PET | TECHNOLOGY
Discussing the VacuFil Visco+ line demonstrated
in Remscheid, Matthias Schmitz, Head of Engineering Recycling Technology, says the very short residence time of the melt in the Visco+ unit, compared with LSP, means much better colour control can be achieved. Then, before transfer to the VarioFil plant, the melt is submitted to fine filtration down to 15 microns using a candle type filter, which he says is part of the normal process in spinning. Erema Group is known for the breadth of its
plastics recycling technology, processing a wide range of source materials such as PET bottle flakes and PE film. But at K2022, it announced it has branched out into a new area by setting up a business unit dedicated to recycling fibres and textiles. The Austrian group says the initial focus of the unit will be on PET and its aim is to develop fibre-to-fibre recycling solutions. It points out that while packaging applications account for only one-third of the PET material stream, about two-thirds of the total volume of PET is used in fibre applications. “While growth rates in the production of fibres
and textiles are high, the circular economy has hardly become established in this segment,” says the company. Erema opened its own fibre test centre last year,
where a cross-company team is working on recycling solutions for fibre-to-fibre applications. The centre also operates a fully equipped and variable industrial-scale recycling plant. It includes the peripheral technology required for fibre materials and is available for trials using customers’ material streams, it says. In the fibre test centre, fibre waste from filament
fibre production was recycled into high-quality pellets. Using filament technology, a 3 dtex fibre was spun, which was processed into knitted fabric for use in clothing or technical textiles. “With Erema’s Vacurema and Intarema technology and Pure Loop’s Evo technology, our company group already has an extensive range of machines for fibre and PET recycling applications. For ecologically and economically sound recycling, however, new technological solutions are needed to use the recycled fibres in higher-value end applications and to achieve a functioning circular economy,” says Wolfgang Hermann, Business Development Manager Application Fibres & Textiles. In its development work, Erema’s technologies have been combined with a new IV optimiser. Hermann says: “This extends the residence time of the PET melt, which is particularly necessary in fibre recycling to efficiently remove spinning oils. Our recycling process also increases the IV value of the PET melt after extrusion back to the specific level that is essential for production of the fibre.” The quality of the rPET produced using this method is so high, according to the company, that it can be used to manufacture ultra-fine fibres up to 2 dtex with an rPET content of 100%. Post-production PET fibre can be further processed into rPET filament fibre, carpet yarn and staple fibre. Erema is also planning to turn to post-consumer recycling with the later development of technologies for recycling mixed fibre textiles from textile collection sources. Like BB Engineering, recycling and compound- ing technology company Gneuss held an open house event during part of K2022 to show the capability of its recycling systems to process PET
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