Family-owned German plastic processing machinery manufacturer Gneuss Kunststofftechnik
GmbH announced that Mogilev Khimvolokno, a synthetic fiber manufacturer in Belarus, has installed Gneuss’ PET recycling line consisting of a MRS multi rotation extruder, an online viscometer and an RSFgenius melt filtration system.
The fibers manufactured by Mogilev Khimyolokno range from bicomponent fibers with a low melting point and an IV of 0.63 to industrial yarns with IV values of around 0.9. Waste is generated in the various stages of the production of all these fiber types and occurs as start up lumps, tangled fibers, tow etc. before and after the application of spin finish oils.
By installing Gneuss’ PET recycling system, waste is processed on the MRS extruder that efficiently extracts the spin finish oils, according to the press release. Thanks to the multiple satellite screws, a huge polymer surface area exchange takes place, providing devolatilization performance, even at low vacuum levels before automatically adjusting varying levels of ethylene glycol (depending on the input viscosity of the material) and glycolyzing the material to a constant, low viscosity.
Gneuss says the gentle homogenizing performance of the MRS extruder ensures efficient and constant glycolyzation of the material while the online viscometer provides the control loop for the glycol injection in response to the different viscosities of the input material. Subsequently, the glycolyzed material with a consistent and reproducible, low IV is fed in a side stream where it mixes with virgin material in the finisher.
Under normal conditions, the IV value of the glycolyzed material is constantly regulated automatically and remains stable within +/- 0.001. Finally, the rotary melt filtration system provides efficient and reliable filtration even at such low viscosities and even with sometimes very high contamination levels.
With this extrusion line Mogilev Khimvolokno is able to put production waste back into the process without any penalty in terms of product quality, thereby making considerable savings with regard to raw material costs, states Gneuss.
Source : www.adsalecprj.com
