EREMA makes it possible to recycle challenging film waste
Recycling film, especially supermarket film (98/2), is well established in North America and is also gaining importance in South America. Thanks to the gentle polymer processing and high filtration performance of INTAREMA TVEplus DuaFil Compact technology, the recyclates produced are perfect for reusing in films. EREMA achieves a recycled content of 30 percent for stretch film with a thickness of 8 micrometres (µm) and 50 percent for shrink film.
An application that is currently growing in the USA is the recycling of agricultural film. The producers receive film after it has been used, recycle it, and return it to production. The demand for technologies for processing heavily printed films is also increasing. Both applications are challenging: agricultural film is typically heavily contaminated with sand, stones and organic matter, and printing inks often enter the material being recycled during the melting process. The INTAREMA TVEplus DuaFil Compact provides the high degassing performance required to achieve excellent results using a very efficient process. When recycling agricultural film, for example, EREMA has been able to save 20 degrees Celsius in the melt temperature and 9 percent in energy consumption. At the same time, throughput increased by 11 percent.
Odor-optimized and food-safe polyolefins reach one million tons a year
EREMA launched the ReFresher for producing odor-optimized recycled pellets at K 2016. There are now ReFreshers in operation worldwide for film and regrind applications with a total capacity of 1,000,000 tons per year. Combined with the INTAREMA TVEplus, the anti-odor system opens up completely new application possibilities for recyclates, such as high-quality end products for the home, automotive and lifestyle sectors, and for processing food-safe polyolefin recycled pellets (HDPE, LDPE and PP). The process has been classified by an American food safety authority as suitable for feeding the recyclate back into the production of food packaging.
EREMA bottle-to-bottle recycling: large-scale systems from a single source
With its VACUREMA and VACUNITE systems, EREMA also offers the right solution for the production of food-safe rPET pellets. "Think big and safe - that's the message to our bottle-to-bottle recycling customers," says Christoph Wöss, Business Development Manager for bottle applications at the EREMA Group. In this connection, he points out that customers can now obtain complete systems including SSP post-treatment directly from EREMA, that can process up to 12,100 pounds (5,500 kilograms) of food-safe rPET pellets per hour.
More space for customer trials in the extended technical center
This spring, EREMA North America opened its extended customer technology center. The center has around 20,000 square feet and is equipped with new machines. "In the technical center at our site in Ipswich, we offer our customers the opportunity to try out and test products and technologies in a process environment," explains Robert Wahlmüller. The technical center is equipped with an INTAREMA® TVEplus® DuaFil Compact® and a ReFresher. Customers can also trial the mobile ReFresher directly at their production facilities. There is also an INTAREMA® K for film edge trim and off-spec material as well as a versatile R&D machine that can be used for trials in the INTAREMA® T, TE and TVEplus® configurations with laser filter and back-flush filter and various pelletizing methods for different applications. A team of process technicians is on-hand to assist during trials. "We demonstrate how to use the machines so customers can find out which solution is best suited to their material," says Wahlmüller. On average, two sets of trials are carried out every week.
Robert Wahlmüller, CEO EREMA North America, is delighted about the opening of the extended technical center: "We can now offer our customers an even more extensive test environment to demonstrate our machines and technologies."
Visit EREMA at NPE: West Hall, Stand: W4471
