PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2018

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 11/18 www.petpla.net 12 Post-consumer PET into food-grade finished packaging products Totally closed-loop recycling rPlanet Earth, a new company dedicated to closed-loop recycling of post-consumer plastics, has started up a large grassroots facility completely vertically integrated plant for converting PET packaging waste into finished rPET products with properties comparable to those made from virgin PET. The new rPlanet Earth facility sorts, cleans, and purifies rPET to produce high quality rollstock, thermoformed containers, and moulded bottle preforms. The 302,000 sq.ft (28,060m 2 ) facility in Vernon, CA takes in bottles, clamshell containers, and other packaging waste from kerbside collection, puts it through an extensive series of sorting and clean- ing procedures, grinds it into flake and subjects it to rigorous wash and decon- tamination. It raises the intrinsic viscosity (IV) of the material in accordance with end-use requirements and processes it into food-grade sheet, thermofor- med containers, and injection moulded preforms for bottles. The new rPlanet Earth plant has an annual capacity of 80,000,000lb. (36,290 metric tons). The total investment at Vernon thus far is around US$ 100m. Accord- ing to rPlanet Earth co-CEO Robert Daviduk, plans are in the works to add a second bales-to-end-product produc- tion line in the facility within the next two years. Beyond recycling PET, rPlanet Earth meets other sustainability goals, noted co-CEO Joseph Ross. “While our rPET packaging provides appear- ance, purity and physical properties comparable to those of virgin PET, our carbon footprint is 60% less than that of packaging made from virgin resin and in fact is 20% less than that for rPET products from other companies,” said Mr Ross. He added that the figures take into account kerbside collection, baling, and transportation as well as the operation in the Vernon plant. “In addi- tion, our recycling operation uses 90% less water, per quantity of output, than a PET resin plant.” Comprehensive process for reclamation and re-use After bales entering the rPlanet Earth facility have been broken into a single stream of bottles and thermo- forms, the material is subjected to multi- ple sorting procedures. Magnetised sort- ers remove foreign matter such as wire; near-infrared scanners identify PET and separate it from other polymers. Another sorting step separates PET materials by colour. Next comes a dry system for grinding the material into flake; water is avoided because it is a carrier for inks and adhesives that can negatively affect the quality of the finished rPET. The first encounter with water is in the wash line, where the material is cleaned before it moves to a tank where PET, which is heavier than water, sinks, while labels, adhesives, and other matter are skimmed off. Subsequently the flake enters a Krones MetaPure reactor where ~200°C heat and vacuum are used in a final decontamination process; solid state polymerisation (SSP) raises the IV of the rPET to various levels, depending on the target application. rPlanet Earth bypasses the pel- letising step in favour of adding value to flake by using it in its own in-house plastics processing lines. “By skipping the pelletising of rPET we potentially avoid degrading our products’ appear- ance, since a melting step that can negatively affect colour is completely eliminated,” said Mr Daviduk. “Our customers are looking for products that come from a truly closed-loop recycling system.” He noted that rPlanet Earth can supply sheet, thermoformed pack- aging, or preforms whose rPET content can range up to 100%, depending on whether or not a customer requires some percentage of virgin PET. The company currently operates seven plastics processing lines: Two Husky injection moulding systems are for the production of preforms; three Welex extrusion lines produce sheet for sale as rollstock to the merchant market or for use in-house on two large Lyle thermoforming machines. The thermoformed products manufactured by rPlanet Earth may include drinking cups, produce packaging, clamshell containers, and virtually any other food-grade thermoformed packaging currently made from PET. The three Welex sheet lines sup- plied by Graham Engineering include extruders that yield widths up to 75 in. (190cm) and can be configured for coextrusion, the XSL Navigator controls capable of integrating with plant-wide automation systems. Nordson’s BKG HiCon screen changers, BlueFlow gear pumps, and static mixers and Nordson’s EDI Ultraflex sheet dies. Graham Eng- ineering also supplied thickness scan- ners, edge trim systems, winders, and other equipment. “We spent an enormous amount of time researching plastics process- ing equipment suppliers and chose Graham Engineering because of their technical capabilities, their engineering and design support, and their Converge Conical Twin Screw (CTS) technology, which is more compact and streamlined in comparison with conventional twin- screw systems,” said Mr Ross. “It was a joint decision between us and Graham Engineering to include Nordson compo- nents. The in-line backflush capability of the BKG screen changers was particu- larly attractive because this self-cleaning feature enables us to avoid shutdowns due to screen buildup. In addition, Nord- son backed their EDI die with extensive experience in PET sheet processing, exceeding that of other die suppliers.” www.rplanetearth.com F.l.t.r.: The co-CEOs of rPlanet Earth, Joseph Ross and Robert Daviduk