FLEXIBLE PACKAGING | TECHNOLOGY


extrusion technical centre in Benrath, near Düssel- dorf, Germany, which can handle highly contami- nated materials. “This enables extrusion trials for a wide variety of recycling applications in both mechanical and chemical recycling,” said Shota Kikukawa, Sales Manager at JSW Europe. “Now, we’re receiving numerous trial requests, reflecting the strong interest and attention from a wide range of customers.” Currently, the most important topic for JSW


Europe is possibly chemical recycling of mixed waste plastics, the company says. It has received many enquiries from potential customers seeking out JSW’s extensive local technical support services in this area, both in Europe and other regions. PCR mixed waste plastics arises from food


packaging, collected as a combination of flexible packaging film and sheet along with rigid containers, often comprising PE, PP and plasticised PVC in varying quantities. The mixture of materials, plus variable levels of non-plastic contaminants, means it can be difficult for mixed waste to be adequately sorted for mechanical recycling. JSW Europe says mechanical and chemical recycling can be comple- mentary when the former is used to prepare material for chemical recycling. Following shredding, washing and sometimes drying, the material can be melted and pelletised, and it says its range of TEX twin-screw extruders are eminently suited for this role. “With the range of our extruders we can provide the right models and sizes up to 400 mm diameter to meet the industrially viable volumes of mixed post-consumer plastic waste of about more than 5 tph hour economically,” said Kikukawa. “And we are now improving our machines to accomplish customer targets with larger performances.”


Stuffing and dechlorination As the prepared waste is in flake and/or fluffy state with low bulk density, feeding it into extruders is enabled by JSW Europe’s Compactor stuffing unit, which has two screws. One screw acts as an agitator to thoroughly mix the shredded, washed and dried mixed waste, while the other pushes it in compacted form into the extruder. As the waste sometimes still contains some water, JSW can provide its customers with a dewatering zone. The company says this humidity removal process is important to ensure the material subsequently melts smoothly and homogenously in the extruder. The pelletised material can subsequently be fed into a pyrolysis reactor. JSW Europe notes that PCR mixed plastics waste sometimes contains a small amount of PVC and/or PVDC from sources such as shrink film, sheet or


www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com


IMAGE: JSW


injection mouldings, which emit hydrogen chloride (HCL) when heated in an extruder. As this puts machine operators at risk of a potential health hazard and exposes machines and buildings to metallic corrosion, the company has been involved in development work to remove HCL emission, or to minimise it as much as possible. The company says it recently successfully developed a dechlorination simulation. The simulation enables optimisation of waste plastics dechlorination by prediction of the amount of dechlorination in recycling of halogen-containing plastics such as PVC and/or PVDC, whether in pure fractions or in mixed plastic waste, when using JSW’s TEX extruders. The method is an enhanced version of the Flow Analysis Network, which JSW has refined over the years through compounding and devolatilisation process simulation. “We are confident that it will significantly contribute to advancement of recycling waste plastics containing PVC and PVDC, particularly with twin-screw extruders like the JSW TEX series, which are expected to be in high demand, and it will definitely continue to support recycling businesses in the future,” said Shota Kikukawa.


CLICK ON THE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION: � https://cimpa-h2020.eu � www.ct-ipc.com � www.paprec.com � www.pellencst.com � www.curvcode.com (Filigrade) � www.aimplas.es � www.vttresearch.com � www.tno.nl � www.colines.it � www.gneuss.com � www.exxonmobilchemical.com � www.erema.com � www.jsw.de


January/February 2025 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 19


Above: Recycling


post-consumer plastics at JSW Europe’s extrusion


technical centre in Benrath, near Düsseldorf, Germany


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38