PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2018

48 TRADE SHOW PREVIEW PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 05/18 www.petpla.net South Hall 18155 South Hall 14053 Renewable-based products With North America set to become Clariant’s second largest global market by 2021 Clariant will zero in on the most relevant end-markets for North America’s plastics industry - transporta- tion, packaging, healthcare, and industrial bres. Representa- tives from the Business Units Additives, Masterbatches and Pigments will be available discussing sustainable solutions for the industry. For example: Market-leading colours and effects for packaging, renewable-based products e.g. regional roll-out of rice bran waxes for automotive and E&E applications or “Future proofed” USP 661.1 compliant ingredients ready now to support the US pharmaceutical packaging and drug deliv- ery device market ahead of May 2020. Other topics will be the support for the US’s growing electric car market by boosting performance, safety and aesthetics of plastic components and a host of textile solutions for carpets to bres for articial turf, seat belts and construction materials. www.clariant.com PET handleware production shifts into high gear The extrusion blow moulding of PET bottles integrating a true ow through handle identiable as #1 recyclable PET has long been a packaging goal for consumer products groups. The inherent challenge of parison formation with sufcient material hang strength resulted in the development of EBM-specic co- polyester resins, such as PETG. Extrusion blow moulding grades of PETG have been commercially available for over 30 years, yet, unfortunately, these co-polyester materials are not readily managed in the established PET recycle infrastructure due to their lower drying and melting points. Several major PET mate- rial suppliers have recently developed high IV PET grades with hang strength, toughness and reduced crystallisation rates for extrusion blow moulding. In order to optimise the PET process- ing technology, Bekum partnered with both the PET material suppliers and a major North American converter to rene the EBM PET process to meet the PET handleware goals of the brand owner. From extrusion system design, mould construction, material drying, regrind reuse, and in-machine deashing, the EBM PET process was thoroughly analysed and validated. 2017 saw the production commercialisation of ten Bekum HYBLOW 407D machines for the round-the-clock production of handled PET beverage bottles in fully #1 recyclable PET. www.bekumamerica.com Total bottle inspection system Air Logic Power Systems (ALPS) has joined forces with Swiss company IMD Ltd. to provide the blow moulding industry with the rst Total Bottle Inspection Solution. ALPS, a leader of high-speed leak testing equipment has combined its leak testing technologies with IMD’s state of the art IMDvista Vision Inspection Systems. By integrating both leak testing and visual inspection methods into one machine, the new Total Bottle Inspection Solution provides a range of quality-control checks, including the detection of leaks, contamination, cos- metic defects, measurement, ovality or other material issues. The combined, linear system can be integrated directly into the production line and enables containers that pass the set criteria to continue down the conveyor, while defective bottles will be rejected into a separate chute. Flex Pitch: multi-moving head leak tester with integrated visual inspection The ALPS Flex Pitch is a fast, tool-less, multi-moving head leak tester with the exibility to test a wide range of empty con- tainers. The machine operates without a timing screw, reducing cost for tools and changeover time radically. The innovative new design maximises exibility as test heads can be pre-set to the required pitch enabling fast changeover between containers of varying diameters. The built in visual inspection unit enables customers to inspect the bottles at the same time, providing more efcient quality control checks. The machines on display will be the SC Linear, a general-purpose, single-station leak tester with an integrated table top conveyor and the NexGen 10, a rotary leak tester which handles high-speed applications up to 1,200 bottles per minute. www.alpsleak.com www.imdvista.ch ALPS South Hall 15045 IMD booth South Hall11057 Separating single-layer PET trays from PET bottles Tomra Sorting Recycling will showcase its latest plastic sensor based solutions including the new Sharp Eye technology, the new Laser Object Detection (LOD) system as well as the Autosort Flake. Tomra’s new Sharp Eye technology is for sepa- rating single-layer PET trays from PET bottles. This enhances the previous capability of its Autosort machine to separate multi- layer trays. The processing is commercially signicant because small critical differences in the chemical properties of PET food trays and PET bottles mean that they have to be separated for equivalent-product recycling. Articial intelligence embedded in Tomra systems enables seamless analysis of sorted products, making the future plants even smarter. Tomra will introduce the new Laser Object Detection (LOD) system. Featuring laser technology that sorts based on the feed material’s spectral and spatial characteristics, new LOD technology detects material that near infrared technology (NIR) is incapable of identifying such as black plastic, glass and waste items. Unlike alternative methods that demand high-energy draw, the LOD system cost-efciently identi- es and sorts black objects from a variety of applications, boosting product quality. Foreground detection technology ensures the laser beam only identies material above the belt, reducing background noise and giving operations the exibility to use any type of belt feeder for the circuit. Tomra says that with this new technology customers can easily upgrade their installed Autosort’s and Finder’s for multiple applications. The result is an expanded application portfolio with a small initial investment. Autosort Flake is said to be the rst machine to success- fully and simultaneously combine detection of colour, enhanced material information and metal objects. The result is a high purity and yield with one machine. Tomra Sorting’s Flying Beam tech- nology, allows Autosort Flake to provide customers with con- tinuous calibration translating into substantially, less downtime and greater output stability. Fourline technology leads to low maintenance needs and low energy consumption, conrming that it is indeed possible protect environmental resources while reducing operating costs. www.tomra.com South Hall 23202