Austrian recycling equipment manufacturer - Starlinger recycling technology
BOTTLE-TO-BOTTLE RECYCLING
1. The Starlinger recoSTAR PET bottle-to-bottle recycling line which has been installed in April 2016 in the plastics recycling facility of Canadian water bottler Ice River Springs in Feversham, Ontario, is delivering excellent production results.
2. The recoSTAR PET 165 HC iV+ recycling line is the second one Ice River Springs installed after purchasing the first PET recycling line from Starlinger recycling technology in 2010, also a recoSTAR PET iV+ system. The new line has a production capacity of 1,900 kg/h and recycles pre-washed PET bottle flakes from curb side collection in Canada. The bottled water producer is based in Feversham, Ontario, and has set up plants in Canada and the US. Ice River Springs is running its own PET bottle-to-bottle recycling operation, Blue Mountain Plastics in Shelburne, which is equipped with washing and recycling lines and produces bottles made of up to 100% recycled PET.
3. In 2011, Ice River Springs received the Letter of Non-Objection for its bottles produced from rPET from the Bureau of Chemical Safety/Food Directorate, Health Canada. The company runs a vertically integrated operation that also includes preform production and bottle filling plants, which complete the system for closed loop PET bottle recycling. Ice River Springs is the only beverage company in North America to operate such a system.
RESEARCH PROJECT FOR MIXED TEXTILE WASTE
1. Starlinger recycling technology is searching for an ecologically and economically sound solution for the recycling of mixed textile waste of multi-material composition.
2. Three universities and eight Austrian companies are involved in the COIN-project TEX2MAT, which is led by the Plastics Cluster of ecoplus, the business agency of Lower Austria, and funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs (BMDW).
3. Tons of old textiles that cannot be reused or sold end up in incineration plants or even go to landfill. The textile industry is growing, and the proportion of multi-material textiles, i. e., mixtures of various natural and artificial fibers, is steadily increasing
4. The project TEX2MAT addresses the recycling of different kinds of old textiles that consist of a mixture of polyester and cotton. The first step is the enzymatic separation of polyester and cotton in a procedure developed by the Viennese University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences; after appropriate reprocessing, the materials are reused in new products.
5. The project partners are working on specific case studies:
i. Mixtures of polyester and cotton from the production of towels as well as old textiles in the form of bed linens and working clothes are shredded by Starlinger recycling technology in Weissenbach and then undergo enzymatic treatment at the Technical University of Vienna. The goal is to develop a sample process for closed loop production.
ii. Technical nonwovens made of polyamides are shredded and turned into regranulate by Starlinger recycling technology; Thermoplastkreislauf GmbH then adds substances such as glass fibers, additives and/or colors as needed (a process commonly known as compounding). The companies Multiplast Kunststoffverarbeitung and Fildan use this customized material in the production of highly technical plastic parts such as components for fire extinguishers.
ODOUR REDUCTION TECHNOLOGY
1. The company explained that post-consumer plastic scrap often contains migrated substances from food, cosmetics or cleaners, which cause an unpleasant smell during the recycling process.
2. However, residues of monomers, oxidation or hydrolysis, as well as decomposition products (VOCs – volatile organic compounds) can also be the reason for unwanted smells in recycled granulate.
3. The technology it launched last year individually adapts the recycling and odour reduction process according to the needs of the recycler.
4. It basically consists of the stages material preparation, degassing, and post-treatment.
i. Material preparation: the SMART feeder heats and homogenises the input material until the ideal operating point is reached. Highly volatile odours are already extracted during this process.
ii. Degassing: the C-VAC degassing module after the extruder increases the melt surface by 300 %, thus achieving an extremely high degassing efficiency. This results in permanently removing also deeply embedded odours.
iii. Post-treatment: The odour extraction unit at the end of the process gives the regranulate the finishing touches. Here, the most persistent odours are reliably extracted and removed permanently.
5. A homogenous regranulate quality and permanent odour reduction were said to ensure the reuse of the regranulate to up to 100% also in demanding applications.
Source: waste-management, recycling-magazine
