CHINAPLAS 2024: EREMA highlights expertise in PET recycling for food and textile sectors

At CHINAPLAS 2024 in Shanghai on April 23-26, EREMA will present its expertise in PET recycling, especially for food and textile sectors.

EREMA expert team at CHINAPLAS 2023.

VACUREMA technology for food-grade rPET

Demand for recycling solutions for PET waste is boosting, especially for direct food contact. Tried-and-tested VACUREMA technology was launched 25 years ago and has been continuously developing ever since.

The main advantage of VACUREMA machine is the SafeFlake technology in the vacuum reactor, which integrates decontamination, drying and IV treatment.

With pre-treatment of PET flakes in vacuum at correct temperature, moisture and migration substances are effectively removed prior to extrusion. This prevents any hydrolytic and oxidative decomposition of the melt in the extruder.

The quality of rPET pellets remains consistently high even if the parameters of the input material vary, such as moisture, mixture or bulk density.

In addition, VACUREMA technology consumes comparatively low energy. For example, specific overall energy consumption of a VACUREMA Prime system is only 0.295 kWh/kg. This is a top energy efficiency value compared to conventional PET processing lines on the market.

VACUNITE offers double safety

Demand for better quality rPET is also increasing with legal requirement from different countries.

VACUNITE ensures double safety of rPET material.

VACUNITE process includes vacuum-assisted SSP in a nitrogen atmosphere, in which all of the thermal process steps are performed in nitrogen and/or vacuum. Decontamination carried out at the beginning and end of the processing sequence implies double safety for users.

Another advantage of VACUNITE is the improved color values. It can retain the transparency of the material even after several recycling cycles, allowing bottle-to-bottle recycling and achieving a truly functional circular economy.

INTAREMA for fiber-to-fiber recycling

Food-compliant rPET is also important in textile industry as more brands are relying on rPET with both sustainability and safety.

INTAREMA technology allows fiber-to-fiber recycling.

INTAREMA FibrePro:IV machine is developed specifically for fiber-to-fiber recycling. With the new IV Uptimiser, INTAREMA technology can process shredded PET fiber materials heavily contaminated by spinning oils.

The system features active surface renewal of the melt in a vacuum atmosphere, which focuses on removing spinning oils and other additives more efficiently than conventional PET recycling processes.

Following extrusion, the intrinsic viscosity is increased in the new IV Uptimiser by polycondensation of PET melt to the level that is needed for fiber production.

INTAREMA FibrePro:IV process allows high-quality rPET pellets that are used for the production of fibers as fine as 2 dtex, even with 100% recycled content.

Conference on digitalization in mechanical recycling

Apart from presenting its recycling technology at CHINAPLAS 2024, EREMA will also join the "World Trends & Plastics & Rubber Technology Summit" on the fair site.

Robin Roth, Managing Director at EREMA, will discuss the topic "Digitalization in mechanical recycling - Ensuring profitability through smart technology" at the conference, followed by a panel discussion.