The new technology is called VACUNITE (Vacuum & Nitrogen is used during processing) and is a joint development of EREMA (Austria) and Polymetrix (Switzerland). With this exciting new combination of proven technologies, EREMA once again demonstrates its role as innovation leader. We are combining our VACUREMA® bottle-to-bottle process with newly patented, vacuum-supported solid state polycondensation (SSP) from Polymetrix. What makes this combination innovative: all thermal process steps take place in nitrogen atmosphere. Resulting in rPET pellets which are exceptional in quality and far exceed all food-contact requirements.
VACUNITE is the answer to the challenges which PET recycling is facing currently and in the future. Recent announcements by many brand owners to increase recycled PET content in their packaging and fashion products is a positive development. Yet at the same time we are seeing a decline in yield for collected post consumer PET material. The amount of contamination is going up, as well as the non-PET materials in the collection stream. In turn that puts a strain on the recycling process to still produce quality pellets. VACUNITE is addressing these issues.
The focus of the next generation PET recycling technology was on improving quality even further – VACUNITE delivers on key benchmarks. Our new development brings together the best of what is technically possible, the process is based on the combination of proven VACUREMA® (20 years) 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. Another benefit of VACUNITE: the vacuum support cleans the nitrogen which means 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. Using vacuum support and nitrogen atmosphere creates rPET pellets which far exceed all existing food contact requirements, even those of the major beverage brands.
But VACUNITE is special not only because of the exceptional quality of the output material. The technology also stands out through its comparatively compact build, low energy consumption and, compared to vacuum SSP systems, considerably lower maintenance. Depending on machine type, 50 to 60 square metres (~645 sq ft.) of floor space is sufficient for the SSP part. The height and substructure are reduced compared to other SSPs. The energy consumption of VACUNITE for the entire production process from washed flake to final pellets amounts to a mere 0.35 kWh per kg.