PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2016

MATERIAL / RECYCLING 10 PET planet insider Vol. 17 No. 05/16 www.petpla.net Improvements in the washing process of PETflakes A little bit more is always good? by Alexander Büchler The volume flows for bottle-to-bottle recycling are con- stantly increasing so that the corresponding plants have to grow with them. Polymetrix with its expertise in virgin PET is focusing its thoughts on these kinds of plants. We spoke to Martin Müller, Managing Director and Andreas Christel, Director Process Technology. Polymetrix, previously part of the Bühler Group, has received almost every order for the solid state process (SSP) in PET production over the last few years. The energy optimised EcoSphere SSP process in the stable Bühler process (see PP 3/2016, pp. 10) in particular has ensured this strong position with 90% market share. Polymetrix has developed an annual capacity of 19.8 million tonnes of virgin PET with 173 plants in total on the market. In the recycling seg- ment it is no fewer than 21 lines with 400t annual capacity. The market share of new business is 40% here. “Besides the actual preparation of flakes into granules we mainly see considerable potential for develop- ment in the washing process,” says Martin Müller. “Above all we don’t need to clean the residue that we can remove during flake washing out of the exhaust air later on, cleaning the exhaust air is a much more complex process,” says the Director Process Technology Andreas Christel. What is meant here is not just the impuri- ties that get back into processing with the bottle but also the previously rather neglected issue of washing substances. If the maxim of a little bit more is always good tends to apply today the washing agent residue in the exhaust air leads to considerably more cleaning work later on. Polymetrix sees its EcoSphere SSP as a key technology for energy- saving processing for the other processing stages. As the IV only increases very late on the spheri- cal granule the IV can be kept low throughout the entire process. As a result the moulding compound flows through the plant at much lower tem- peratures and there is no AA increase at all to the otherwise usual extent. As the spherical granule does not have any “corners” that might flake if they rub together the granule is also dust-free. A prerequisite for smooth processing in the preform process. www.polymetrix.com F.l.t.r.: Camille Borer, Team Leader Design & Test Center and Andreas Christel, Director Process Technology, during a tour through the test facility.