PET bottle recycling
From WikiPETia.info
PET bottle recycling
PET (Polyethylenterephthalate) bottles can be recycled to reuse the material out of which they are made and to reduce the amount of waste going intolandfills. PET is semiporous and absorbs molecules of the food or beverage contained, and the residue is difficult to remove. Using PET bottle flakes to successfully produce higher value products needs improved flake production methods, suitable quality control tools, suitable conversion processes and the right processing equipment. Unlike virgin material, the processing of bottle flakes to the different intermediates and final products needs specific attention, depending on the process or final products that are selected. In oder to recycle post-consumer PET bottles, two major processes have been applied: chemi- cal recycling and mechanical recycling.
Mechanical recycling
High contamination levels by other materials causes great deterioration of POSTC-PET during processing. Mechanical recycling of post-consumer-PET consists of contamination removal by sorting and washing, drying and melt processing.
Sorting and washing
Contaminant removal in this step consists of several processes in which POSTC-PET bottles are sorted, ground and washed. PET bottles are separated from PVC, polyethylene and other plastic containers. PVC can be removed manually from PET bottle scrap before the grinding process. While no 100% separation of PVC is reported yet, efficient separation of PVC from mixed PVC/PET bottles scrap can be achieved using methods based on the difference between the physical or chemical properties of PVC and PET. After sorting, post-consumer PEt is ground into flakes. PET flakes are washed following grinding.
Drying
Drying is minimizing the moisture content of the PET flakes and hence reduces the hydrolytic degradation effect and leads to higher R-PET melt strength.
Bottle-to-bottle-recycling
| Company | Process | Contact | Input | Output (with approval) | Capacity (t/a) | Floor Space (m²) | Approvals | Fresh water consumption per tonne output (m³/t) | kWh consumption per tonne output (kWh/t) | See at... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starlinger & Co. Ges.m.b.H., Austria | Bottle-to-Granulate | Elfriede Hell recycling.he@starlinger.com | 4 models: recoSTAR PET FG, recoSTAR PET FG+, recoSTAR PET iV+, recoSTAR PET iV+ Superior / Engineering of washing lines and / or a turn-key project with components and technologies available in the market | Yes (decontaminated for food-contact, IV increased, AA < 1ppm, lowest VOC level) | 6,000 - 26,000 | Depending on design | USA/FDA (C-H), Austria, Germany/BfR, Ilsi, France/AFFSSA, Finland, Australia, Canada, Egypt, Japan, Switzerland, Latin American Countries; follows EFSA requirements; brand owners | Depending on design | Depending on design | IPF |
| Starlinger & Co. Ges.m.b.H., Austria | Flakes-to-Granulate | Elfriede Hell recycling.he@starlinger.com | 4 models: recoSTAR PET FG, recoSTAR PET FG+, recoSTAR PET iV+, recoSTAR PET iV+ Superior / Engineering of washing lines and / or a turn-key project with components and technologies available in the market | Yes (decontaminated for food-contact, IV increased, AA < 1ppm, lowest VOC level) | 1,500 - 26,000 | 130 - 540 | USA/FDA (C-H), Austria, Germany/BfR, Ilsi, France/AFFSSA, Finland, Australia, Canada, Egypt, Japan, Switzerland, Latin American Countries; follows EFSA requirements; brand owners | Approx. 0,15 | Approx. 410 (Depending on design) | |
| Starlinger & Co. Ges.m.b.H., Austria | Bottle-to-Flakes | Elfriede Hell recycling.he@starlinger.com | 4 models: recoSTAR PET FG, recoSTAR PET FG+, recoSTAR PET iV+, recoSTAR PET iV+ Superior / Engineering of washing lines and / or a turn-key project with components and technologies available in the market | Yes (decontaminated for food-contact, IV increased, AA < 1ppm, lowest VOC level) | 3,700 - 10,500 | Approx. 150 | FDA (hot-fill), follows EFSA requirements | 120 - 250 (incl. bottle washng to SSP) | ||
| Amut S.p.A., Italy | Bottle-to-Granulate | Piergianni Milani p.milani@amut.it | Yes | 3,000 - 45,000 | Depending on size and stream quality | Depending on stream quality | 300 - 600 | |||
| Amut S.p.A., Italy | Flakes-to-Granulate | Piergianni Milani p.milani@amut.it | Yes | 3,000 - 15,000 | Depending on size and stream quality | 0,5 | Depending on design | |||
| Amut S.p.A., Italy | Bottle-to-Flakes | Piergianni Milani p.milani@amut.it | Pre-sorting systems and de-labellors available | 3,600 - 45,000 | Depending on size an stream quality | 1 | 250 - 300 | |||
