PET recycling – beverage bottles made of PET recycled into new bottles

PET recycling is an important, up-to-the-future option, since it enables PET bottlers to re-use their own PET raw material obtained from empty bottles in a returnables system or from collection operations. PET recycling in what is called a bottle-to-bottle recycling process enables PET beverage containers to be produced from PET recyclate, reducing the quantities of waste involved and ensuring effective utilisation of the PET raw material.
Complete PET recycling systems for bottle-to-bottle recycling, developed in-house by Krones, provide the perfect kit for this recovery operation.
This process produces PET flakes, which are suitable as a recyclate for re-use in direct contact with foods and beverages and meet the stipulations of both the American FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the German BfR guidelines (Federal Institute for Risk Assessment).
Krones’ modularised system concept can be used for outputs of 500 kg/h or 1000 kg/h. The PET recycling process comprises a washing module and a bottle-to-bottle (B2B) module. The steps in this process comprise material preparation, soaking/washing/rinsing, separation into PET and polyolefines (POs), subsequent mechanical/thermal drying and thick/thin separation, followed finally by the removal of migrated constituents in a “super-cleaning” function.
Krones images the entire process in a pilot plant on a scale of 1:10: here, clients can have their own specific material examined, followed by fine-tuning of the process for the particular application concerned. With this pilot plant, Krones is offering an ideal supplement to its service capabilities themed around PET recycling.