PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2013

NEWS 9 PET planet insider Vol. 14 No. 11/13 www.petpla.net Döhler’s sweet smell of success Döhler, the German-headquartered international producer and provider of ingredients, ingredient systems and solutions for the food and beverage industry, has announced the acquisition of Poland’s Aromes Group. Founded in 1991, Aromes’ core competence is in flavours but it also supplies beverage bases, emulsions, col- ours and compounds. Its production site is located near Warsaw and it currently has sales facilities in Ukraine and the Baltics. The company is described as having many years’ experience in the production of premium flavours and extracts and in the application of baked goods, confectionery and beverages, as well as knowledge of the Eastern European food and beverage market, which is one of the fastest-growing in the EU. By acquiring Aromes, Döhler says that it is paving the way for further growth in the Eastern European flavours market and the expansion of its business activities in the food segment. www.doehler.com Arburg technology centre in Poland Arburg, the German machine manufacturing company, recently held a ceremony for its new Technology Centre in Warsaw, Poland. The new premises for its Polish subsidiary will have a useable floorspace of 800m², including a 240m² showroom, which will provide space for seven Allrounder injection moulding machines. The facility will also house offices, a canteen, spare parts store, training room and a demonstration room. Architecturally, the new building will echo the style of the Lossburg Customer Centre and will follow a modular design. The most obvious mark is the large glass façade. Climate control in the building is by geo- thermal energy and heat exchangers. The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by customers from the automotive, packaging and other industries. www.arburg.com Sidel opens in Dubai The Gulf state of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is home to the new regional headquarters of Sidel GMEA (Greater Middle East and Africa). The offices are located at the TECOM Media Cluster in the heart of Dubai. Ninety employees are working at the facility, providing local sales and support activities. Guests at the official opening on September 12, 2013 undertook a tour of the facility and witnessed a presentation describing the philosophy behind Sidel’s choice of Dubai as the location for its new facility, and its function in servicing the GMEA region. www.sidel.com Shanghai hosted ‘Recycled Polyester’ conference The 9 th China International Recycled Polyester Con- ference, held at the Wyndham Bund East Hotel in Shang- hai, PR China, September 11-13, attracted more than 300 participants, from China and further afield. Visitors to the conference witnessed a presentation on the chemical polyester recycling of textile waste and of collected PET bottles by the Teijin/Li Ming Sports Goods and Polygenta Technologies Ltd joint venture. Its method, practised at a new plant in China, takes sorted textile waste that is then decomposed by applying pressurized methanol to produce pure DMT. The product is claimed to be equiva- lent to that based on pare-xylene and can be used in the production of all polyester intermediates. Polygenta Nashik (India) presented on a different approach, which mechanically cleans post-consumer PET bottle waste, which is then glycolysed and the result- ing intermediate is re-polymerized using an existing con- tinuous polyester line. The rPET-melt is processed to fila- ments by direct-spinning. A third approach is to produce pure BHT, which is pelletized and used as feedstock. Gneuss demonstrated its recycling technology, which uses vacuum treatment during melt preparation and auto- matic filtration of impurities; and Erema demonstrated its Vakurema system. S+S exhibited a range of sorting machines. Sorema’s modular PET bottle flake production lines for food grade flakes were shown in China for the first time. PetStar Avangard reported on the difficulties of PET bottle col- lection and recycling in Mexico. The current situation of the recycling industry in China itself was discussed by a panel including Li Shidong, Secretary General Recycled Fibre Commission of CCFA. The full conference report can be ordered from CCFEI or Dr. Ulrich Thiele. www.ccfei.net www.polyester-technology.com R&D stacks up the awards The awards ceremony at the Annual Blow Molding Conference, October 8-9, Atlanta Georgia saw R&D/Lever- age and Stack Wine presented with two prizes during the conference’s first-ever blow moulded parts and package design competition. The awards were in respect of R&D Leverage’s and Stack Wine’s project of stackable PET containers for wine, in beverage packaging applications division (first place) and in packaging applications division (second place). The design and development of the pack- aging were detailed in PETplanet insider issue 11/2012. Over 50 companies showcased their latest advancements and innovations in blow molding design and applications. The entries submitted all demonstrated innovations in design, manufacturing, material application and com- mercial use in the categories Packaging (food, beverage, pharmaceutical, other and Industrial (automotive/trans- portation, consumer goods, industrial, other). Also, while sponsoring this Conference, R/D Leverage presented its injection blow mould ‘Freedom’ system which is developed to eliminate variables and to yield predictable processes, resulting in a consistent product. www.rdleverage.com