Extrusion International 6-2018

21 Extrusion International 6/2018 First Totally Closed-Loop Recycler converts Bales of Post-Consumer PET into Food-Grade finished Packaging Products rPlanet Earth, a new company dedicated to closed-loop recycling of post-consumer plastics, has started up a large grassroots facility that is the world’s first completely vertical- ly integrated plant for converting PET packaging waste into finished rPET products with properties comparable to those made from virgin PET. The 302,000 sq.ft (28,060 sq.m) facility in Vernon, CA takes in bottles, clamshell containers, and other packaging waste from curbside collection; puts it through an extensive series of sorting and cleaning procedures; grinds it into flake and subjects it to rigorous wash and decontamination; raises the intrinsic viscosity (IV) of the material in accordance with end- use requirements; and processes it into food-grade sheet, thermoformed containers, and injection molded preforms for bottles. The new rPlanet Earth plant has an annual capac- ity of 80,000,000 lb. (36,290 metric tons). Among a range of state-of-the-art reclaim and polymer pro- cessing systems in place at the Vernon plant are threeWelex ® sheet lines supplied by Graham Engineering Corporation and equipped with EDI ® extrusion dies and BKG ® melt delivery components from Nordson Corporation. After bales entering the rPlanet Earth facility have been bro- ken into a single stream of bottles and thermoforms, the material is subjected to multiple sorting procedures. Mag- netized sorters remove foreign matter such as wire; near- infrared scanners identify PET and separate it from other polymers; and another sorting step separates PET materials by color. Next comes a dry system for grinding the material into flake; water is avoided because it is a carrier for inks and adhesives that can negatively affect the quality of the finished rPET. The first encounter with water is in the wash line, where the material is cleaned before it moves to a tank where PET, which is heavier than water, sinks, while labels, adhesives, and other matter are skimmed off. Subsequently the flake enters a Krones MetaPure ® reactor where ~200 °C heat and vacuum are used in a final decontamination pro- cess; solid state polymerization (SSP) raises the IV of the rPET to various levels, depending on the target application. rPlanet Earth bypasses the pelletizing step in favor of adding value to flake by using it in its own in-house plastics process- ing lines. rPlanet Earth www.rplanetearth.com ReciprocatingHead introduced Automated extrusion process drastically changes the extruded profile Guill Tool, a global manufacturer of extrusion tooling, has re- leased its new reciprocating head. The traditional tip and die assembly is replaced with a linear reciprocating assembly that changes the tube’s profile within a given length. This process is repeated throughout a single extrusion run without interrup- tions. Cutting capability, in association with the extrusion speed, cuts the finished product to length. While cost and value stream activities are reduced, quality is im- proved. Only one extrusion run is needed to produce a finished product, as opposed to multiple extrusion runs with tooling changes along with a manual assembly operation to connect dif- ferent tubing shapes. Guill’s new reciprocating head eliminates an assembly operation. It also eliminates in-process inventory. Thus, there is no need for storage of various tubing shapes and connectors needed for assembly, fulfillment of orders and replen- ishment of finished goods. Furthermore, the reciprocating head eliminates a connecting piece, allows JIT production and products made-to-order. Lastly, it reduces total run time from receiving the order to shipping. Guill Tool & Engineering www.guill.com rPlanet Earth Co-CEOs Joseph Ross (left) and Robert Daviduk (right) in the new plant at Vernon, California