Unique PET tray-to-tray recycling in a single extrusion step
WITH the innovative MRSjump Extruder, Gneuss offers an optimum solution for post-consumer tray-to-tray recycling, which meets all requirements of completely circular modern food packaging.
Recycling and decontamination with the MRSjump Extruder are possible in one single extrusion step without upstream or downstream material treatment steps. This opens up new possibilities for the recycling of tray regrind.
If a circular economy is to be realised, it will be necessary to consistently recycle post-consumer thermoformed PET trays back into PET trays. Currently, extensive use is made of post-consumer PET bottle flake in the manufacture of PET trays but this supply of feedstock will continue to decrease. As part of the circular economy, PET bottle flake is increasingly recycled into new bottles.
The recycling of regrind from post-consumer PET trays to new sheet for PET trays presents challenges for the recycling process. However, the Gneuss MRSjump Extruder combines the high decontamination performance of the MRS degassing extruder, which has been well established over the past decades, with a viscosity boost:
The MRSjump extrusion process does not necessitate any pre- or post-treatment of the input material, such as crystallisation or pre-drying of the recycled material or an IV boost in a solid state polycondensation (SSP).
The simple set-up of the direct extrusion process avoids the combination of different material treatments prior or subsequent to extrusion and resulting interface problems, and thanks to the short process chain, the melt remains within a narrow, defined residence time spectrum. The thermal and mechanical stress on the material is kept low. This results in excellent mechanical and optical sheet properties.
The MRSjump Extruder can processes a wide range of input materials, from regrind from mono- and multi-layer trays to material combinations which would stick together in a conventional thermal pre-treatment process (e.g. sheet regrind from PET/PE, GAG, certain copolymers).
- All Gneuss machines are available in South Africa via Gneuss agent agent in SA, Mike Day – 083 268 2596, email mikeday2@me.com
