EQUIPMENT | MELT FILTERS
Above: Italian melt filtration specialist Fimic moved into a new 1,200m2 production plant in Italy earlier this year
Right: Ettlinger has introduced a new genera- tion of Eco screenchangers for use in PET recycling
recycled plastics from contaminated waste it needs automatic technologies to filter out impurities and contaminations from the plastic flow.” Frazzoni says Fimic, which has just moved into a new and larger production plant at Carmignano di Brenta in Italy’s Piedmont region, designed its GEM melt filter to deliver high throughput and good filtration of complex materials. First shown at K2019, it is said to use proprietary technologies. “Fimic has developed for the first time a filter equipped with two screens and two discharge valves to guarantee an unmatched filtering surface, the largest one on the market,” she says. The unit uses two 600mm diameter screens to provide 5,500cm2
of filter surface and is
intended for use in high volume and highly contaminated recycling applications. It can filter up to 3,000kg/h, and can be equipped with laser screens from 80-300 microns or mesh screens from 400 to 2,000 microns. “This innovation will increase
the extruder production [while] keeping the highest quality of the final product, while guaranteeing the simplicity that distinguishes Fimic equipment and the maximum reduction in the cost of operation,” says Frazzoni. “This will not only allow shorter residence of the material, lower energy consumption and lower consumption of spare parts, but also less waste and a more efficient and faster replacement of the screen to processing of any level of melt contamination.”
PET improvement Meanwhile, Ettlinger, the manufacturer of continu- ously operating high performance melt filters acquired by Maag Group in 2018, has unveiled a
58 COMPOUNDING WORLD | July 2021
new generation of Eco products for use in PET recycling. Designed to support higher throughput operation, the units are initially available in sizes suitable for medium-sized recycling lines. The new Eco 350, with a maximum throughput capability of 2,500kg/h, replaces the old Eco 250, while the new Eco 500, capable of achieving capacities of up to 4,000kg/h, replaces the Eco 250 Twin. The Eco 200 remains in the range. The company’s melt filter technology is based on the principle of self-cleaning with a continuous flow of melt from the outside to the inside of a rotating, perforated drum. A scraper removes the contami- nants that are held back on the surface and feeds them to the discharge system. As with Ettlinger’s ERF filters, which are designed for higher contami- nation, Eco filters are built on a modular basis that supports a wide range of options. The new units are said to allow a higher concen-
tration of contaminants in the discharge, which the company says “further decreases the already typically low loss of PET melt associated with Ettlinger’s melt filters.” Access to the scraper system has also been improved and the discharge now exits via the front side of the filters. “PET recyclers are reporting ever-increasing volume flows, resulting in a sharp in- crease in the capacity utilisation of many machines. At the same time, buyers have more stringent requirements
regarding the purity of the recycled material. Consequent- ly, many of the filter systems in operation today are
reaching maximum capacity.
Our further developments have been tailored to these changes in the market,” says Uwe Kellner, Ettlinger Managing Director.
“With these in mind, we have achieved enhanced performance
without compromising on filtration efficiency. The new designs combine screen sizes up to 60 µm with a minimum loss of PET through the discharge.”
CLICK ON THE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION: �
www.maag.com �
www.gneuss.com �
www.cofit.com �
www.berhalter.com �
www.nordsonpolymerprocessing.com �
www.erema.com �
www.fimic.it �
www.ettlinger.com
www.compoundingworld.com
IMAGE: FIMIC
IMAGE: ETTLINGER
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