PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2015

MATERIAL / RECYCLING 18 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 06/15 www.petpla.net Recycling machine manufacturers who are also recyclers themselves by Kay Barton KSM 800 STF Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH is making an appearance at the NPE as a supplier of integrated solutions. STF Maschinen- und Anlagenbau is part of the STF group of companies of Aicha vom Wald, Germany. The divisions STF Recycling and STF Thermoforming Foils are also part of the Group. At the exhibition STF are show- casing their grinder KSM 800 that can be used either as a dry or wet grinder. The machine is used for wet grinding of post-consumer plastics and can reach 90 to 160KW. Prior to the actual washing process, an initial rough clean is carried out by adding water during the grinding process. As a result, 95% of bottle labels made from paper are destroyed. Available options include ten rotor blades on five or 14 on 7 rows of cutters, as well as four stator blades on two rows of cutters with a rotor diameter of 800mm and a working width of 1200mm / 1530mm. The inside of the KSM 800 is lined with the low-wear material Hardox. As one of its follow-up aims in terms of global expansion, the com- pany is expanding its presence in North American marketplace and with Zimmer America Recycling Solutions has identified a suitable sales partner to represent STF locally. Currently there are 4 plants installed in North America. “Companies that decide to go with us can expect an influx of know- how because we are users ourselves. I am not sure whether this combina- tion exists in quite the same way anywhere else in the recycling sector”, says Roland Zimmer, CEO at Zimmer America Recycling Solutions. Markus Ingenpass agrees and adds: “Over and above this, our in-house manufacturing capability is in excess of 90%, because we have the full complement of prod- uct development and manufacturing facilities on our own premises. All that we buy in are smaller components like optical sorters or electronic metal separation equipment”. We enquired which other features make the STF lines stand out in use. “The systems use only a very small quantity of water, power and chemical consumption per tonne of material for processing. Main- tenance expenditure is also low. Look- ing at the procurement costs and level of efficiency, we are offering a good price/performance ratio here”. Techni- cal support, together with consultancy services and service facilities, are provided both by the main branch in Germany and the local representatives on-site, who, in addition to service, are also self-sufficient in the supply of spares. “There is extensive potential for recycling in the USA because the country is keen to develop the issue over the coming years. At present we have a rate of perhaps 25-30% when it comes to used PET bottles, but there is still plenty of space left to fill”, says Mr Zimmer. www.stf-aicha.de The company was founded 35 years ago. In 1980 the present group launched the corporate thermofoil manufacturing division. “At the time, we had compounds within Industrial Waste that it made sense to separate out“ said Markus Ingenpass, Sales Manager at STF. “It was this that triggered the development of our own in-house wash- ing technology. We subsequently used our wealth of experience in these appli- cations to become a recycler ourselves. Starting with foil recycling, we moved on into the PET recycling sector with the boom in PET bottles in the mid-1990s and have developed the washing lines further. From this came the transition into the grinding sector. Each machine is tested directly on our premises”. Today STF is one of the largest post- consumer waste recyclers in Europe with a focus on PET recycling and han- dels around 130,000 tonnes annually. At the same time, STF builds machinery for complete turnkey plastic recycling lines that cover the entire process right through to the flake. Another branch of the company is active in the construc- tion of special machines for turbine housings and construction machine accessories.