Schwarzheide, Germany - Petopur GmbH has started up a plant at Schwarzheide in eastern Germany which uses a new process for generating polyols from PET (polyethylene terephthalate) materials, the company said 3 Mar.
One year old company Petopur said the processed materials are clean and carefully sorted, for example, into PET flakes, PET production waste and PET films. Annual production at the new plant is planned to be 4000 tonnes of APP (aromatic polyester polyol) for use in rigid foam processing, the company said. Production began 27 Feb 2009.
H&S Anlagentechnik GmbH, a polyurethane processing equipment and recycling specialist based in Sulingen, Germany, provided the equipment and process technology. The main unit of the plant is a reactor where PET is converted into an APP, Petopur added.
In the process PET is fed into the reactor from above and weighed. The process quantity is then added to the reactor, heated and mixed mechanically by means of an agitator, while DEG (diethylene glycol) is being fed in to produce the polyol.
Joachim Prueger, managing director of Petopur, said the system operated in a completely closed loop, without generating any waste and with a high energy factor based on the use of heat exchangers in each individual process step.
Prueger said the new APP offers a number of benefits to PU rigid foam processors, including; inherent flame retardancy; low density of the rigid foam of up to 5 percent material saving; low acid content; longer shelf life; improved lambda values (thermal coefficient, insulation factor); and 20-percent higher compressive strength than rigid foams that are not produced with PET based polyol. (RD)
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