Coperion is supplying an extrusion system to Ghent University in Belgium for comprehensive research and development tasks in chemical recycling of mixed plastic waste. The system will also be available to Coperion´s customers for testing.

Due to its intensive dispersion and devolatilization output, Coperion’s ZSK twin screw extruder is extremely well suited for energy-efficient chemical recycling of mixed plastic waste

Extrusionsanlagen

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Coperion Supplies Twin Screw Extruder to Ghent University

Pure Loop, an Erema Group company, will present its Isec evo series at Fakuma. This shredder-extruder combination is rapidly becoming established as an efficient recycling solution in injection molding production thanks to its high flexibility in processing different materials, simple operation and low maintenance requirements.

The Isec evo shredder-extruder combination is considered an efficient material all-rounder

Messe Fakuma

kunststoffe-international.com

A Shredder-Extruder Combination as a Recycling Solution in Injection Molding Production

Both the quantity of recycled plastics waste and of processed recyclates is continually increasing. However, there are still difficulties with the quality of the recycled plastics, which are impeding replacement of virgin material. In recent years, machinery manufacturers and plastics producers have introduced various further developments that improve the properties of recyclates as well as eliminate unpleasant odors and contaminants.

Plastics recycling is a laborious process. For the recycled material to have the necessary quality, it must first be sorted into the different plastics

Overcoming Difficulties in Plastics Recycling

Streifinger, Florian

Recycling

Umweltmanagement

Extruder

Trockner

Waschen und Entfetten

Trockner, Granulat-

Sortierer

Additive

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Inspektion, Analyse und Sortierung von Rohmaterial

QualitÃ¤tssicherung

QualitÃ¤tssicherung Kunststoff

The Long Road to a Circular Economy

Dow, HP, Reifenhäuser, Cadel Deinking and Karlville present a feasibility study for recycling digitally printed polyethylene barrier packaging into new high-quality PE bags.

Key industry players combine forces to recycle PE-based barrier pouch into new high-quality PE pouch suitable for repeat recycling

Technik Trend

Polyethylen

Thermoplaste

Kreislaufwirtschaft

Important Step towards Pouch-to-Pouch Recycling

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.

Polyethylenterephthalat

Extrusions-Zubehör

XXL Recycling Plant for Brazil

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

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.

LDPE film recycling machine for postindustrial waste are on demand all over the world.

16:9

High Demand of Plastic Recycling Machines

Repeats (Recycled PE at Scale) Group, a pan-European platform for LDPE recycling, made an investment in the Spanish recycling company Anviplas.

Aleix Vintró, CEO Anviplas, and Joan Vintró at the Navacles plant. An Intarema 1716 TVEplus from Erema is in operation there. 

Anviplas Becomes Part of the Repeats Group

LyondellBasell starts commercial production of polymers using raw material derived from plastic waste at its Wesseling site.

The chemical company starts commercial production of polymers using raw material derived from plastic waste at Wesseling

Polymers Made from Plastic Waste

With the microcellular technology, in which a foam structure is created in the polymer by environmentally friendly gases such as CO2 and N2, it is possible to reduce the packaging weight.

Eco-rPET tray produced with the new technology: lighter weight and less plastic consumption

Less Plastic for More Sustainable Packaging

Thanks to climate protection projects in India, pekutherm’s recycled polycarbonate has been awarded a “climate-neutral” certificate.

Thanks to climate protection projects in India, pekutherm’s recycled polycarbonate has been awarded a “climate-neutral” certificate

Active Product Stewardship at Pekutherm

Chilean plastics recycler Comberplast uses the new 1500 model from the Lindner Micromat series to shred old fishing nets and ropes collected from Patagonian coasts.

The Chilean plastics recycler and circular economy pioneer Comberplast uses a plant from Lindner. The company is shredding old fishing nets and ropes collected from the Patagonian coasts

Kunststoffverarbeitung allgemein

Kunststoffverarbeitung

Zerkleinerungsmaschinen

Cleaning up Coasts at the Edge of the World

PlasticsEurope plans to significantly increase investment in chemical recycling: from EUR 2.6 billion in 2025 to EUR 7.2 billion in 2030. To further accelerate investments in this key technology and the transition towards a circular economy, the Association calls for a strong policy and regulatory framework.

1.2 million t of recycled plastics is the industry’s target for chemical recycling in 2025. By 2030, this figure is expected to rise to 3.4 million t per year

Verbände, Institutionen, Messen

Dienstleistungen

Verbände

kunststoffe.de

European Plastics Manufacturers Invest in Chemical Recycling

Borealis has signed an agreement with Renasci Oostende Recycling NV to acquire the entire chemically recycled feedstock output from its high-tech recycling center in Oostende, Belgium.

The exclusive agreement with Renasci enables Borealis to offer commercial volumes of chemically recycled base chemicals and polyolefins

Borealis and Renasci Cooperate

Initial testing of the material at the Ineos Styrolution laboratory did not show any measurable differences to native material.

