PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2011

MATERIAL / RECYCLING 21 PET planet insider Vol. 12 No. 03/11 www.petpla.net virgin material: intrinsic viscosity (iV) higher than 0.82 and more, acetalde- hyde (AA) content of less than 1ppm, and excellent decontamination values, which allows packaging to be used with direct food contact. Customisation at investment The basic modules of Starlinger recycling technology are extruders for the mechanical recycling of PET bottle flakes and solid stating of flakes, pel- lets and others. The modular design can be varied according to application and the Starlinger machine concept covers the complete range of require- ments for food contact and/or iV increase. The two budget versions of the recoStar PET line, recoStar PET FG and recoStar PET FG+, can be supplemented by an SSP (Solid State Polycondensation) reactor, either at outset or subsequently (graph 2) . The recoStar PET iV+ solution for bottle- to-bottle recycling has decontamina- tion values that satisfy even brand- owner requirements. In the high-tech solution for very exigent requirements, recoStar PET iV+ Superior , the mate- rial is decontaminated twice under vacuum, before and after the extruder, in order to achieve very high decon- tamination results. Flexibility is also important and a wide process window allows the modification of parameters in order to adapt to altered input qualities, while continuing to comply with food-grade requirements. Extrusion and SSP modules can operate in-line or stand- alone, which doubles capacity or enables the recycler to produce food- grade flakes and pellets at the same time. IV level is adjustable by chang- ing residence time in the SSP. Changing market requirements can be catered for by upgrades and modifications, such as: enlarging pre- drying volumes in case of decreased bulk density; increasing output by 25% by changing to high-capacity design; adding SSP volume for higher iV increase, etc. Steam and gas heat- ing can be used to reduce electrical energy consumption. Following the markets’ demand for larger equip- ment, Starlinger recently increased the capacity of the recoStar PET line from 150 to 3,600kg/h. The SSP reac- tor series has also been extended, to include a new reactor with an increased volume of 18,000l and a solution for flakes only. Starlinger is just about to install the first line of its new solution for rPET in fibre production. Its spe- cially-designed cascade filter system enables very fine filtration, down to 25μm, to meet the fibre industry’s par- ticular requirements. Continuous clean- ing of the produc- tion line filter could be reduced while the percentage of reused rPET could be increased. Starlinger is permanently offer- ing test runs on the recoStar PET 65 iV+ line in the compa- ny’s recycling show- room at its Weis- senbach, Austria, production site. The company also offers consulting and con- tracting for washing lines in addition to PET recycling lines. Reference lines for almost all kinds of plastics and for a wide variety of appli- cations have been installed globally. Several bottle-to- bottle projects will be installed across the world by Starlinger this year, including the first bottle-to-bottle proj- ect in Egypt and Peru which will be delivered within the next weeks. www.recycling.starlinger.com Graph 2: Flakes to pellets: the recoStar PET IV