Recently, PureCycle in the United States
Technologies’ (hereafter referred to as PureCycle) new flagship polypropylene purification plant has produced the first ultra-pure recycled (UPR) resins on a commercial scale. The resin is made using post-industrial recycled (PIR) materials. KraussMaffei supplied the plant with several extruders, enabling ultra-pure recycling
(UPR) resin has an annual capacity of about 48,000 tons.
Image source: KraussMaffei
PureCycle launched a plastic chemical recycling program in 2021. They chose to use KraussMaffei extruders, aiming to convert polypropylene composite carpet waste into high-purity polypropylene pellets using an innovative plastic recycling process. KraussMaffei will deliver and commission all core equipment ahead of schedule by the end of 2022 to ensure that the PureCycle plant will start production as scheduled.
PureCycle
The company uses licensed patented technology to recycle waste polypropylene into ultra-pure recycled polypropylene for use in consumer goods, automotive, building construction and industrial applications. At the heart of the new line is the extraction process. The process removes dye residues, plastic foreign matter and odors from molten polypropylene composites, producing a clean polypropylene melt and other recyclable, reusable by-products. Recycled solvents are purified and reused.
For this purpose, KraussMaffei supplied twin-screw extruders from the BluePower series for melt-dried polypropylene carpet waste as feedstock for the subsequent PureCycle extraction process.
KraussMaffei BluePower series extruders have high efficiency and low consumption
KraussMaffei BluePower series twin-screw extruders have a specific torque of up to 16
Nm/cm³, it can plasticize the starting material well even at low temperature and low speed, ensure the material is mixed evenly and minimize energy consumption, the KraussMaffei dual The screw extruder can process up to 8 tons of polypropylene carpet waste raw material per hour.
KraussMaffei BluePower series twin-screw extruder (Source: KraussMaffei)
After passing through the PureCycle extraction process, the clean melt is sent to a specially designed KraussMaffei KE single-screw extruder for devolatilization to effectively remove high molecular weight residual monomers. At this time, volatile substances such as solvent residues and other impurities such as attached odors and low-molecular compounds are slowly separated from the melt.
KraussMaffei KE series single-screw extruder (Source: KraussMaffei)
The resulting ultra-pure recycled (UPR) resin is close to virgin polypropylene in performance and appearance, is easy to color and is 100% recyclable, making a variety of products through injection molding or extrusion processes. In addition, plants using this process consume 79% less energy than plants producing virgin polypropylene. Ultrapure recycled (UPR) resin is also more sustainable because it is estimated to produce 35% less carbon emissions than virgin polypropylene.
Scott, Vice President of Program Management, PureCycle
Brown said: “Together with us, KraussMaffei has achieved various major technological innovations and developed excellent solutions for our plastic recycling process. We are promoting ultra-pure polypropylene recycling technology on a global scale and hope that both parties will We will continue to work closely together in the future.”
Nolan, President of KraussMaffei North America
Strall said: “We are very pleased to have the opportunity to participate in PureCycel’s recycling project and provide key equipment to help the company complete the factory construction. We also look forward to more cooperation in the future to develop more recycling process solutions to jointly promote plastics development of the recycling industry.”
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