EU life project ABSolutely Circular: Indaver and Ineos Styrolution announced production of first ABS with recycled styrene

ABS with Recycled Styrene

Glycolic Depolymerization versus Mechanical Bottle-to-Bottle Recycling

Conventional PET recycling lines are based on single-screw extruders with maximum output rates of two and a half tons per hour. Since 2004, KraussMaffei has been researching a process to significantly increase these quantities with the help of glycol and the use of a twin-screw extruder. Given the current high demand for rPET materials, this technology is becoming increasingly important.

The recycling and new production of PET bottles is probably the best-known process in the field of plastics recycling. This process, in which sorted PET plastic bottles are washed, melted, filtered and pelletized before they are used as base material for new PET bottles, has for many years been one of the very few established recycling technologies. In general, a PET reuse rate of over 30 % is currently achieved worldwide.

In view of the growing demand for recycled plastics, the requirements in terms of material quantity and quality have also increased substantially. The established processes applied in this field are based on single-screw systems and achieve throughput rates of up to 2.5 t per hour and machine. Against this background and in view of the fact that polymer structures can be rebuilt to achieve the quality level of virgin material, glycolytic decomposition of PET materials is gaining increasing attention. As early as in 2004, KraussMaffei put into operation the first lines designed for this type of process, the interest in which has grown significantly in recent years.

Sustainability Takes Center Stage – Less Focus on Prices

In the past few years, this trend has been further fueled by declining prices for PET virgin material, so that only the use of large-scale machines ensures profitability. While the price for PET virgin material was rising before 2010 and already minor quantities of rPET were considered competitive from a purely economic point of view, the situation has changed drastically since.

Today, PET polymer producers are focusing on the use of rPET also for reasons of sustainability. In PET production, several metric tons of rPET are now added during glycolytic decomposition in the same process, so that twin-screw extruders are further gaining ground.

The process offered by KraussMaffei starts with the feeding system, which then transfers the material to the twin-screw extruder. Here, the washed and dried flakes are melted and homogenized while any adhering moisture and low-boiling contamination are removed via the vacuum degassing dome. Liquid glycol is then injected into the processing section and homogeneously mixed. The chemical reaction thus triggered decomposes and shortens the polymer chains, which results in the formation of oligomers. The PET bottle fraction with an intrinsic viscosity of 0.7 to 0.8 dl/g is thus converted into a low-viscosity melt. The viscosity can be decreased in a controlled manner, with an IV value between 0.5 and 0.2 dl/g being generally required for the subsequent process steps. This is where the exceptional strength of the process becomes apparent: the lower the viscosity, the finer the filters that can be used in the following process step.

Filters with a filter grade of 60 µm or better ensure that even extremely small contaminants are reliably removed from the melt. With the PET production process used in the large-scale petrochemical industry, the recycled low-viscosity melt is subsequently fed into the final reactor together with the material flow coming from the reactor for virgin material. Here, this input material is repolymerized into long-chain polymers with the desired intrinsic viscosity value.

Achieving an IV value of 0.2 dl/g places high demands on the machine and process. The seals and the tolerance values of extruder, melt pumps and filters must be perfectly adapted for this purpose. KraussMaffei achieves this goal through extremely tight manufacturing tolerances and “quality made in Germany”.

In view of the market demand for the use of the finest filter stages, numerous tests were carried out in KraussMaffei’s process laboratories in order to achieve an IV value of 0.2 dl/g and lower. In addition to the lowest possible viscosity, the objective was not to use any additives in order to obtain a high melt quality without any foreign substance. The addition of high amounts of glycol was a major challenge, as there were no downstream reactors available in the process laboratory to repolymerize the material and repelletization was therefore not possible. A viscosity of 0.15 dl/g was achieved in the trials and the melt was discharged by means of a gear pump. The tests confirmed that this viscosity value could be obtained by using 2 to 3 % of glycol and that it is not increased or decreased by adding a higher amount of glycol.

During all these tests involving the handling of ethylene and glycol quantities, special attention must be paid to protective measures in accordance with the Atex directive due to the flash and boiling point. On the one hand, any leaks in the glycol feeding system may cause ignition or deflagration when glycol ignites on hot surfaces of the extruder or vaporizes and subsequently catches fire. On the other hand, the glycol vapors escaping from the melt can also ignite or trigger deflagration. Such a vapor formation is particularly noticeable in the case of higher proportions of glycol (> 5 %).

Thanks to the low viscosity, filters with an even finer mesh width can be used. The melt quality is thus additionally improved, which allows the share of recycled material in the final product to be increased. A further reduction in viscosity is conceivable through the incorporation of additives or the use of new processes in order to install even finer filters, which could possibly remove even coarse color pigments. It is obvious that the twin-screw extruder for this type of process is an excellent alternative to conventional methods. The high output rates and the unparalleled quality achieved by KraussMaffei will further fuel this development.

KraussMaffei Extrusion GmbH  

https://www.kraussmaffei.com/de/startseite

Ausgabenartikel

The above diagram illustrates the operation of the twin-screw extruder during rPET production, where exact metering, extrusion and filtering of the glycol mixture are essential.

Name - Hauptartikel

 Franz-Xaver Keilbach has been Application Owner Circular Economy/Recycling at KraussMaffei since 2020.

Daniel Prizinitzki has been Process Engineer Compounding at KraussMaffei since 2017.

issue 04/2022

issue 03/2022

issue 02/2022

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