PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2015

MATERIAL / RECYCLING 21 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 09/15 www.petpla.net is under discussion. “What we have here is an interesting example of material utilisation using a new methodology”, explains Mr Cullen. “One breakthrough for us was the development of PET resins that can be used on existing equipment by PP and PE users. This opens up entirely new perspectives in many extrusion blow moulding sectors. Users of polypropylene, polyvinylchlo- ride or polyethylene, commonly used, for example, in the manufacture of contain- ers for cleaning materials, now have the opportunity to change from their materi- als to PET. The concept is also feasible in the beverage sectors. There is a new EBM application that we are currently exploiting commercially together with a U.S. orange juice manufacturer, an inter- esting concept for larger containers with integrated handles”. Activities in conjunction with DAK Americas’ Clear Path Recycling enter- prise and the question how to deal with the topic of PET recycling in principal are of particular interest to the com- pany. As John T. Cullen says, “We have commoditised rPET in the USA and are keen to continue to keep green think- ing alive and to promote it”. He went on: “In the CSD sector we produce a resin mixture with a 20% proportion of recycled material. We can safely say that our recycled PET material, once we have processed it, is on the same level as virgin PET”. The company’s recycled containing PET offerings have been certified by the Association of Postconsumer Recy- clers (APR) that the material can enter the normal recycling streams. DAK Americas emphasise the importance of the quality of integrated recycled PET products as a rule for a better quality as if customers were to mix virgin and rPET resins by themselves. “The fact that customers are now coming up to us and asking proactively for material mixtures incorporating a proportion of rPET is still something of a novelty for us, but, currently, it is becoming increasingly evident that, for our customers too, the use of recycled material is important. Nevertheless, the current costs for recycled materi- als are a problem, in particular when the price of virgin PET is falling as a consequence of the drop in oil prices”. Currently some 30% of PET material is collected in the USA for recycling, according to DAK Americas. This cor- responds to about 1 million tonnes of material, approx. 50% of which, it is reckoned, ends up in bottle-to-bottle recycling, divided up into approx. 10% beverages, 20% health and personal care and 50% household cleaning materials. DAK’s parent, Grupo Petrotemex will be licensing their IntegRex PTA (iPTA) technology to M&G Chemicals (Mossi & Ghisolfis Group), the builder of a new facility in Corpus Christi, Texas that claims it will be the world’s largest PTA/PET manufacturing facility. This facility is scheduled to start-up in mid to late 2016 and feature the high level of energy efficiency and competitiveness that iPTA Technology offers. Further- more, DAK Americas claims a long term contractual right to 400,000t/yr of PET resin produced at the facility. www.dakamericas.com