Vacunite – new bottle-to-bottle technology meets highest specifications
Erema, Hall 9, Booth C05
The Vacunite bottle-to-bottle recycling technology from the Austrian recycling machine manufacturer Erema is known for high-efficiency decontamination, best colour values, top IV stability, and low energy consumption during the entire process. Its compact design meets high demands in the production of food-grade rPET pellets.
The Vacunite process is based on the combination of Vacurema technology which has been proven over many years and has been further developed for this application together with newly patented vacuum-assisted Solid State Polycondensation (SSP). Polymetrix developed this SSP for Erema especially for the demanding application. What makes this combination special is that all thermal process stages take place in a nitrogen and/or vacuum atmosphere, largely eliminating undesirable flake and pellet discolouration and reliably removing additives which could lead to unfavourable reactions in the melt. The nitrogen used in the SSP is cleaned and can be fed back into the previous processing stage so that nitrogen consumption is reduced as a result.
To increase the transparency of the preforms, the pellets are dedusted again before filling. Overall, the technology requires 40% fewer components, making the plant more compact at the same time as consuming up to 36% less energy than comparable systems on the market. The end product is rPET pellets of unique quality which, in terms of food contact compliance, exceed both the current legal requirements and the even higher requirements of leading brand owners, says Erema.
