PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2011

MATERIAL / RECYCLING 16 PET planet insider Vol. 12 No. 03/11 www.petpla.net 6th China international recycled Polyester Forum Hangzhou 2010 A conference selection Dr. Ulrich Thiele, of Dr. Thiele Polyester Technology, Bruchkoe- bel, Germany, reports from the 6 th International Recycled Poly- ester Forum, which was held in Hangzhou, PRC, September, 15-17 2010. The conference was intended to provide insights into the dynamics of the whole polyester recycling chain, from bottle and waste collection to flake processing and product trading. It covered market development and process technol- ogy, especially low-carbon concepts. There is no more doubt: the poly- ester industry has returned to a healthy growth trend and polyester recycling is more vigorous than ever. China is the front-runner in polyester recycling, as in virgin polyester production. Pres- sure on hotel space in Shanghai during EXPO-2010 led to the Forum taking place in Hangzhou, as on several previous occasions, and was very well organized by the Chinese host organization CCFEI (www.ccfei.net). The conference was well received by the 222 participants from the polyester recycling industry, the majority – 80% - from China, with the balance from 16 other nations. International companies with businesses in China were repre- sented by Chinese staff. A range of information The conference was a real mix of information about macro economic developments in the PET recycling industry in China and market develop- ment worldwide, plus presentations about new and further development of recycling technology and equip- ment. Li Shidong, secretary General of CCFA (China Chain Store and Franchise Association) Recycled Fibre Commission presented a detailed analysis of the current rPET market in China together with the targets for the coming years. The core devel- opments supported by the Chinese government are energy and water saving in PET recycling; technology and equipment providers were called upon to intensify their efforts in these areas. The government supports recy- cling companies with subsidies of 100 – 200 Yuan/ton, under certification by national recognition systems. Zheng Yang, of SEPA´s (State Environmen- tal Protection Administration) National Solid Waste Management Centre, focused particularly on the situation of imported plastic scrap and polyester. He highlighted the problem of unquali- fied waste imports and linked them to the Chinese government’s measures to fulfil the strict requirements of pol- lution prevention and control during recycling activities. Product development: cutting labour costs Steve Shen, Vice President of Zhejiang Boretech Co. Ltd demon- strated the significantly improved capabilities of Chinese engineering to deliver tailored recycling plants. He emphasised that, with increasing labour costs, the change from hand sorting to automatic sorting systems in unavoidable. One interesting aspect was his observation that bottle pre- washing is included in Boretech lines, which significantly improves final flake quality. Gneuss Kunststofftechnik GmbH introduced a complete new line for processing bottle flakes; its Multi Rotation System – MRS – is com- bined with automatic filtration and in- line-viscometer. The combination of its MRS and an NGR compact shredder provide a robust recycling unit for pro- cessing of all kinds of fibre and solid waste occurring as in-house-scrap during PET fibre and filament produc- tion. Dr Ulrich Thiele of Dr. Thiele Polyester Technology gave a lecture on prerequisites, organisation and needs of fibre in-house recycling. Di Gangli, Deputy General Man- ager of Longfu Recycling Energy Sci- entech Co. Ltd, reported on Longfu´s large scale rPET conversion to POY, DTY and FDY and a newly developed process to increase IV in melt phase for technical yarn spinning. A new sorting technology was introduced by Peter Mayer, sales manager of SE-Sotech GmbH. Its new system sorts flakes with higher efficiency and throughput than traditional processes; this new flake sorting technology might replace bottle sorting in future. Kurt Pichlmann, Area Sales Manager of Erema GmbH, centred his presen- tation around examples of how the applied technology impacts the eco- nomical success of PET recycling. Market analyses A highlight of the conference was the market analysis of Andrew Noone, Managing Director of PCI PET Pack- aging, Resin & Recycling Ltd. Veri- fied figures on collection, import and processing of PET bottles from PCI´s cooperation with CCFEI authen- tic were provided, together with the global trends in collection and reuse. A quite remarkable figure was China’s supply trend to 2019, by which time China alone will undertake 5.8 mil- lion tonnes of PET recycling. Those market figures were supplemented by