Sorting plays a crucial role in the processing of plastic waste. Systems based on artificial intelligence are one way of improving this. Sorting systems manufacturer Tomra has recently presented corresponding technologies. Kunststoffe spoke about this with Felix Flemming and Valerio Sama from Tomra. In the interview, they explain what progress can be made with it, how important digitalization is for this and what improvements it means for food packaging.

16:9

Interview on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Waste Sorting

Streifinger, Florian

Recycling

Umweltmanagement

Deep Learning

Datenanalyse

Machine Learning / Künstliche Intelligenz für die spanende Fertigung

Industrie 4.0

Industrie 4.0 für die spanende Fertigung

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Kreislaufwirtschaft

“AI Has Great Potential for  Sorting Food Packaging”

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.

Verpackungsmaterial

Logistik

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Kunststoff-Rezyklat

Hard-to-Find Recylates

Over the last year, the German branch of the Association of Plastics Manufacturers, PlasticsEurope Deutschland, consistently advocated the technology of chemical recycling. Meanwhile, chemical recycling has not only been criticized by environmental organizations but also from parts of the industry. Kunststoffe interviewed Ingemar Bühler, CEO of the Association, about this criticism and the competition between mechanical and chemical recycling. In the interview, Bühler also addresses further requirements for a circular economy with plastics and explains why he considers a label for plastics products a sensible idea.

Interview with Ingemar Bühler from PlasticsEurope Deutschland

Schröder, Susanne

Verbände, Institutionen, Messen

Dienstleistungen

“There’s No Point in Arguing over Chemical versus Mechanical Recycling”

Texas-based Encina Announces $1.1 billion investment in new manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania.

Encina announced to invest USD 1.1 billion to build a new manufacturing facility in Point Township, Pennsylvania

Encina Announces USD 1.1 Billion Investment

The company’s new office will allow the company to more effectively service customers in the country’s western region.

 Michael Lambert (CFO, Vecoplan Group), Frank Boerjan (CEO, Vecoplan LLC), Werner Berens (CEO, Vecoplan Group) and the Mayor of Eastvale (l-r).

Vecoplan Opens New Location in California

Cannon Ergos is working with Boeing on moulding trials for the feasibility of using recycled carbon fiber for the fabrication of aircraft cabin interior sidewall panels.

Luftfahrt

Andere Werkstoffe

Faserverbundwerkstoffe

Cannon Ergos Collaborates with Boeing

Greenplast 2022: Reifenhäuser Blown Film shows recyclable All-PE film with digital product passport.

With EVO Ultra Fusion, fluff (film shreds) as well as all kinds of production waste and PCR material of the lowest quality can be processed into functional films for applications such as trash or mailing bags.

Blasfolienextrusion

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Recyclable All-PE Film with Digital Product Passport

Full order books make for optimistic outlook, but there is also cause for concern.

At around 60 percent, the EU-27 countries remain the most important customer market for German waste and recycling technology.

VDMA: „Industry Is Well Positioned for 2022“

Heraeus Holding GmbH announced it has invested substantial equity to take a majority stake in perPETual Technologies, one of the world’s leading PET recycling companies.

Ambitious Target: To recycle 100 million used PET bottles per day by 2026.

Hereaus Joins PET Recycler

The aim of the forum was to furnish new tools and methods for the design, use, recycling and re-use of sustainable packaging. Over 400 participants and 46 speakers, including 20 from abroad attended the event.

Impression of the debut of Packaging Speaks Green in 2020.

Packaging Speaks Green

Balance sheet 2021/22: New growth in revenues with state-of-the-art recycling technologies

Manfred Hackl (CEO): „This past financial year, we again set several milestones.“

Erema: Large-Scale Plants Drive Growth

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

Tomra continues to play a key role in closing the loop on PET beverage containers but recognizes that there is more to be done. Now political framework, bold decisions and smart investments in collecting, sorting and recycling should be used to improve circularity across all material streams and to overcome today’s supply chain bottlenecks.

from left to right: Tove Andersen (CEO), Dr. Volker Rehrmann (EVP) und Tom Eng (SVP)

Tomra Calls for Closing the Loop on Plastics and Beyond

Faerch and Erema realize closed loop for PET food packaging.