| Erema Engineering Recycling Maschinen und Anlagen Ges.m.b.H., Austria | Bottle-to-Granulate | Christoph Wöss ch.woess@erema.at | Yes, in cooperation with long-time partners | Interplastica | ||||||
| Erema Engineering Recycling Maschinen und Anlagen Ges.m.b.H., Austria | Flakes-to-Granulate | Christoph Wöss ch.woess@erema.at | Basic flake specifications: Higher contamination can influence pellet quality but basically possible to process, after discussion and agreed by Erema | 32,000 | Depending on throughput and technology: 8 - 200 | FDA [cat. A-H&J]; efsa (postive opinion issued); brand owners (conf.);several national approvals (Austria, CH, Zona Mercursur, etc.) | Depending on application and technology. Closed loop system | 250 - 350 | Interplastica | |
| Erema Engineering Recycling Maschinen und Anlagen Ges.m.b.H., Austria | Bottle-to-Flakes | Christoph Wöss ch.woess@erema.at | Yes, in cooperation with long-time partners | FDA [cat. A-H&J]; efsa (postive opinion issued); with Multi Purpose Reactor (MPR) | 15,000 | 20 - 40 | FDA, EFSA (Positive opinion issued) | Closed loop system | 100 | Interplastica |
| Gneuss Kunststofftechnik GmbH, Germany | Bottle-to-Granulate | Engineering of washing lines with long term partners | Yes | up to 17,000 | FDA, ESFA (pending), INTI, brand owners (conf.) | Depending on bottle contamination | Depending on input material | |||
| Gneuss Kunststofftechnik GmbH, Germany | Flakes-to-Granulate | FDA, ESFA (pending), brand owners (conf.) | 200 - 17,000 | 30 - 80, depending on size | FDA, ESFA (pending), INTI, brand owners (conf.) | no fresh water needed | < 350 | |||
| Krones AG, Germany | Bottle-to-Granulate | Peter Hartel Peter.Hartel@krones.com | Yes | 3,400 - 30,000 | 1,000 - 6,000 | FDA - LNO / EFSA - LNO | ||||
| Krones AG, Germany | Flakes-to-Granulate | Peter Hartel Peter.Hartel@krones.com | Yes | 3,400 - 30,000 | 800 - 3,000 | FDA - LNO / EFSA - LNO | ||||
| Krones AG, Germany | Bottle-to-Flakes | Peter Hartel Peter.Hartel@krones.com | With/without approval | 3,400 - 30,000 | 1,000 - 4,000 | FDA - LNO / EFSA - LNO | ||||
| Polymetrix AG, Switzerland | Bottle-to-Granulate | Karl Schöpf karl.schoepf@btpag.com | up to 24,000 | 5,000 | FDA, EFSA, Brand owner | 2.15 | 580 KWh, 590kg steam | |||
| Polymetrix AG, Switzerland | Flakes-to-Granulate | Karl Schöpf karl.schoepf@btpag.com | 12,000 ‐ 50,000 | 400 ‐ 600 | FDA, EFSA, Brand owner | 0.15 | 290 | |||
| Polymetrix AG, Switzerland | Bottle-to-Flakes | Karl Schöpf karl.schoepf@btpag.com | 24.000 | 4,500 | 2 | 290 | ||||
| Zheijiang Boretech Co., Ltd., China | Flakes-to Granulate | Alan Ou sales@bo-re-tech.com | Collected pressed bottles, various colours | Granulate with approval | ||||||
| Zheijiang Boretech Co., Ltd., China | Bottle-to-Flakes | Alan Ou sales@bo-re-tech.com | Collected pressed bottles, various colours | Flakes with/without approval | 3,000 - 39,600 | 600 - 2,000 | 150 - 180 | |||
| Sorema Division of Previero N. Srl | Bottle-to-Flakes | Dario Previero sales@previero.it | 5,000 - 45,000 | 800 - 5,000 | 1 - 3 | 0,22 - 027 | ||||
| Phoenix Technologies Intl LLC, USA | Flakes-to-Granulate | Lori Carson sales@phoenixtechnologies.net | LNO, yes, PVC <50ppm | Yes | '38, total plant capacity, 9K ton of LNO installed, with additions available of 9K ton | 1,000 | FDA, Health Canada, EFSA | Trace | 660 | |
| Tecnofer Ecoimpianti, Italy | Bottle-to-Flakes | Mauro Garbellini sales.dep1@tecnofer.biz | 3,000 - 25,000 | 500 - 1,500 | 1,5 - 3 | 280-320 |
PET Recycling Associations
Amercia North:
Napcor The National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) is the trade association for the PET plastic packaging industry. The association's purposes are to promote the introduction and use of PET packaging; to facilitates its recycling; and to communicate the attributes of the PET container as an environmentally sustainable package.
PETRA
PETRA is the industry association for North America's producers of PET.
Europe:
PETcore Petcore Europe is a non-profit European trade association based in Brussels. The focus of the association lies on ensuring the sustainable growth of post-consumer PET collection and recycling and that PET is positioned as a sustainable packaging material.
EPBP
The European PET Bottle Platform is a voluntary industry initiative that provides PET bottle design guidelines for recycling, evaluates PET bottle packaging solutions and technologies and facilitates understanding of the effects of new PET bottle innovations on recycling processes.
Asia
The Council for PET Bottle Recycling, Japan
KPRC, Korea Packaging Recycling Cooperative
