Plastics Recycling

Especially in the large market segment of packaging, PET plays an ever greater role – particularly due to the growing expansion of single- and multi-use bottles made from PET. Accordingly, it can be lucrative for recycling companies to focus on this material. The twin screw extruder’s advantages are useful in processing PET, for example, in the form of bottle flakes, due in large part to the hygroscopic property of the plastic. Prior to compounding, recyclates must normally be predryed, crystallized, or agglomerated using single screw extruders. In contrast, using a specialized technology from Coperion, shredded PET can be compounded directly – predrying, crystallization and agglomeration of the recyclate are necessary only to a limited extent. This direct processing into films, fibers, or bottles increases product quality. At the same time, it leads to savings in operational costs and energy use as well as reduced logistics expenditures. This procedure has proven its value especially at very high throughputs of 500-6,000 kg/h.

Advantages of processing PET with twin screw extruders in comparison with the single screw method

• Very high quality of the end product because only a minimum iV degradation occurs during processing and the crystal clear material does not become yellowish
• High flexibility because recipes and colors can be changed very quickly due to the good self-cleaning behavior of the twin screw extruder
• Much simpler logistics because pelletized new product and different regenerates (ground product, agglomerates, flakes) can be processed together even if they have different iV values
• Energy and time savings as the pre-drying and crystallization are omitted in the single-stage production process

A powerful, energy and time-saving innovation: COREMA® combines the benefits of recycling and compounding in a single plant. This system produces tailor-made tunable recycling compounds for especially high quality applications.

Recycling raw materials such as PP fleece, PE edge trim, PA fibres are transformed into a filtered melt using proven, robust EREMA technology which is then fed directly to the Coperion co-rotating twin screw extruder.

With its excellent mixing and gas removal properties, this part of the system can handle all compounding tasks. Besides the dosing of a wide variety of additives, high amounts of fillers and reinforcing agents can be admixed.

Circular Economy
A circular economy is an economic system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources.

Resource Material
Plastic is viewed as a resource material, since significant energy is used in its manufacture (base material petroleum or natural gas) and it can be recycled well. Refuse is presorted, crushed, and then processed into high-value regenerate which is then reused in the plastics industry, closing the loop.

Post-Consumer Waste
Post-consumer waste is waste originating from users, i.e., individual persons, households, and offices.

Post-Industrial Waste
Post-industrial waste is waste material resulting from manufacturing or production.

Chemical Recycling
Using chemical recycling, fossil-based resources can be replaced by material recycled from plastic waste. Using thermochemical processes, plastic waste is transformed and recycled into raw materials, whereby new products with outstanding product characteristics result, based upon recycled plastic waste.

Mechanical Recycling
The term mechanical recycling designates the mechanical processing of used plastics. The chemical structure remains unchanged.

Thermal Utilization
Incineration of plastics; should take place whenever possible in waste incineration plants equipped for this purpose in order to filter out highly toxic substances that are released during incineration, such as dioxins, furans, mercury, cadmium, lead, etc.

Upcycling
Processing of lower-value recyclates, transforming them to higher-value compounds.

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