EREMA announced in a presentation at the PETnology conference in Paris, its newly developed VACUNITE technology.
The new bottle-to-bottle process for food-contact-grade rPET pellets demonstrates high efficient decontamination, compact design and low energy consumption.
EREMA
In VACUNITE EREMA brings together its VACUREMA technology with the newly patented, vaccumm-supported nitrogen SSP from Polymetrix.
The process is based on the combination of VACUREMA technology which has been enhanced for this application and the newly patented, vacuum-supported nitrogen SSP from Polymetrix.
All thermal process stages take place in nitrogen atmosphere, largely eliminating flake and pellet discoloration and reliably removing additives which could lead to undesired reactions in the melt.
The vacuum support cleans the nitrogen, therefore it can be returned to the previous processing stage and nitrogen consumption is reduced as a result.
Any remaining dust particles are removed from the pellets before filling to avoid preform contamination.
"Our new development brings together the best of what is technically possible," said Christoph Wöss, EREMA Business Development Manager for the bottle sector.
"Using vacuum support and nitrogen atmosphere creates rPET recyclates which far exceed all existing food contact requirements, even those of the major beverage brands.”