Verpackungsmittel aus Kunststoffen

Kunststoffverarbeitung

Polyethylenterephthalat

Verpackungstechnik

Closed the Loop for PET Trays

Efficient Filtration and Cake Washing for Improved Chemical Recycling of PET

Chemical recycling processes permit treatment of plastic waste – also if highly contaminated. The results are recyclates that have the same quality as virgin material. For example, newly developed processes enable used PET plastics to be returned to the material cycle. Hereby, the end products‘ quality is determined by the recycled material‘s purity. This can be significantly increased by means of efficient filtration and cake washing.

Plastic waste causes severe environmental problems. However, suitable recycling processes permit waste plastic to be used as a valuable secondary raw material – a decisive step, which not only permits the huge amounts of waste to be reduced, but also counters the raw material shortage. The need for increased waste recycling has also been recognized by politicians, and corresponding regulatory frameworks have been launched. For example, in the EU from 2025 onwards, bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) must contain at least 25 percent of recycled plastic, and by 2030, all packaging must be recyclable.

But higher recycling rates also offer considerable economic potential, provided that the plastics industry introduces the right steps. According to the consulting firm McKinsey, reutilization and recycling of plastics could lead to increased earnings of up to USD 60  billion  for industry [1].

However, mechanical recycling processes have limitations. For mechanical recycling, the plastic is melted and then converted to recyclate, whereby the material‘s quality suffers. Therefore, it is not possible e.g. to produce new bottles from 100 % recycled PET. Consequently, manufacturers are searching for alternative methods. Meanwhile, an increasing number of companies has successfully implemented chemical recycling.

Chemical Recycling: Products Achieve the Quality of Virgin Material

Chemical recycling includes all methods for the depolymerization of plastics. For this, waste plastic is first shredded mechanically, and then chemically decomposed into the basic constituents, frequently by using a catalyst or enzymes. The resulting recyclate exhibits the same properties as virgin materials produced from crude oil, and can be returned directly into the plastics manufacturing process. The decisive difference to mechanical recycling is: with the chemical method, very pure and high-quality materials from the recycling operation are available for plastic production. The quality of the end products is equal to that of virgin material.

In this way, for the first time, a closed raw materials loop for plastics has been created. Therefore, chemical recycling opens up new possibilities, and must presently be seen as the only way to achieve the targeted recycling rates. The German Federal Environmental Agency agrees with this view, and has classified chemical recycling of plastics as the preferred process in accordance with the Circular Economy Act.

Apart from thermochemical decomposition in the absence of oxygen (pyrolysis), and gasification, the process known as solvolysis (dissociation using solvents) has been discussed and tested as a recycling method in recent years. Under the influence of suitable agents, mainly thermoplastic materials such as PET are liquefied and then dissociated into their monomers. Because different solvents are used, solvolysis processes can be further distinguished: the most common methods include glycolysis, methanolysis, and hydrolysis, partially with enzymatic boosting [2]. All three processes are suitable for decomposing PET (Info box). Which process is used, depends on the quality of the input material.

The processes named above produce monomers in the same quality as their petroleum-based pendants. The monomers are dissolved in the process liquids, and must be separated. As soon as depolymerization has been completed, the monomers are precipitated from the solution, and the suspension passed through a filter. Here, the solvents, catalysts, and other constituents are removed.

To a great extent, the quality of the produced PET virgin material depends on the monomer‘s purity, as contaminations clearly impair the transformation in polymers, and the reactions take a different course. The product purity required for successful recycling is decisively achieved by solids/liquids separation with efficient cake washing (Fig. 1). For this step, several international companies who employ one of the described recycling processes make use of the BHS-Sonthofen processing solutions.

Multi-Stage Counterflow Washing with Lower Consumption of Resources

For one of these customers, BHS-Sonthofen supplied two Type BF indexing belt filters (Fig. 2). The machines operate in parallel in the production line with a throughput of 2 t/h. The Type BF indexing belt filter is a continuously working horizontal vacuum filter that is used for efficient and gentle separation of sedimenting solids from suspensions.

