PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2015

EDITOUR REPORT 16 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 03/15 www.petpla.net Piovan S.p.A. by Alexander Büchler “The material used in the manufacture of one in two PET bottles flows through a Piovan dryer.” This is the claim of Giorgio Santella, Chief Marketing Officer for Piovan. And to ensure that this continues to be the case, the company is researching and developing special solutions for the PET industry. The market for the supply of PET material has under- gone a fundamental change over the past few years. Previously, 1, possibly 2 different materials were used, but today just one unit needs to be able to handle a very wide diversity of materials. This could mean different types of new products for water, CSD or milk or a very broad range of R-PET as well as new materials such as PLA. Despite the fact that only a short time ago the maxim “the dryer, the better” still applied, AA-critical packaging still demands a certain minimum moisture level; material that is too dry allows the AA content of the preform to increase. This calls for systems that are essentially more flexible than ever before, equipped with more extensive control systems. Here, Piovan is able to draw on its vast reservoir of experience encompassing 10 different application sec- tors within the plastics industry. Here up to 200 different types of plastics can be accommodated on one machine. However, this experience is only the start point. “No other plastics sector is as demanding as the PET industry. Guaranteeing 98% efficiency of operation, if not more, is not exactly common in any other sector of the industry,“says Giorgio Santella. Piovan guarantees this high level of availability by means of 120 field engineers who, together with a 24/7 service facility, ensure that granulate flows permanently wherever it is required in the world. In addition to increasing flexibility and the high level of availability, the world of PET has for quite some time been keeping a weather eye open on the issue of energy saving. To address this new demand, Piovan launched the Genesys generation of dryers in 2010. This enables aver- age savings of 50% to be achieved compared to similar systems. To meet the growing demand for blenders dem- onstrating high levels of accuracy for mixing R-PET and virgin PET, Piovan are now offering their new gravimetric blender marketed under the Quantum brand name. This new machine can also be used for mixing PET materials of various densities. The company is also nurturing some new ideas for the dryer. Until now, filters and sieves at the top infill area have been required to ensure dust-free granulate in the dryer, but now a new loading system, PureFlo, ensures that all the dust collects centrally in the filter on the vacuum pump, thus eliminating the laborious maintenance and cleaning of filters in the production hall. www.piovan.com Alimpet S.r.l. by Alexander Büchler Alimpet in Borgolavezzaro processes PET bottles into flakes and granulate. Like all the recyclers in Italy they buy in the bottles collected and pre-sorted through the National Consortium of Plastic Recyclers (CO.RE.PLA). This consortium only sorts on the basis of colour with- out taking into account previous contents of the container. As a result it may well happen that bottles that formerly contained foodstuffs are included in the pressed bales. Current legislation in Italy, however, decrees that any pack- aging used for foodstuffs must be derived from packaging previously used for foodstuffs. This legislation has to be strictly observed. Advances in processing technology now mean that high quality drinks bottles can now be manufac- tured from recycled PET shampoo bottles. For Alimpet, this means that they produce only PET material for non-food applications even though they have had the appropriate certificated Erema foodgrade equip- ment in their portfolio for the past 4 years. Luca Bozzalla, Quality Manager, is hoping for a change in the legislative position, but this can take some time in Italy. www.aliplastspa.com