PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2014

MATERIAL / RECYCLING 18 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 03/14 www.petpla.net Vacurema: efsa-approved and energy consumption tested rPET for direct food contact Around 779,000t of PET are collected in the USA every year and in the region of 514,000t remain in the country. Of this total, approximately 295,000t are processed to make rPET for direct food con- tact. Erema claims that half of the US rPET is produced with its Vacurema technology; in Europe the market share in this segment has reached 30%. According to the company more than 150 Vacurema systems are in use around the world, with an overall annual capacity of around 1 million tonnes. Vacurema technology for the recycling of post consumer PET bottle flakes, PET in-house waste as well as PE-HD bottle flakes was launched in 1998. In this process, food con- tact compliant decontamination takes place before the extrusion process. The patented pre-treatment of PET flakes at raised temperature and in high vacuum before the extrusion process removes moisture and migra- tion materials from the feedstock very effectively and in a stable process environment. Thanks to the vacuum treatment, stable IV values can be achieved even in the case of varying moisture levels and different IV values in the input material. As input materi- als with up to 1.5% moisture can be processed, no expensive pre-drying is necessary, unlike other processes available on the market. Extruder degassing is not required either, meaning that a short extruder screw can be used and the thermal stress on the material is reduced as a result. Additionally, the unique, patented configuration means considerably less maintenance compared to other systems. efsa approved and tested The repellets/end products pro- duced with Vacurema technology for direct food contact fulfill the purity requirements of major brand owners and, besides country-specific approv- als, also has internationally recog- nised certification from the North American FDA and efsa, the Euro- pean Food Safety Authority. Some 347,000t of rPET for direct food contact are produced every year with Vacurema systems. “Our customers use up to 100% of the recycled pellets for the production of bottles and food contact grade thermoforming sheet in accordance with efsa guidelines,” explains Christoph Wöss, Vacurema Product Manager. An automatic operating mode with FCC – Food Contact Control keeps the process stable. The parameters for direct food contact compliance are monitored and archived continu- ously in the recycling process on all Vacurema systems. The Food Contact Erema’s Vacurema Prime system Fig. 2: Erema Vacurema efsa test values