PETpla.net Insider 06+07 / 2014

NEWS 10 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 06+07/14 www.petpla.net Sacmi Research Centre Pepsi certified Tests on bottles, preforms, plastic and crown caps destined for use by soft drink company Pepsi can now be tested and certified at Sacmi Imola’s Research & Develop- ment facility. Being Pepsi-certified authorises Sacmi to carry out in-depth checks on all bottling line components; Sacmi operates with other Pepsi-authorised laboratories around the world, authorised to carry out similar tests, thus ensur- ing the validity and repeatability of the attained results. This achievement also stems from the shrewd decision to provide Sacmi Imola not just with the machines necessary to carry out the tests but also the skill and know-how that make the Sacmi Research Centre crucial to the entire Group and a key service supplier to the various business areas in which it operates. www.sacmi.com Acquisition of Artenius TurkPET Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL) has acquired 100% of Artenius TurkPET, based in Adana, Turkey. Artenius produces PET resin and has 130,000t of capacity. Turkey is an attractive market with a heavily urbanised economy enjoying high PET demand growth. Its Eurasian location provides ease of access to Central Asia, Middle East, North Africa and Southern Europe via good land and sea infrastructure. The acquisition of Artenius Turkpet comes on the heels of an announcement on April 9, 2014 that Indorama Ventures will acquire 51% of Istanbul-listed Polyester Sanayi A.Ş (SASA). Both SASA and Artenius Turkpet are situated adjacent to each other and this will lend further synergies to the deals. www.indoramaventures.com PET resin plant with crystallising system Nearing completion at Lotte Chemical UK’s Wilton site is a 200,000t PET resin plant that includes a 25t/h filtration and pelletising system now being commissioned by Nordson BKG. The new plant, adjacent to Lotte’s existing PET facility, is due for startup later this year. The £60-million project will more than double the capac- ity for PET at the Wilton site. At its heart is the BKG Crys- tallCut system, which is said to save energy by re-using the heat from the polymer melt in the pelletising step to crystal- lise the pellets at a later stage in an integrated process. Also supplied by BKG is a screen changer in Nordson Kreyen- borg’s Poly series. The patented CrystallCut system is an integrated network that incorporates underwater pelletising, drying and crystal- lising. After the polymer has been cut at the pelletiser die face, it is transported to a centrifugal pellet dryer where the water is separated and the polymer dried. The material exits the pellet dryer and is discharged on a specially designed centrifugal dryer outlet hopper where the conversion from amorphous to crystallised material occurs. Throughout this process there is precise control of material temperatures, preventing production and quality problems caused by insufficient crystallisation and excess levels of amorphous material. CrystallCut technology is said to save energy by avoiding the need to reheat the PET for crystallising. In addi- tion, it prevents clumping of amorphous PET and yields an enhanced crystalline structure that results in lower energy costs for re-melting the material. www.lottechemical.co.uk DAK Americas acquires food-grade PET recycling operation in Argentina DAK Americas Argentina S.A.(DAK), a producer of PET resins in Argentina, announced the acquisition of CabelmaPET S.A., a PET bottle recycling opera- tion located in Pacheco, Buenos Aires, Argentina, that produces food-grade recycled raw materials from PET bottles. Terms and conditions of the acquisition were not disclosed. The acquisition will be subject to post-closing review by Argentina’s antitrust authorities. The acquired facility currently recycles more than 16t/a of waste PET bottles, which should significantly increase the sustainability of DAK’s product line, as well as help customers streamline their processes. Approximately 100 employees associated with CabelmaPET, S.A. recy- cling operations are part of the acquisition. Cabelma S.A., a manufacturer of plastic-crates, is not included in the acquisition. DAK currently produces over 190t/a of virgin PET resin at its facility in Zarate and plans to integrate the post- consumer recycled material from the acquired facility into its manufacturing process upon completion of process upgrades. The new integrated product offerings will be marketed as a single-pellet solution under DAK’s Laser+ brand of PET resins. www.dakamericas.com