Starlinger has reported increased demand for its recycling technology to reduce odours in post-consumer recycled materials.
Paul Niedl, Commercial Head of Starlinger, said: “Interested and potential customers are convinced by the very successful trials with their input materials in our Technical Centre.
“Our three-step procedure eliminates even deeply embedded odours. This gives our customers completely new application opportunities for their regranulate. The last months also showed that the market is clearly in need for a solution in this area.”
Post-consumer plastic scrap contains migrated substances from food, cosmetics or cleaners, causing bad odours in the recycling process. Residues of monomers, oxidation or hydrolysis, and fermented Volatile Organic Compounds can be other reasons for unwanted smells in recycled granulate.
PCR
Depending on the polymer type, source or type of the odour, its intensity, and the specifications of the produced regranulate, Starlinger recycling technology individually adapts the odour reduction process according to the needs of the recycler. Processing consists of material preparation, degassing, and post-treatment.
Firstly, with regards to material preparation, a ‘SMART’ feeder heats and homogenises the input material until the ideal operating point is reached. Highly volatile odours are already extracted during this process.
Secondly, for degassing, the C-VAC module after the extruder increases the melt surface by 300 per cent, thus achieving an extremely high degassing efficiency. This results in permanently removing also deeply embedded odours.
For 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.
Starlinger says with its odour reduction technology, recyclers of post-consumer plastic scrap have the opportunity to turn their input material into a high-grade secondary resource.