Novapet rPET production plant features Erema’s Vacunite system
Novapet is closing the loop into the PET value chain, with its REnovaPET division, with a sustainable project based on a rPET production plant based in Barbastro (Huesca), where Novapet has its resins and preforms production facilities. This project, which started its construction in the summer 2022, is reaching its final stretch on the next incoming weeks.
Thanks to Erema’s recycling systems, which are intended to make PET recycling efficient and profitable, Novapet will complete the rPET production process by incorporating it into its injection processes itself. The Erema model that REnovaPET has installed in Barbastro is the Vacunite 2318 T, 1500 bottle-to-bottle system.
The hourly production will be 1,500 kg/h of 100% recycled pellets from bottle flakes. The destination will initially be for Novapet’s self-consumption, in the adjacent preform injection plant, which is marketed by Noven, not ruling out the sale to third parties, in tanks or in big-bags, if so decided.
Regarding the process, the key components of the system include a vacuum reactor with integrated nitrogen flushing which is connected directly to a single-screw extruder. Thanks to the ingenious function of the mixers in the vacuum reactor they feature three ultra-efficient function zones which interact with each other to decontaminate and predry the PET material before extrusion. As a result, no additional degassing ports are required on the extruder itself. This means that the technology drastically reduces the length of the extruder, reduces its energy consumption, improves the colour values of the processed material and keeps AA values at a low level. In addition to decontamination and drying, the bulk density increase inside the reactor is up to 100% and the flakes are crystallised. This allows the extruder to be fed in a constant flow – an essential prerequisite for consistent throughput rates.
