RECYCLING AND COMPOUNDING | TECHNOLOGY
IMAGE: COPERION
Extruder technology groups in the recycling and compounding sectors are coming together to optimise plastics recycling and compounding lines. By Mikell Knights
Making extruders do more
The continuing industry focus on adding value to waste materials is highlighted by the acquisition or collaboration between companies along the recycling and compounding value chain, the establishment of test centres to investigate ways to optimise and advanced efficiencies in processing and technology innovations that imbue waste materials with higher value. The Erema Group says that although the textile industry is the third largest consumer of plastics, and although growth rates in the production of fibres, textiles and fabrics are high, the circular economy has hardly become established in this segment. According to the company, 130m tonnes of fibres, fabrics and textiles are expected to be produced in 2025, with 107m tonnes being man-made, and most of that being synthetic fibres. Approximately 60m tonnes are PET fibres, with 15m tonnes being a mixture of PP and PA fibres, Erema says. “The production of fibres, PET fabrics, and
textiles generates production and cutting waste. Disposing of these materials costs time and money. This can be avoided by recycling the PET fibres and fabrics,” the company says. Erema is moving to intensify its development of recycling solutions for this segment with the
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creation of a new fibres and textiles business unit, a new fibre test centre and new technologies from its business subsidiaries. The company already has an extensive range of machines for fibre and PET recycling applications, but it surmised that for ecologically and economi- cally sound recycling, “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 at Erema Group. Erema considers this focus a significant step for
the circular economy as PET fibres in textiles account for about two-thirds of the total volume of PET. “Packaging applications account for only one-third of the PET materials stream,” Erema says. Its initial focus will be on PET with the aim of finding and developing recycling solutions that allow PET fibre materials to be prepared for reuse in PET fibre production processes. Pure Loop, an Erema subsidiary that specialises in combined shredder-extruder technologies for highly efficient recycling of clean production waste, launched a new version of its Integrated Shredder Extruder Combination- evolution (ISEC evo) model specifically designed for processing PET continu-
October 2023 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 21
Main image: Coperion is among the companies leading the way in extruder development
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