Extrusion International 6-2018

44 Extrusion International 6/2018 MEASUREMENT TECHNOLOGY – CASE STUDY “The PURITY SCANNER is currently the most accurate sorting equipment available on the market” Minger counts on SIKORA’s inspection and sorting system for the highest material purity during recycling of technical and high-performance polymers Minger Kunststofftechnik AG is a specialist for professional reprocessing of thermoplastic polymers. The company is especially renown in the area of technical high-performance polymersand isoneof the leadingreprocessorsoffluoroplastic worldwide. Since 2018, the family owned company located in Appenzell/Switzerland has been using the PURITY SCANNER ADVANCED, an online inspection and sorting system from SIKORA, for recycling and thus ensures the highest material purity For the production and processing of polymers, the highest purity of the materials is essential and a crucial characteristic for the quality of the fi- nal product. The requirements on pu- rity are accordingly high, especially for sophisticated materials which, for example, are used in the cable, medi- cal, aerospace and food industries. For over 30 years, the company Min- ger has been active in the recycling business and produces plastic granu- lates as customized compound or as clean and pure regranulate, which is reprocessed as a service, respec- tively, as un-disclosed recipe. At Min- ger, they sort, clean, shred, ground, dust, granulate and compound – al- ways with the demand to supply a pure regranulate that is practically equivalent to new material. At the same time, the company relies on a sustainable recycling concept for an optimal material cycle. The application of innovative technol- ogy in the reproducing lines to en- sure the highest quality and process optimization is a matter of course for the Swiss manufacturer. Since this year, the company has been using the PURITY SCANNER ADVANCED from SIKORA for online inspection and sorting of plastic material. “For our technical polymers and high-per- formance polymers – such as fluoro- plastic, PEEK, polyamide, polyethyl- ene or polypropylene – this quality approach was relevant for supplying first-class material”, says Bruno Of- ner, CEO of Minger Kunststofftech- nik AG. According to Ofner, there are several methods for material sorting on the market. The PURITY SCANNER ADVANCED convinced, however, on grounds of its future-oriented mea- suring principle and, above all, due to sorted, pure material. “Worldwide, we are the first company that uses this technology for recycling”, says Ofner. During the production of raw or re- cycled granulate, the plastic material can be contaminated by black spots, foreign particles or fine metal abra- Minger uses SIKORA’s PURITY SCANNER ADVANCED for inspection and sorting of plastic granulate; Bruno Ofner, CEO of Minger Kunststofftechnik AG