A multi-stage counterflow washer with washing filtrates is used, which represents a highly efficient form of cake washing. Hereby, fresh, application-specific washing liquid is used in the last washing zone, which is then re-used in the previous zones. This procedure is especially suited to generate high purity – with a low consumption of washing liquid and energy.

Particularly in the context that processing efficiency will also decide how chemical plastic recycling will become established in the market in future, cake washing plays a very important role. Another advantage is that fresh liquid is used for washing the filter cloth, before it is used again for filtration and later cake washing. The solids washed off the cloth are returned to the process and recycled, which increases product yield.

BHS-Sonthofen has adapted its filtration process to the demands of chemical recycling. This permits high-purity monomers to be reclaimed efficiently, which can be used for the synthesis of new PET without additional processing steps. Hereby, the company was able to resort to the experience acquired from the use of their filters in numerous plastic applications.

Rotary Pressure Filter for  Chemical Recycling

In addition, the Type RPF rotary pressure filter (Fig. 3) is suitable for chemical recycling of PET. It is a continuously operating device for pressure filtration, cake washing, and drying of suspensions. Experience values and comprehensive trials have shown that both technologies can be used successfully for chemical recycling of PET. BHS-Sonthofen‘s many years of experience in the production of virgin PET material proved to be advantageous during development of the filter.

Chemical plastic recycling offers several benefits: it prevents the combustion of plastics (thermal utilization), and the consumption of fossil raw materials is reduced. Highly contaminated plastic waste can also be recycled, and waste flows of materials that previously were out of the question can now be recycled. However, ecological and economic challenges must still be overcome. Regarding energy and consumption of resources, the processes must be designed so that they exhibit a positive ecological balance, and are also economically viable. Therefore – and apart from the quality of the reclaimed monomer – processing efficiency plays a major role when it comes to the application of the described processes on an industrial scale. For this, smart processing solutions are required, which ensure product quality and efficiency in equal measure.

High Monomer Yield with Suitable Solids/Liquids Separation

The use of efficient machines permits a high yield of monomers to be achieved, for a reduced consumption of energy and resources. A customized solution for solids/liquids separation for the respective customer application is a decisive contribution for introducing chemical plastics recycling on a large scale. If attempts are successful to establish technically functional and commercially viable solutions in the market, the industry will have made a large step towards the sustainable production of plastics.

[1] McKinsey (2018): How plastics waste recycling could transform the chemical industry.

[2] Die nächste Generation des Recyclings – neues Leben für Kunststoffmüll: Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (2020), 59, S. 15402–15423.

BHS-Sonthofen GmbH  

https://www.bhs-sonthofen.de

Ausgabenartikel

Fig. 2. The BHS indexing belt filter is made of stainless steel and supports multiple counterflow washing.   

Fig. 3. Pressure filtration  can also be used in chemical recycling of PET, e.g. with the rotary pressure filter RPF. 

The RPF rotary pressure filter is a continuously operating device for pressure filtration, cake washing, and drying of suspensions. Cake washing plays an important role for improving the processing efficiency of chemical recycling.

Fig. 1. During chemical recycling of PET, solids/liquids separation is a particularly important processing step. Corresponding systems from BHS-Sonthofen are already being used by several companies.

KU 5-22_BHS - Hauptartikel

For glycolysis, various glycols are used to dissociate the polymers. The glycol diffuses into the polymer‘s structure. Hereby, a mixture of bis(hydroxyethyl)terephthalate (BHET) and short-chain oligomers is created, which is cleaned and can then be reused for the production of PET.

For methanolysis, the polyester structure is dissociated by methanol, mostly by means of catalysts. Hereby, monomers are recovered for renewed PET synthesis – in this case dimethyl terephthalate and ethylene glycol. Because special safety measures are required for methanolysis, the investment costs are higher than for glycolysis.

The energy input for hydrolysis is comparatively low. Hereby, PET is dissociated into terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol by adding e.g. sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide [3]. If supported with special enzymes, hydrolysis is particularly time & energy saving, and conserves resources.

Dipl.-Ing. Christian Gassen is a process engineer with BHS-Sonthofen Process Technology. He has been working for the company since 2011;

<a href="mailto:process-technology@bhs-sonthofen.com">process-technology@bhs-sonthofen.com</a>

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