processes – also in plastics processing – is essential for achieving these European targets. The complex and varying composition of recyclate material, in combination with the lack of evaluation standards, is creating obstacles against its industrial use. In addition, regulatory restrictions can frequently not be fulfilled. Finally, there is a lack of information along the process chain of plastics products that is needed to guarantee ecological and sustainable optimization.

The level of contamination and, in this connection, also the product design has a key influence on the recyclate properties. Packaging often consists of several components, for example from different plastics as well as additives, printing inks or adhesives. Apart from that, recyclate material has experienced various types of stress during its utilization and processing. This leads to different levels and types of damage to the material, and affects the properties of the products in later use. The uncertainty about the origin and composition of the recycled plastic material also makes it difficult to define its characteristics and to determine the data that are important for meeting the regulatory requirements and for its processing. IKV has, since the 1980s, been working on solutions to numerous questions in this area of research.

Digital Approaches Promote Closed Loop Recycling

Especially in combination with digital innovations, such research results have the potential to solve these challenges, and are regarded as a driving force when it comes to raising recycling quotas and promoting the circular economy in the field of plastics. In this connection, data platforms are of elementary importance for increasing the general exchange of information, for tracking material flows and for documenting sustainability data on raw materials and products. By exchanging the collected sustainability data, it is possible to document the effects exerted by the design and the process, to draw up transparent and accurate life cycle assessments, and to align the recycling of plastic waste. The development and implementation of such approaches – aimed at increasing the real recyclate application quotas – requires the involvement of all players in the plastics industry.

IKV is pursuing a holistic approach to identify digital solutions for the improved use of recyclate. In the PlasticBOND research project, together with a broadly based industry consortium, prototype concepts are being developed that consider the product and process properties at every stage of the life cycle, and make the information available as a set of data in line with the material passport introduced by the Industry 4.0 platform. Applications in which the digital passport can provide a benefit are, in addition to more efficient processing, also the holistic optimization of the ecological sustainability (e.g. the CO2 footprint of packaging) or the compliance with the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Here, IKV makes use in particular of the experience acquired in the R-Cycle project with traceable plastic products.

Alongside this, a study is also being carried out of the effects on processing of using varying recyclate qualities and varying recyclate contents, as well as their influence on the respective process control. The focus of the project is less on raising the individual recyclate quality or optimizing the actual processing, but more on improving the standards for recyclate. This should then make it possible, taking into account the complexity of the reprocessing, to make specific use of recyclate according to the classification, and thus turn the „circular economy“ from a political goal to a practicable, everyday technology.

Circular Economy at the 31st International Colloquium Plastics Technology

Circular economy will be the topic of Session 2: Recyclable barrier systems for sustainable products and Session 5: Control of material flows in packaging recycling, each with a keynote speech from industry and two scientific presentations by IKV.

During IKV 360° Research Live, the scientific staff will demonstrate the potential circular economy at various stations:

<ul><li>Packaging recycling</li><li>Recycling of FRP molding compounds</li><li>Characterisation of recyclates</li><li>PE quantification in recyclates</li><li>Migration barrier for recyclates</li></ul>

PlasticBOND: Schematic illustration of the platform design to be developed.

The R-Cycle initiative aims to increase the proportion of plastic packaging that is recycled. Renowned companies in the plastics industry are behind the initiative.

2022-07-13 IKV-Kolloquium Kreislaufwirtschaft

International Colloquium Plastics Technology

Professional exchange, new impulses and inspiring encounters – this is what the <a href="https://www.ikv-aachen.de/en/events/colloquium/" target="_blank">International Colloquium Plastics Technology</a> has stood for since 1950. From 7 – 8 September 2022, IKV invites to Aachen for the 31st time.

<a href="https://en.kunststoffe.de/a/news/assistance-systems-facilitate-process-co-2756776" target="_blank">Read here what you can expect in Aachen this fall.</a>

issue 08/2022

issue 07/2022

issue 06/2022

About the journal

About the Journal

Contact

Jobs

Media Data

My Login

Subscriptions

Subscription

Subscription Cancellation

Imprint

Terms & Conditions

Terms and Conditions

Privacy Policy

News

Mobility

Packaging

Medical

Electrical/Electronics

Plastics Recycling

Lightweight Construction

Applications

Standard Thermoplastics

Engineering Plastics

High-Performance Plastics

Elastomers

Thermosets

Additives/Masterbatches

Bioplastics

Composites

Materials

Injection Molding

Extrusion

Additive Manufacturing

Further Processing Methods

Compounding

Composite Processing

Peripheral Equipment

Simulation

Processing

Research & Development

Dissertations

Patents

Journal of Plastics Technology

K-Fair

K 2022

HANSER Fachbuch

HANSER Literaturverlage

Hanser Divisions

Kunststoffe

FORM+Werkzeug

HANSER automotive

QZ Qualität und Zuverlässigkeit

WB Werkstatt + Betrieb

More Technical Portals

Publisher

E-Paper

Newsletter

Deutsch

Service Menu

linkedin

Products

Partners & Associations

Organ

Business Directory

Online Archive

Multi-User License

FACHARTIKEL_2022, FACHARTIKEL_2021, FACHARTIKEL_2020, FACHARTIKEL_2019, FACHARTIKEL_2018, INTERVIEWARTIKEL_2021, INTERVIEWARTIKEL_2020, INTERVIEWARTIKEL_2019

You want to read more? To continue reading this content please log in or register for the Hanser Customer Center.