PETpla.net Insider 07+08 / 2012

PET planet insider Vol. 13 No. 07+08/12 www.petpla.net MATERIAL / RECYCLING 33 SDWHQWV UHVHDUFKHUV DQG WHFKQLFLDQV LQVWDOOHG SODQWV EUDQFKHV ZRUOGZLGH ,I ZH KDGQêW JRQH VR IDU ZH ZRXOGQêW EH VR QHDU <RXU IXWXUH VHHQ IURP QHDU New developments in flakes to melt process Made to measure One of the trends in PET recycling in material production is to feed the virgin PET reactor directly with a content of up to 10% rPET. By using an inline measurement device it is possible to adjust the rPET-IV to the same level as the IV of the virgin material. Extricom now offers an inline viscosity measurement for the various sizes of its RingExtruder. Since 1998, German company Extricom’s RingExtruder RE has been used for bottle-to- bottle recycling of PET. The post consumer waste is transformed into high quality materi- als approved for food contact. The process section of the RingExtruder RE mainly consists of twelve co-rotating and tightly intermeshing screws oriented in a fixed ring. The big melt surface offers a highly efficient decontamina- tion of the product. In general, throughput rates between 1,500kg/h and 6,500kg/h are achieved. The RingExtruder RE is available in three different sizes respectively configurations. The smallest unit is the RE5 XPV which has received a further developed screw configura- tion and modifications in the feeding section. Because of this, nowadays the RE5 XPV covers a throughput of 1,200 to 2,000kg/h recycling PET material. This IV measuring device measures directly the viscosity (IV) and the temperature of the PET melt without any delay. The results can be used as a recording for the quality or process control directly. Waiting for laboratory results is no longer necessary . The inline viscosity measurement is connected to the REcontrol- PET software which is responsible for the visu- alization and operation of the line. The recycling process is not influenced by the viscosity meas- urement and there is no loss of rPET due to a bypass-flow of the melt stream. www.extricom.de