WASHING SYSTEMS | TECHNOLOGY
Pressure wash: doing more than just cleaning
New challenges for washing systems in a recycling line include larger throughputs and the need to conserve water and energy. Chris Saunders finds out what suppliers are doing to help
The washing stage in a plastics recycling line plays a vital role in decontamination, but washing systems are increasingly the focus of developments that support plastics recyclers in other ways. Efficiency is paramount, especially as input waste material is arriving with greater contamination. But other pressures are emerging from the growth in opera- tional scale, high energy costs and even the market conditions that recyclers find themselves working in. Plastics recyclers in Europe in particular are
currently facing significant market challenges, which are being considered in the development work of washing technology companies. “Prices for raw material are extremely low at the moment,” said Marcus Willburg, Sales Director at Lindner Washtech, in a conference presentation at Plastics Recycling World Expo in Essen Germany in June. This presents difficulties in sourcing waste plastics and when trying to sell products at economical prices. Higher energy prices are also hitting recyclers’ profitability margins.
www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com Willburg also claims the quality of input materi-
als is getting worse, putting pressure on the efficiency of washing lines, and many recyclers are widening their activities to other materials streams. Suppliers are therefore adapting to recyclers’ needs, which are dictated not only by economic and efficiency pressures but also by structural trends, especially an increase in plant capacities. “Where we were talking about 500 [kg] to 1 tph washing lines [for film], we are now on a level up to 2.5 tph,” said Willburg. At the conference he showed diagrams of various washing line set-ups offered by Lindner Washtech, including a new film washing line with capacity up to 2.5 tph (for rigid plastics, the company offers lines with capacity up to 5 tph). Compared with smaller capacity lines, “the concept is relatively similar but the machines must be much bigger,” he said, and these units must be newly developed. Describing the stages of a Lindner Washtech cold wash line for film, Willberg said it starts with a
Main image: The need for efficient cleaning of contaminated plastics waste has never been greater
July/August 2023 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 33
IMAGE: D ELDRIDGE
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