PETpla.net Insider 12 / 2011

MATERIAL / RECYCLING 11 PET planet insider Vol. 12 No. 12/11 www.petpla.net tal issues, energy and water supply and waste water treatment, among others. Dan said that the new rules are supporting improvement in flake quality. Dr. Shell Huang, of The Coca Cola Company, USA, reported that, as well as mechanical recycling, Coke is working to produce plant-based PET. Its aim is to produce polyester raw materials that are currently crude-oil based, such as mono-ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid, from biomass by 2020. Dr. Thomas Friedlaender of Krones AG, Germany , introduced the company’s new bottle flake washing technology. Key to its new process is the intensive removal of impurities by thermal treatment in the presence of chemicals and counter-flow of process water. Dr Friedlander said that the washing process provides flakes that fulfil FDA approval standards and are suitable for high-end applications. Anti-dumping: impact and opportunities Sun Ma of Cixi Jiangnan Chemi- cal Fiber Co. Ltd., China, explained the impact of the EU-antidumping policy for recycled polyester staple fibre producers. While the policy has had a negative economic impact on Chinese fibre producers, it has also forced them to enter new markets, in developing countries especially, and to improve product quality. Waste collection for economic liberation; flexible food packaging production PetStar SA De CV, Mexico, has established a successful PET bottle collection system and bottle flake pro- duction – without governmental sup- port – in a challenging social and eco- nomical environment, Jamie Camara reported. The primary factors include the intensive education of the people and their children, who collect the bot- tles from waste dumps. The company also made efforts to provide better work and living conditions for the bottle pickers. Feng Fenghua intro- duced Buehler China’s capabilities in plastic sorting and demonstrated the ACCEP-sorter, which has a range of applications and is not limited to polyester bottle and flake sorting. Ralf Altepeter, of Gneuss Kunststofftechnik GmbH, Germany , made a presenta- tion on new opportunities for the pro- duction of food packaging from recy- cled PET material. Key points of the Gneuss process are the combination of MRS extruder, moderate vacuum treatment, continuous filtration and online viscosity control. He said that the Gneuss system is a flexible appli- cation, suitable for recycling pro- cesses in both bottle flake and fibre processing. The presentation by Peter Mayer of Sesotech (S+S Separation and Sorting Technology GmbH), Ger- many, compared conventional bottle and flake sorting with a new concept, which collects all sorting steps like bottle sorting, metal separation, colour sorting and material sorting within a single machine. A significant advan- tage of the new technology is the elimination of presorting, he said. Recycling in China and worldwide Helen McGough, senior consultant with PCI Ltd., UK, reported on global trends in bottle collection and reuse. A total of 6.7 million tons of bottles were collected in 2010. Asia’s share of the total was 52.4%; Europe had 21%; and North America collected 15,1%. The lowest collection rates are in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, followed by the Americas. China has the highest collection rate: nearly 85%. The main end-use application is fibres (71%), followed by blowmould- ing (11%) and rPET sheet, with about 10%. Her presentation also analysed the situation and trends in Europe, the USA and China. The situation of the rPET industry in China was analysed in detail by Cao Wenting, consultant with CCFEI (China Chemical & Fiber Economic Information Network). His presentation included China’s produc- tion capacities for virgin and recycled staple fibre, filling fibre and filaments, as well as the output of virgin bottle grade PET. The impact of the debt crisis in Europe and the USA on the Chinese economy was also the sub- ject of detailed analysis. A case study about the effect of bottle flake quality on the investment cost of high-end flake conversion processes was pre- sented by Dr Ulrich Thiele, Polyes- ter Technology Consulting Service, Germany. He concluded that vertical integration from baled bottles to end product provides the best prospects for successful operations. A deeper look at pelletizing technology and its optimal use in polyester recycling was provided by Xu Jianlei of Maag- Automatic Group, China, and Huang Weijang, of Shaoyang Textile Machin- ery Co Ltd., China, gave a report on experiences with energy-efficient recycling equipment. Future plans Initial participant feedback was that there should be more space for technical and business communica- tion alongside the main conference. In planning for the future, the conference organisers will consider combining the conference with an exhibition focusing particularly on technical aspects of the recycling industry. Publications and papers from the conference are available as a CD from drthiele@polyester-technology. com (handling fee applicable). www.ce-pip.com. *Based on a report by Dr Ulrich Thiele, Polyester Technology Consulting Service, Germany.