PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2019

8 NEWS PET planet Insider Vol. 20 No. 05/19 www.petpla.net Nampak Inspection & Coding Systems new partner of Sesotec in South Africa Since June 1, 2018 Sesotec GmbH has a new partner in South Africa with Nampak Inspection & Coding Systems. The partnership relates to the “Inspection Division” and primarily concentrates on the food sector, but it is also planned to utilise the existing potential in the plastics industry and to conquer regional markets with active campaigns. At the ProPak Africa trade fair that was held in Johan- nesburg from March 12-15, 2019 Sesotec presented the Varicon+W metal detection system with Intuity metal detec- tion coil, and the Raycon EX1 X-ray scanner at the Nampak trade fair stand. In addition to sales and distribution, Sesotec states that service is another strong point of Nampak, which is why Nampak also will perform local service for Sesotec metal detection and X-ray systems. www.sesotec.com Simon Euler, Account Manager Division Product Inspection of Sesotec GmbH (fourth from left) was present at the ProPak Africa trade fair stand of Nampak Inspection & Coding Systems Pilot plant to turn sugarcane waste into bottles Researchers of Queensland University of Technology and Mercurius Australia have commenced work on a pilot plant to prove the economic viability of turning sugarcane waste into either jet and diesel fuel or chemicals that could be used to make plastic soft drink and beer bottles. Dr Darryn Rackemann, Senior Research Fellow from QUT’s Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities (CTCB), is leading the program at the Gladstone pilot plant. The patented Reach technology, developed by US parent company Mercurius Biorefining, is claimed to have the potential to convert sugarcane bagasse and other biomass into cost effective drop-in biofuels and bio-chemicals, as alternatives to fossil fuels. Dr Rackemann said the pilot plant would have a flexible technology base that would allow targeting production of renew- able fuels and green chemicals. He said the work by QUT researchers proved the system worked in producing grams of chemical and fuel samples, while the pilot plant this year would be able to demonstrate the viability of manufacturing kilograms of chemical and fuel samples. While the initial focus of the pilot plant is investigating the conversion of biomass into fuel, Professor Doherty said the technology had the potential to create chemicals that could be used to make polyethylene furanoate (PEF), a completely bio-based polyester used to make bottles, films and fibres as an alternative to PET produced from fossil fuels. Mr Seck said the pilot plant would be testing sugarcane residue, but the process could work with other plant crop wastes. Based on the successful completion of the pilot pro- ject, Mercurius Australia is planning to build a larger dem- onstration plant, which could scale up production of biofuels and biochemicals. www.qut.edu.au