PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2017

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 05/17 www.petpla.net 14 PETplanet: Piovan’s Genesys system delivers PET-resin drying with energy consumption 55% lower than today’s conventional resin-drying systems. GenesysR is a new product – how does it build upon this energy- efficient profile? Piovan: Reactor drying is a new technology, combining the benefits of rapid heat up of the PET with a new control of the residual moisture of the resin. Piovan was a supplier of small scale vertical tower SSP systems, a range of products that would find use in the late 80’s, early 90’s, that allowed us to learn in depth about the physical phenomenon taking place in the vertical tower (reactor) while rapidly increasing the polymer temperature. SSP takes place at temperatures of 220°C and in absence of oxygen. GenesysR oper- ates at regular drying temperatures (170 to 180°C) in a dried air environ- ment and, differently from what hap- pens in an SSP process, it does not increase IV and reduce the drying time from 7 hours to 5 hours. The energy efficiency is further increased by 10Wh/ kg, it will ensure savings in the range of 60% and beyond when compared to a conventional drying system. Piovan holds the only patent ever released for high efficiency system for dehumidifying and/or drying plastic materials. PETplanet: Is the high productivity of the Genesys maintained? Piovan: The GenesysR line is particularly suited for high productiv- ity applications, where the benefits of having a very low energy utilisation and a highly stable process are exploited in the highest degree. GenesysR benefits of a new control of the residual moisture in the PET, namely AIPC. AIPC stands for Automatic Injection Pressure Con- trol. Any GenesysR system can be con- nected to the preform injection moulding machine and by reading the injection pressure in real time it has the capabil- ity of stabilising to the desired value. A new algorithm specifically developed for the AIPC can constantly adjust airflow, temperature and dew-point of the pro- cess air, so that the injection pressure be kept at the highest possible level of constancy. This feature is particularly valuable today as the new preform for- mats require thinner walls and therefore controlled conditions of moisture and injection pressure. AIPC is a patent pending new invention. PETplanet: How will the GenesysR support bever- age packaging manufactur- ers regarding high quality and constancy of physical character- istics? Piovan: GenesysR is the only auto-adaptive drying system available in the market that is capable of determining a condi- tion of energy balance in the PET resin between drying and injection processes. The reason why energy balance is key for the production of a preform, and subsequent bottle, resides into the physical and mechanical charac- teristics of the bottle itself. The best processing condition for the PET resin is obtained when the lowest possible temperature increase, or energy addi- tion, must be performed by the injection unit, or extruder. GenesysR is capable of measuring the quantity of energy released to the PET, to feed the injec- tion unit with material having the highest possible mass temperature. The energy addition at the injection unit is a very critical parameter, as it determines the IV drop of the PET: the lower is the energy addition the lower is the IV drop. The auto-adaptability feature of GenesysR benefits the bottle characteristics from two main perspec- tives: highest IV of the PET, obtained by the energy balance capability, and lowest AA level, obtained by the AIPC feature. PETplanet: How did you develop the new product, and will it ultimately replace Genesys? New reactor drying technology by Piovan Low temperature and constant viscosity GenesysR, the new generation of reactor drying systems by Piovan officially launched at the PETnology Forum in Nuremberg 2016. Naturally, PETplanet Insider was keen to find out more. MATERIALS Special New reactor drying technol- ogy for PET