Over the last 20 years, the production of plastics has increased dramatically. Plastic waste is a resource and with proper processing plastic packaging and plastic components can be returned into valuable products. Plastic should never end up in the ocean, in the landfill or in the incinerator – it is simply too valuable of a material resource. However, with all the different types of plastics being used, it is not easy to recycle a mixture of materials while maintaining consistency within the final product. There are technologies available, such as EREMA’s Corema to address this issue.

Corema technology allows up-cycling of plastic waste

Materials come from all sorts of industries and vary depending on their compositions, moisture, viscosity, and degree of contamination. This creates a large problem when recycling a mixture of materials and trying to ensure quality in the final product. Corema eliminates this variability and solves this problem:

How does Corema work?

1. The loose recyclates are first added to the system via conveyer-belt.
2. Once the material is inside Corema, a counter-current and compactor system first heats the material and then cuts and mixes it so that it may be picked up by a single-screw extruder.
3. As the material travels along the length of the extruder, it is passed through a filter and cleaned. This eliminates any  solid contamination that the material may have started with.
4. The material is then pumped into a co-rotating twin screw extruder. Twin screw extruders are the best technology to homogenize various materials, additives and fillers in a process that is called compounding. Twin screw extruders need clean input material.
5. At this point, additional fillers and reinforcing agents can be added to the extruder in order to achieve the desired chemical composition of the product. This feature increases the quality of the material, and gives the user much more control over the final product.
6. The newly mixed and homogenized material is fully degassed and passed on pelletizing.

Overall Benefits of Corema

Besides achieving a clean and reliable product, a major benefit of Corema is its capability to create plastic compounds made to specific performance properties using recycled plastics as the major source of input material. Corema technology combines state-of-the-art recycling technology with compounding technology into one process. Saving energy and achieving specific and consistent material properties – like virgin materials.