EVENT REVIEW | PLAST 2018


a range of other materials and applications.) The GPU consists of a Gneuss MRS devolatilisa- tion and decontamination extruder in combination with a Gneuss Rotary Filtra- tion System and a VIS online viscometer for intelligent dynamic viscosity control.


Austrian equipment company


Starlinger put a strong empha- sis on technology for odour


Above: From PET flakes to thermoforming sheet: Amut and Erema’s integrated system


more than 0.1% for a piston filter, Erema notes). Screen service life can be as long as 12 weeks. “The daily screen change by the operator which is necessary with a piston screen changer is no longer required and this drastically reduces the risk of operating error,” Erema said, adding that a further benefit is that the flow-oriented working principle avoids the formation of black spots. Throughout the fair, Bandera also had an Open


Below: Gneuss GPU with MRS extruder, melt filter, and viscometer


House, at its headquarters in Busto Arsizio, where extrusion lines for flexible packaging and thermofor- med rigid packaging were running. Bandera said a crucial issue for the company at the Plast show was its effort to promote recyclable and/or biodegrad- able materials. The company showed off various lines, including a new unit called PURe dedicated to the production of FDA/EFSA-approved packaging rigid films using post-consumer PET. Not all equipment makers were Italian though. German company Gneuss highlighted its Gneuss Processing Unit (GPU), launched several years ago and which the company says has proven itself for the reprocessing of bulky PET waste such as post-consumer bottle flake and industrial waste from fibre and film manufacture without pre-drying. (The GPU is now also running in polyolefin and polyamide applications, and is also being tested on


reduction in recycling post-consumer waste, mostly polyolefinic. The technology, which Starlinger says is well-proven, requires no additives (see Odour Reduction feature). The first request for equipment has come from a company handling HDPE deter- gent bottles. The second important area for the technology is packaging film such as pallet wrap that has been labelled, as the labels can often create smells during extrusion. Claudi Hagn, Product Coordinator for recycling technology, said Starlinger has noted a spurt in interest in its equipment from companies in Europe since China closed its borders to plastic waste. She also said that several Chinese companies are considering setting up recycling operations in Europe, which would then export pellets to China. With its RecoStar PET system, Starlinger claims leadership in PET bottle-to-bottle recycling lines. At ICMA San Giorgio, CEO Giorgio Colombo said the company is currently developing a compounding unit for direct extrusion of profiles with cores in post-consumer waste. The company was also highlighting technology for production of multilayer membranes incorporating recyclate. It illustrated a system based on three twin-screw extruders feeding a calender (also produced by the company). “ICMA was one of the first compa- nies to propose direct extrusion,” Colombo pointed out. The company notes that incentives for the


recycling of highly contaminated post-consumer waste (called Plasmix) approved by the Italian government earlier this year provide for a tax credit (up to 50%) for purchases of products resulting from Plasmix. It says that co-rotating twin-screw extruders and extrusion lines developed by ICMA San Giorgio, as a result of its Ecoimpatto develop- ment project, “represent the most advanced frontier to transform these extreme materials into commercial artefacts, usable in different areas.” Tecnova and its subsidiary Binova showed various pieces of extrusion equipment aimed at recycling of industrial and various types of post- consumer waste. Tecnova’s double degassing systems can handle material with moisture levels as


36 PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | July/August 2018 www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com


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