NGR and Kuhne coproduce systems for PET scrap to food-grade PET sheet

German firms Next Generation Recyclingmaschinen (NGR) and Kuhne are collaborating on the production of systems for producing PET sheets from PET waste and achieving quality on par with sheets made from virgin materials.

This cooperation between NGR and Kuhne is said to level-up of quality for direct production of high-quality, food-grade PET sheets made of skeleton scrap, sheet production scrap or PET bottle flakes. The integrated system consists of a shredder-feeder-extruder combination for producing plastic melt, the P:REACT unit for improving the quality of PET and the sheet system from Kuhne for producing PET sheets with tightest tolerances. Both PET sheet producers and thermoformed part manufacturers will benefit from the result.

The first system part (shredder-feeder-extruder combination) can convert any form of input material into high-quality melt. This makes it possible to feed the unit with PET scrap available at low cost, such as punch scrap, sheet production scrap, bottle flakes or even fibers. The PET melt is decontaminated in P:REACT (for 100% food-contact in accordance with FDA regulations) and the IV value is set to the desired level. "This means all the material requirements are on hand for producing PET sheets that have tight IV tolerances on par with virgin material," explains Josef Hochreiter, CEO of NGR. For customer trials, a system from the P:SHEET series is available in NGR's technical test centre.

"Initial tests have far exceeded our expectations for sheet quality," says Hubert Armbruster, Managing Director of Kuhne. "The newly provided option for producing high-quality PET sheets from low-cost input materials, and eliminating one melt step in the process, have already ignited great interest among our customers," adds Armbruster.

P:REACT and the shredder-feeder-extruder combination are being presented at K2016 at NGR's booth in Hall 09, Booth 9C30. Further info on P:SHEET can be obtained at Kuhne's booth in Hall 17, Booth 17A41, according to the firms’ press statement.