Technology for recycling and compounding in a single step

Erema has developed a new system that it says brings together the benefits of recycling and compounding in a single processing step.

The new Corema upcycling system is based on the idea of processing inexpensive recycling raw material to make customised plastic compounds in a single step without intermediate cooling.

Erema says this combined recycling and compounding system means forward integration for the recycler in the direction of material production, and reverse integration for the compounder towards material procurement. This, it says, results in an enormous additional benefit that has increasing added value.

Inexpensive recycling raw material (e.g. PP nonwoven, PE edge trim, PA fibres etc.) is turned into filtered melt using Erema’s technology. In the cutter/compactor the material is cut, homogenised, heated, dried and buffered, before the preheated material is plastified in the tangentially connected single-screw extruder and cleaned in the fully-automatic, self-cleaning filter. The prepared melt then goes directly to the co-rotating twin-screw extruder, provided by Coperion. Besides the dosing of a wide variety of additives, high amounts of fillers and reinforcing agents can reportedly be admixed (e.g. 80 percent CaCO3, 70 percent talcum or 50 percent glass fibres).

"We made a conscious decision in favour of Coperion as a partner. This company has a wealth of experience in the production of compounds and the twin-screw extruders are made in such a modular way that they can be adapted for any individual job. And the same applies to our recycling system," said Erema CEO, Manfred Hackl. The result, says Hackl, is customised plastic compounds for high-quality applications. "Together we are convinced that with this combined technology customers can take another step in the value-added chain and turn waste into new products in an economic way.”

When it comes to materials and quantities, Erema says the Corema system is available for both smaller amounts of 300 kg/h and large amounts of up to four t/h and is able to process an extremely broad spectrum of material.

"We are of the opinion that Corema is the ideal system not only to process inexpensive mixed fractions such as PET/PE with additives, but also to produce a compound with 20 percent talcum out of PP nonwoven waste, for example,” continued Hackl.

A pilot Corema system with an output of 400 kg/h is already in use at a customer's plant near to the company's headquarters and Erema operates a system of its own with a 600 kg/h output.

Dutch company, Rodepa Plastics B.V, uses the Corema system to produce PP for injection moulding applications in the automotive sector and LDPE for film applications. In the future, however, the company intends to process more post-consumer material. Mark Langenhof of Rodepa said the company’s future strategy using the system included "new opportunities, new markets, new challenges.”