TECHNOLOGY | POST-INDUSTRIAL RECYCLING
Coperion has developed a closed-loop ap-
Above: Erema’s Intarema ZeroWastePro family of in-house recycling lines
higher throughputs and lower energy and infra- structure costs. The stability of the process, consistently high quality of the recycled pellets produced, and a high degree of automation are of key importance in the processing of production waste. Erema says that the ZeroWastePro has been designed to meet these requirements. All Intarema machines are equipped with Counter Current technology and the Smart Start operating concept. In addition, components specially designed for film applica- tions, such as optimised screw geometry and quality-optimising in-house controls, are included to ensure an increase in quality. For example, the newly developed automatic adjustment of pelletis- ing speed using appropriate parameter combina- torics enables the production of granulate in even more consistent bulk density and shape. Erema adds that the ZeroWastePro also offers
straightforward operation and modern connectivity solutions. It can be installed and integrated into existing film production through the use of modern assistance systems for ongoing operation, and has connectivity solutions, such as the Smart Service Package for remote access services and BluPort, the new digital customer platform. A hot die face pelletiser with air cooling and an
improved pellet transport system is also included. In addition to an optimised design to simplify main- tenance and operation, the system has been flow-optimised using computer analysis. This has improved the efficiency of pellet cooling and transport. The new pelletiser system is particularly suitable for recycling machines such as the Intar- ema K series that are operated in combination with blown film lines. Depending on the composition of the films, higher throughputs can be achieved when processing PE films without additional air exchange. In addition, multi-polymer films with a PP content of up to 10% can be processed using this configuration. The infrastructure needed for using water as a cooling medium is no longer required. In addition, hot die face pelletising requires less energy and space, says the company.
24 PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | May/June 2021
proach for in-house recycling where up to 100% of multi-layer film production waste can be repro- cessed and fed back into the production process. Multi-layer film waste resulting from the production process is first shredded before being fed into a ZSK extruder via pneumatic conveying and highly accurate feeding from Coperion K-Tron. The material is then homogenised and devolatilised with high intensity in the twin-screw extruder. Within the
co-rotating ZSK Mc18
extruder, dispersion and devolatilisation perfor- mance are crucial to end-product quality, with gentle product handling and good mixing behav- iour even at high throughput rates, which achieves consistently high product quality, says the company. In the closed-loop concept, following homog-
enisation in the ZSK extruder the recycled material is added back into the multi-layer film production process, with no quality loss and a high proportion of added recyclate. This means that multi-layer film manufacturing takes place sustainably, highly efficiently and is resource-friendly with the aid of advanced technologies.
“Sustainability is becoming increasingly impor-
tant, and the topic of the circular economy is moving further into the foreground for companies – and that is much more so for multi-layer film producers,” says Peter von Hoffmann, General Man- ager of Business Unit Engineering Plastics & Special Applications. “We are proud that with our decades of process know-how and our visionary technological solutions, we can contribute to a promising, forward-looking and sustainable
With Coperion’s closed-loop approach, production waste resulting from multi-layer film production can be re-added and reprocessed within the manufacturing process at a rate of up to 100% Source: Coperion
www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com
IMAGE: EREMA
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 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54
