PETpla.net Insider 07+08 / 2015

ON SITE 43 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 07+08/15 www.petpla.net the company says that this keeps off-specification produc- tion and rejects to a minimum. The recycling line automati- cally adjusts operation parameters to reach the desired IV (intrinsic viscosity) level after it has been set on the control panel. The level is permanently monitored during production and parameters are readjusted as necessary. This avoids IV variations after the extruder and seeks to guarantee very constant IV values already during pellet production. Thorough pre-drying of the input material (washed bottle flakes) as well as high-vacuum degassing and melt filtration are designed to ensure high melt quality in the extrusion process. In the downstream inline SSP reac- tor the IV level of the manufactured pellets is increased to the desired level. Organic and volatile components and acetaldehyde are removed. The FIFO (first-in first- out) treatment of both the flakes in the dryer before the extrusion process and the pellets in the continuous SSP process after extrusion are intended to ensure consist- ent residence time and thus to achieve high standards of decontamination efficiency. The recycling line is equipped with an online archiving system of process data, for quality control and traceability. Extrupet has been producing food-grade rPET from post-consumer collection since 2000 and supplies to producers of polyester filament and staple fibre; geo- textiles; PET strappings; PET sheet; thermoforms; and PET bottles. The PhoenixPET brand for food-grade rPET was launched in 2010 and is used by many of the lead- ing South African retailers. Extrupet is one of the leading recycling partners of PETCO, the industry body for PET recycling in South Africa. Starlinger has installed high-end PET bottle-to-bottle recycling systems across the world, with a total name plate capacity of more than 450,000 t/yr. The recoSTAR PET iV+ technology is claimed to ensure the production of virgin-like rPET suitable for direct food contact. It has been approved by national and international authorities includ- ing FDA and EFSA, as well as various brand owners. www.extrupet.com www.recycling.starlinger.com