32 EVENT REVIEW PETplanet Insider Vol. 25 No. 07+08/24 www.petpla.net Dry ice blasting unit with integrated dry ice production Surpass Industrial from Houston, the US representative for equipment from the German manufacturer Kärcher, presented the new Kärcher IB 10/15 L2P Advanced dry ice blasting machine. Compared to conventional dry ice cleaners, the special feature of the Kärcher is that it produces its own high density dry ice pellets, as we were shown. “With this model, you can clean for five minutes or five hours, no planning required. It’s always ready to use and allows to clean injection moulds in place and also while hot. No cooldown necessary,” explained Sales Manager Ottavio Cautilli. “We have customers that have cut down their mould cleaning time from 7 hours to 28 minutes by using our dry ice blasters. They love to be able to use it only when needed without wasting dry ice,” added his Sales colleague Russell Grasshoff. According to Kärcher, the simple operating concept should enable the machine to be used even without special training. In most cases, the dry ice in other dry ice blasters would often not be used or only used incompletely, as the pellets would turn into a gas after a few days and reduce the cleaning performance, whereas the IB 10/15 L2P Advanced would produce the dry ice as required, so that liquid CO2 can be stored in bottles as a raw material without loss. In addition, only a compact compressor would be required, according to the manufacturer. This new model increases the cleaning performance by using a heat exchanger that cools the supplied CO2, as the conversion rate from liquid to pellets (hence the name L2P), is greater at lower temperatures. “With this technical innovation, the new machine produces 60 per cent more dry ice compared to the smaller IB 10/8 L2P model - with the same CO2 consumption,” explained Mr Cautilli. In combination with the higher air supply the cleaning performance would be doubled. This means that sticky, encrusted accumulated contaminants could be removed just as effectively as soot and dust. If very sensitive or smaller surfaces are to be treated, the smaller 3mm nozzle can also be used with a correspondingly reduced power. An intuitive control panel and various assistance systems, e.g. for checking the minimum pressure, the correct connection of the cables or the risk of overheating, are also included. As accessories, Kärcher has a variety of quick connect nozzles, a splash guard that collects loosened dirt, a cylinder trolley and a holder for the protective cap of the gas cylinders, each compatible with the large and small dry ice blasters. www.kaercher.com www.surpassindustrial.com PET material for beverage closures The US PET material manufacturer Alpek Polyester presented its new product ‘CaPETall’ at the NPE. This PET material is aimed at a potential trend towards the production of beverage closures made from PET and is therefore of interest to the developing markets for mono-material packaging. In addition to the complete recyclability of PET bottles, where the closure can also remain in the same recycling stream, the main aim is to retain the mechanical properties familiar from conventional PE closures. In addition, there should be no visual restrictions compared to the familiar PET brilliance, as demonstrated by the product examples on display at the stand. Alpek Polyester also states that the material is a multimodal polymer technology with a high molecular weight, which improves material flowability without compromising functionality or aesthetics, a basic flowability of the polymer and could also be used for thin-walled injection moulded parts. CaPETall fulfils the requirements of PET resin identification code 1 and passes the ESCR (Environmental Stress Crack Resistance) test for closures. The sample closures shown at the trade fair stand were produced on Husky systems and were also on display at the stand. www.alpekpolyester.com The Surpass Industrial exhibition stand Different coloured PET beverage closures Ricky Lane shows the PET closure exhibits
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